Pleasantville development moving forward with up to 1,000 new homes

A second massive housing development in the east end of St. John’s is moving on to the next phase.

The Canada Lands Company (CLC), a federal Crown corporation, has announced plans to add up to 1,000 homes in the Pleasantville area. 

Christopher Sweetnam Holmes, Atlantic and Quebec senior director of real estate with CLC, said new residents could move in as early as 2028.

“We have zoning in place and we have, already, some services here on this site,” Holmes said in an interview at the location of the future development — currently an empty field.

“We can start getting housing out of the ground as early as next spring with the developers, if the developers are willing to work with us.”

Holmes said some units should be move-in ready by 2028. 

He said the plan involves different kinds of housing, including apartment buildings and townhouses.

“We want housing for seniors. We want housing for students. We want housing for families because there's a real problem with a shortage of housing in this city,” he said.

Sweetnam Holmes said he didn’t have a cost estimate for the project, but since the CLC is a self-financing crown corporation, the money wouldn’t come from tax dollars.

At least 100 people visited the Pleasantville Royal Canadian Legion on Thursday afternoon, where CLC staff shared their plans for the neighbourhood in one of several open house sessions.

Susan Halley, a Pleasantville resident, said “it’s about time” work on phase two of the development started.

“I like the idea that it's not all high end and/or all low end, that you got it all intermingled together — that's the way it should be,” she said.

Halley said she wants to see more retail, dining and recreation options integrated into the plans.

“It's almost like its own little community, so let's make it its own little community.”