Quote:Currently a site in the early stages of construction, the project underway at the corner of King and Albert streets in St. Jacobs is destined to be a 66,542 square-foot multipurpose building that will feature a new Home Hardware store on the ground floor and residential apartments above.

Though the building will be new and efficient, developers hope to mirror the village’s old-world charm.

“It’s been a property that’s been owned by my family for a long time now. The property was Good’s Garage from approximately 1921 until about 10 years ago. At that point, I built a new shop on Henry Street around 2003. I’ve always wanted to retain that property and do something kind of cool with it,” said Mike Good, president of King & Albert Development Ltd., the company behind the project.

His company has been working with Cambridge’s  Schiedel Construction Incorporated on the designs for about two years and the finalized three-dimensional renderings for St. Jacobs Home Lofts were released this week.

The hope is to appeal to retirees and help further develop the St. Jacobs downtown area, he added this week.

“I’m really trying to show the importance of revitalizing old villages downtown. I think it’s good to have people living downtown, especially those with possible mobility concerns. We’re trying to get back to the point where you can live in town, work in town and do a lot of your shopping in town. We have Grand River Transit now running through St. Jacobs to Elmira and Waterloo, so you might not even need a car in the future.”...