Look what they’re building on Second Line

A $1.5-million row house project on Second Line West is one of 94 building permits valued at a total of $6.3 million, issued last month by the City of Sault Ste. Marie.

The eight cheek-to-jowl two-storey housing units at 132 Second Line West make up the second-largest building project approved in September.

The biggest newly approved project is the latest stage in Algoma Steel's ongoing electric arc furnace (EAF) transition: the most costly construction project in local history.

This time, the steelmaker is spending $2 million to build a foundation and maintenance platforms for the EAF, as well as an enclosure for stairs and a hopper cover at 513 Wallace Terrace.

September's $6.3 million in building permits was down from 107 permits worth $8.7 million during the same month last year.

Sixty per cent of the September 2024 permits ($3.7 million) were for residential projects.

Since 2022, the city has issued building permits for 715 housing units.

This year to date, 888 permits worth a total of $149.4 million have been issued, compared with 940 permits worth $130.8 million at the same time in 2023.

Some other September 2024 permits we found interesting:

• $200,000 is being spent for interior alterations including demolition of interior partitions at the commercial/retail plaza at 480 Pim St. (at McNabb)
• The Crown Attorney's office is charging up $47,900 worth of repairs to the exterior precast concrete block staircase at 445 Albert St. East. They've also docketed some refurbished and new handrails and a temporary access staircase
• Sault Ste. Marie Public Library has booked $279,650 in exterior work at its downtown branch at 50 East St. They're replacing the building's metal siding and the roof parapet. According to the  library's copy of Britannica, a parapet is "a dwarf wall or heavy railing around the edge of a roof, balcony, terrace, or stairway designed either to prevent those behind it from falling over or to shelter them from attack from the outside."