ABOUT TOWN and more with The Leader Post

    Twenty-fifteen marks the 50th anniversary year of the founding of the weekly newspaper the North Kent Leader and by extension its parent company Leader Publications.  That bit of trivia, may only be important to me, my family, the late Gordon Clauws family, other old timers and some former staff members who in some cases got their start in the newspaper industry by way of "The Leader".   I'll talk more about that as the year moves forward.

    What strikes as meaningful in the here and now, is that the old Leader building shown on the left has been re-born into a much needed "friendly for seniors" five unit apartment building.

    The re-purposed building is the brain child of former Dresdenite's Merv and Sue Lanctot. Having purchased the building from Sun Media, the husband and wife team served as their own general contractor for the total make-over of the building, inside and out.  "Once we got past the mountain of red tape" it was mostly clear sailing ahead, notes Merv. We hired Randy St. Pierre as our project manager as well as some of the best sub-contractors in the trades, including McFadden Heating and Cooling, Derrick Edwards Electrical, Bert's Plumbing, Road Runner Painting and Olboys Drywall. Craig Richmond and Randy St. Pierre did the finish carpentry.  Materials and supplies came from Lumberjack Home Building Centre, Dresden Home Hardware, Oldershaw and Building Supplies.  "We certainly believe in our local trades and retailers and we wanted to demonstrate that with our money being spent in Dresden and Chatham-Kent" said Sue:  

 Recently I had the pleasure of a unit by unit tour of the new apartment complex aptly named "Two 54 Main" and I must say I walked away truly impressed. Each of the five units are spacious, some more-so than others of course, given the one, two and three bedroom configuration. Each unit comes equipped with new stainless steel refrigerators and stove as well as laundry equipment in each apartment. Wall colours and trim are tastefully done and pleasing to the eye. 

   Three of the five units have been rented with move-in date of January 1st. The other two are expected to be finished in late March. Merv and Sue have the unit that once housed my office, admin staff, advertisng sales people and mangers. It's almost unrecognizable to me, but in a good way.   

   The lower level apartment (we called it the boardroom back in the day) is under construction, but its easy to see that it is not only large but well designed with large windows and an attractive entrance way. The senior friendly space is available to rent and you can get more information by contacting Merv or Sue on FACEBOOK with a private message at  https://www.facebook.com/merv.lanctot  or send them an email at  mervlanctot@gmail.com . Include your phone number if want to have them call you.  

Overview