Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 10/05) - If you want something done, sometimes it is best to do it yourself.

Gino Pin and Gary Vivian are going that route designing and building their own homes.

The result will be eight "high-end" condominiums on four lots on the corner of McDonald Drive in Old Town. Seven of the eight units are already spoken for, though construction has yet to begin.

"We are about two months behind in getting started, but expect to be finished by the end of March," said Vivian, president of Mafic Developments. He and four other people formed Mafic specifically for the condo construction.

"None of us could see leaving Yellowknife full-time and it makes more sense to own a condo than it does a house when we won't be there all the time," he said.

The one-time snack shop on the corner of one of the four lots will be torn down to make way for the tenant parking lots, but no blasting or digging is required for the construction. The two-storey units will wrap around the lots in a semi-circle, each facing Back Bay, Yellowknife Bay or Latham Island.

The approximately $400,000 units, ranging in size from 1,500-2,100 square feet, will be built by Konge Construction.

Condo association

Mafic owns the units during construction, but each will be individually owned upon completion. The owners will be part of an association managed by Mafic. The eight units will share sewage and water tanks, but be monitored individually, he said.

The design will be "typical of Gino Pin" and have zinc siding like some others of his work in the city, such as the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre and the legislature.

"It requires very little maintenance and is very pleasing to look at," Vivian said.

One of the four building lots to be used for the condos was rezoned from a parks and recreation designation to mixed use in March 2003. The three other blocks were already mixed use.

The process was opened to the public at that time and there were no comments or concerns registered, said David Jones, development officer/planner with the city.

All four lots are now registered under Mafic Developments. Final development permits came through three weeks ago.