The new owners of the former Dunsmuir Lodge hope to reopen it this fall as a private treatment facility specializing in mental health and addiction.
The sale, first announced in the spring of 2016, was finalized this week. Ontario-based Homewood Health has paid $7.6 million for the lodge, which has been vacant since 2008 when UVic closed it because of decreased use and the investment required to upgrade the property.
Jagoda Pike, Homewood’s chief executive, said finalizing the sale is a milestone on the path to bringing new mental-health and addiction treatment options to the province.
Robert DeClark, who has been appointed general manager of the facility, said there is a major renovation project ahead, though they hope to be open for patients this fall.
“I would call them extremely extensive renovations,” said DeClark, noting every square inch of the interior of the site will be replaced and rebuilt. “It’s a really exciting building and a tremendous site and it’s exciting for us to be able to breathe new life into it.”
Large rooms will be reinvented as smaller ones, all carpet, furniture and furnishings will be replaced and a new industrial kitchen will be installed.
“Each room will be completely redone,” he said.
DeClark said the total cost of the renovation is not known, but it is expected to be a multimillion-dollar project.
Demolition has already started on the facility, and despite a building boom and a shortage of skilled trades on the Island, they expect to meet a fall deadline for completion, he said.
DeClark, who has worked in mental health and addiction treatment for 20 years, intends to hire as many as 45 full-time staff by the time the facility opens and up to 85 when it’s at capacity.
It will be able to accommodate as many as 99 people, but DeClark said it’s likely they will max out at 80 patients.
According to Homewood, the facility will specialize in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, trauma-related disorders and addiction.
“There’s definitely a need in the province of B.C. and, really, across Canada,” DeClark said.
“And as we know, the mixture between the two, well, those lines are not really clear — they often are within the same person,” he said. “Our strength will be in being able to handle some complicated cases.”
Clients will have access to Homewood’s national aftercare services following discharge, as well as outpatient treatment and aftercare at Homewood clinics in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Mississauga, Ont., and Montreal.
The sale has also facilitated the purchase of 72 acres of adjacent land from UVic by the Pauquachin First Nation, and established a relationship between Homewood and the First Nation for health care.
Pauquachin Chief Rebecca David called the acquisition of the land on what they call LÁU,WELNEW, or Place of Refuge, a huge milestone for the Indigenous people of the Saanich Peninsula.
“Pauquachin took the position we wanted to protect and preserve this land as sacred space for the future use of our nation,” she said. “The intention is to acknowledge this land is part of our sacred mountain.”
David, who noted they paid just over $1.2 million for the 72 acres, said they have made it clear they will never develop the land as long as they own it and it will be held by a society and not added to the reserve.
She said part of the negotiation was to establish a relationship with Homewood for employment and to improve treatment for mental health and addictions for First Nations.
All First Nations have those problems, she noted, and they wanted to make sure they could fast-track treatment.
Originally called Gillain Manor, Dunsmuir Lodge went into receivership when it was under construction and its builder, Farmer Construction, purchased it. The lodge was operated as a treatment centre for a brief time.
In 1976, businessman George Poole bought the property.
It was donated to UVic in 1985. The university ran it as an executive training and conference centre and used it for continuing studies.
