The developer behind the condominium complex under construction on Minden’s Newcastle Street began a meeting last week for residents of the building by apologizing for the collapse of a shoring wall at the site Nov. 1.

The collapse which took place after heavy rains closed a portion of Newcastle Street for three days and has put the project behind by a couple of months.

“It’s an unfortunate delay to the project and I’m sorry but we are moving forward” Patrick Dube of Huntsville’s Greystone Construction told a crowd assembled at Grill on the Gull restaurant the afternoon of Dec. 9.

Greystone and Trophy Property Corp which are partnering on the project hosted the orientation session for residents.

As Dube explained he’d subcontracted the work of erecting a shoring wall at the construction site located beside the Haliburton County building on Newcastle Street. The 15-unit condo building will back on to the Minden Hills municipal parking lot where the entrance to its underground parking will be located.

“He had some bracing to put in” Dube said explaining the subcontractor wasn’t quite finished completing the shoring wall when heavy rains hit the county the weekend of Nov. 1. “Because he wasn’t finished the wall failed.”

Because of the delay Dube said by the beginning of January the project will be where it was scheduled to be at the beginning of November and move-ins that were scheduled for summer of 2016 will  now take place in the fall scheduled for late-September and October.

“This is my reassurance that the project is good” Dube told attendees stressing there were no other ramifications from the incident aside from the time delay.

Peter Brady of Trophy Property Corp. credited Dube for how he’s dealt with the situation.

“I’ve seen bigger companies and lesser men walk away from a project this challenging” Brady said.

About half of the building’s 15 units are already sold.

Minden Hills Reeve Brent Devolin said he was excited about the project “and there hasn’t been any change of opinion on that.”

Devolin said sometimes it’s during difficult times that true character is reflected and Greystone had shown its commitment.

“I hope this is the first of many” he said of the project adding he’d like to see starts on as many as 200 units of various types of housing in Minden in the next five years.

Greystone has completed a number of housing projects in communities such as Parry Sound Gravenhurst and Haliburton Village where it constructed both the Granite Cove and Granite View condominium buildings.

It also built the county’s new EMS base which opened along Highway 35 in Minden this past spring.