After the collapse of the roof of the former Elliot Lake Pearson Civic Centre in February 2019, many local interests in the city took a hard look at their own roofs.
There had been an unusually large accumulation of ice and snow that winter preceding the incident. By some miracle, only one woman who was in the building at the time, suffered non life-threatening injuries. The building itself was rendered derelict and had to be demolished.
The City of Elliot Lake has just gotten around to arranging the payment of the $1 Million bill for roof repairs to Centennial Arena on Spruce Avenue. Those needs came to light after the city conducted an inspection of the roofs of all city-owned buildings following the demise of the Civic Centre.
One of those who took stock of their own properties was Jane van der Sluis, who has owned the Paris Plaza on Paris Road since 2004.
This week, a squad of workers ascended the Plaza's sloped roof and replaced the old surface with new shingling after inspections were completed and repairs made to any damaged or defective sheathing.
Van der Sluis told ElliotLakeToday her commitment to Paris Plaza over the years has paid dividends for her, the building's contractors, tenants and their customers.
"Since 2004 we have taken great pride in the fact that we have brought this from a plaza that was 50 per cent vacant in the commercial space and 50 per cent vacant in the residential apartments to a vital part of the community," she noted in a recent email. "We now have a very full house in both the commercial and residential areas of the plaza.
"We have six residential units that are furnished for short-term stays by various clients. We have had banking reps, the lawyers that investigated the Algo Centre Mall Collapse (2012), mining companies, and many contractors enjoy their stay with us at the plaza.
"We also started the Ecomat Laundromat when we realized a need in the community and we did win the Chamber of Commerce Award of Excellence in 2012 when we opened. We also will be welcoming a new business in the fall of this year.
"With all that being said, we had a very major concern with the roof especially watching other roofs unable to handle the ice and snow loads. We were very diligent in making sure our tenants were safe and that they could rely on us to be proactive.
"We invested in Elliot Lake back in 2004 and we are proud to say that we have the nicest privately owned mall in town. We are happy to be the hub in the residential area of Elliot Lake for services needed. We are continuing to have faith in the community and our place in that community."
The roofing work should be finished on the Paris Plaza by this weekend.