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“When we get that final report, it will be a great day,” Dub said Friday.

The company just received a development permit. It is waiting for a building permit for the 4.7-hectare property at 115 Avenue and 128 Street.

“What makes it different this time around is it seems that the work is done,” Dub said. “Before, we had never gotten this close.”

Dub and his partners want to develop a 594-unit, $200-million housing complex at the site, including the first phase of 211 condominium apartments and townhouses.

The development will eventually include single-family homes, two towers the same height as the Camsell and several four-storey buildings.

Photo by Shaughn Butts / Edmonton Journal

If the company doesn’t get enough condo presales and financing, it plans to proceed with a rental housing project, likely designed for seniors. One way or another, construction will start this summer, Dub said.

“Waiting for the Camsell is like waiting for Godot,” said Paul Adams, president of the Inglewood Community League, referring to a play in which characters wait endlessly and in vain. “I can’t think of a better way to put it.”

The old hospital, which the province closed in 1996, has been boarded up, fenced and scrawled with graffiti. It caught fire during demolition in 2006 and has been seen as a draw for vagrants. There’s been little visible progress since Dub and his partners acquired the site. Residents have spent years complaining to Dub and lobbying city council.

Adams said the community league supports the development, but is waiting to see if work proceeds.