New sub shop steams its meats and cheeses

With more than 1,250 eateries in 46 U.S. states, Canada and Puerto Rico, Firehouse Subs is now aiming its fast-food periscope at Sault Ste. Marie's Northern Avenue Plaza.

November's list of building permits issued by the City of Sault Ste. Marie includes a $240,000 permit for tenant fit-up for a new Firehouse Subs franchise operation at 248 Northern Ave. E., home of Princess Auto, Winners/HomeSense, Value Village and Metro.

Firehouse Subs was launched 29 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida by firefighter brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen.

The chain arrived in Canada in 2015 with a locally owned franchise restaurant in Oshawa.

"Unlike other sub places, we steam our meats and cheeses, releasing a rush of flavours," declares the company's website.

Spreading like a California wildfire, Firehouse Subs now has 60 outlets in Ontario.

Last month, it announced plans for its first Canadian restaurants outside Ontario: seven new locations in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Firehouse Subs is known for supporting first responders and public safety organizations.

Its Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation of Canada has made more than $3.2 million in donations of lifesaving equipment.

The largest building permit issued in November was to Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp., for a new $1.6-million unheated storage building to be built for airport tenant JD Aero Technical Inc.

"It's a building for them to store equipment and stuff out of aircraft that they're not using at the time," airport president and chief executive officer Terry Bos tells SooToday.

"They need more space in the big hangars to work on the jets that they're bringing in that have a lower wing," Bos said.

(In a disclosure unrelated to building permits, Bos confirmed that the airport has been trying for two or three years to sell its Runway Park. "We've had a fair amount of our surplus land for sale for a period of time, to divest the land that we don't need, to invest it in the operations that we do need," he said.)

The new airport building and sandwich shop renovations were among 55 building permits issued by the City of Sault Ste. Marie last month, representing a total value of $3.7 million.

That's down from 98 permits valued at $2 million in the same month last year.

2022 had the biggest-ever building boom in Sault Ste. Marie history, with major construction at Algoma Steel and Tenaris contributing to a $259-million record year.

Year-to-date, the Sault has had 1,072 building permits valued at $139.4 million, compared to 1,218 permits worth $253.8 million at this time last year.

Some other November building permits of interest:

• a $250,000 carpentry shop with storage area at Andrés Auto Recyclers, 1692 Peoples Rd.
• $270,000 in interior renovations to the second floor at 648 Bay St. to add four operatory rooms for Bay Dental Group
• $100,000 to convert a church at 99 Melville Rd. to a single-family dwelling with six bedrooms. A main-floor kitchen will be added, as well as four washrooms
• $50,000 for tenant fit-up for a vape shop (Juice on the Loose) at The Shoppes on TransCanada, 625 Trunk Rd.
• a $129,000 industrial storage building (20 storage units) at 1177 Great Northern Rd.