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  #8381  
Old Posted Nov 30, 2022, 10:28 PM
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Nice editorial piece in the Free Press on Bill 37 and its repercussions by Bellamy (Vike) today!
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  #8382  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2022, 2:06 AM
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250 Burnell St, excavation appears to underway and a permit for construction was finally issued Sept 29th.

This one is a big deal for my neck of the woods and fills a huge gap in the empty strip behind the Foodfare/LC/Shoppers.

6 storeys, 106 apartments and 5 CRUs

https://ibb.co/j4yKyTx
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  #8383  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2022, 2:30 AM
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^I know I go a bit overboard with my “infill” posts in the edges of the city, but I can safely say I will take infill in locations like these 100/10 times over a new apartment of similar scale in Bridgwater for example. Fantastic location, legitimately good bus service, and there’s even a foodfare nearby. One could easily live there without a car.

Is there any renders for the project? Also, is there any news on that massive plot of land across the site? If I remember correctly it was up for sale.
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  #8384  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2022, 3:13 AM
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^ It’s been up for sale for ages, even before they tore down the bread factory and stables on the 250/258 Burnell property. Really hoping this project and the recently completed WE Lofts will spur that property to be developed.

Here’s a screenshot of the site plan I grabbed crude and on the fly. Was posted a year ago and I believe they added more CRUs since that draft.

https://ibb.co/9bxz7Py
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  #8385  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2022, 8:04 PM
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Misericordia Terrace - 691 Wolseley Ave





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  #8386  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2022, 8:11 PM
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I like how the building towers over everything else on Sherbrook. Makes me wonder if Wolseley is ready for more buildings 10+ storeys
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  #8387  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2022, 10:09 PM
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South Pembina massive building x2


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  #8388  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2022, 11:46 PM
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^ It ain't pretty but it creates a certain urban presence along Pembina which is nice.

The building on Sherbrook is coming along nicely.
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  #8389  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2022, 11:58 PM
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I can forgive the dark-light colour scheme no matter how bland but why on Earth did anyone working on the project not look at that ridiculous yellow strip and just eliminate it?
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  #8390  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2022, 1:03 AM
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Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek View Post
I like how the building towers over everything else on Sherbrook. Makes me wonder if Wolseley is ready for more buildings 10+ storeys
Doubt it, Wolseley is largely rich people NIMBYville
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  #8391  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2022, 1:15 AM
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It’s surprising that 10 storey wasn’t opposed. I do wish they were forced to do an active ground floor that interacted with the sidewalk.

The other building a bit further down on Sherbrook is coming along too.
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  #8392  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2022, 2:57 AM
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Haven't been down there in a minute, glad to see that building coming along nicely.
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  #8393  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 8:26 AM
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Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg View Post
South Pembina massive building x2


The top of the building the peak is fully lit up at night. They had it on the other day. Quite the presence driving on the perimeter. When the interchange is complete at st Mary’s it will be very visible when going over the bridge.
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  #8394  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 2:40 PM
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St. Charles Hotel

Plan to go from hotel to affordable housing

Winnipeg Free Press

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/br...rdable-housing


The owner of the St. Charles Hotel, which has been empty for almost two decades, has re-imagined the historic downtown building to fill a desperate need in the city.

“We’re looking at affordable housing. I would say the proposal is now multi-unit housing. I’m not sure the hotel business currently is the most robust business, so that’s the model we’re working on,” said Ken Zaifman, who has been meeting with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to discuss his plan for the building at 235 Notre Dame Ave.

Zaifman, who considered demolishing the structure in the past, said he would be open to housing people with addictions, something that excludes them from many housing options.

‘We’re looking at affordable housing. I would say the proposal is now multi-unit housing,’ says Ken Zaifman, who is meeting with CMHC to discuss his plans to transform the St. Charles Hotel, which was constructed in 1913.

He needs the CMHC to agree before he takes his plan to the City of Winnipeg.

Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the CEO of Siloam Mission, said she was thrilled to hear about the possibility for more housing downtown.

“This is needed desperately,” Blaikie Whitecloud said.

“Affordable housing is needed, but it is also needed by people who face homelessness. We would love to sit down with (the building owner).”

Blaikie Whitecloud said there is a need for housing for people who have been released from addictions treatment.

“We will definitely support any initiative for bringing more housing for people who need it.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham was also positive about the proposal.

“We need more housing of all sorts, especially affordable housing and safe accommodation for homeless people,” Gillingham said.

“I would encourage any proposal that helps achieve that target, and if it brings an empty heritage building back to life, then that’s even better.”

CMHC said it can’t say anything about individual projects until details are finalized.

The three-storey structure is one of more than 100 buildings located in the Exchange District National Historic Site.

It was constructed in 1913, at a cost of $122,000, by Charles McCarrey, who also owned the St. Regis Hotel on Smith Street, a civic report from 1985 said.

Construction started in April and it was mostly completed by June. The exterior has dark tapestry brick set against white limestone trim. When it opened, there was a “large and elegant dining room” on the main floor and two floors of hotel rooms above.

The interior remained virtually unchanged until Donald Stefanyk bought it in 1965. He replaced the dining room with a beer parlour, and later put white tile on the facade of the ground floor.

Kalen Qually, a communications officer with the City of Winnipeg, said the former hotel is on the city’s List of Historical Resources after being added to the Building Conservation List in 1986.

It means the exterior is protected from being demolished or altered; its owners would need permission from the city before making alterations.

Other heritage buildings that were vacant for long periods have been repurposed, including the former Merchant’s Hotel on Selkirk Avenue, which was made into affordable housing and educational space; and the James Avenue Pumping Station, which was converted into a bar and restaurant; as well as the Fortune Block on Main Street and the Porter Building on McDermot Avenue.

Zaifman bought the St. Charles Hotel for $800,000 in 2005; later he said he wanted to turn it into a boutique hotel.

He then launched a court battle to try to strip the historic designation from the hotel, something he claimed at the time he didn’t know about when he purchased it.

A Court of Queen’s Bench justice sided with the city in 2008 and the designation remained.

Since then, heritage groups have said the building was being allowed to deteriorate.

“It’s demolition by neglect,” said Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg. “The city should tell the owner to develop it or sell it.

“This one is on a major street a half a block to Portage and Main. I think the city needs to rethink its vacant buildings policy.”

That was before the news Zaifman was looking at repurposing the St. Charles into housing.

Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society had questioned why nothing had happened, but he didn’t think the civic government should seize the building.

“Responsibility for restoring the building would presumably then transfer to the city and the owner would be off the hook. The vacant buildings bylaw does provide authority for the city to levy high fees to owners of long vacant buildings.”

While the St. Charles has remained vacant, it likely has cost the owner more each year, due to the bylaw.

Zaifman wouldn’t reveal his fixed costs. Besides having to heat the building, to ensure it doesn’t deteriorate, it likely does fall under the vacant building bylaw.

While the city wouldn’t confirm that, it wouldn’t come cheap.

The first year a building falls under the bylaw, a commercial building owner would have to pay $2,517 for a permit. The following year, the permit jumps to $4,421, then $6,232, and $8,109 before going up by $1,888 every year after that.

It would mean that since 2010, the cost of permits would have hit $179,220 as it sat empty.

Coun. Jason Schreyer, the new chair of the civic historical buildings and resources committee, said he’s open to seeing the building used for affordable housing or for people who are struggling.

“It’s wonderful that he can make it work,” Schreyer said.

Coun. John Orlikow, a former committee chairman, said the building at the gateway to the Exchange District “is an important building for the area. When you drive by it you say “there’s Winnipeg’s past right there”… two decades is long enough. Let’s get going.”

Zaifman admits that, if not for the heritage designation, the building would have been razed years ago.

“We would have looked at other options which would have made it more viable,” he said. “We would have looked at a large development. It would have been something nice and iconic and fitting with the location.

“We’re trying to find the right fit.”
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  #8395  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 3:02 PM
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Zaifman Is a clown.
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Winnipeg Act II - March 2024

Winnipeg | A Picture Thread - Updated October 2023

In The Future Every Building Will Be World-Famous For Fifteen Minutes.
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  #8396  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 3:21 PM
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I really hope I'm wrong, but if it were anyone else owning the building I'd see this as good news. As it is, I'm afraid it's just another delaying tactic for Zaifman. As for the annual costs of the building mentioned in the article, I suspect they've served as juicy tax write-offs for years.
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  #8397  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 4:03 PM
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Originally Posted by pspeid View Post
I really hope I'm wrong, but if it were anyone else owning the building I'd see this as good news. As it is, I'm afraid it's just another delaying tactic for Zaifman. As for the annual costs of the building mentioned in the article, I suspect they've served as juicy tax write-offs for years.
This is a joke.

He's just trying to find a way to get someone else to pay for the most minimal possible renovations that would also coincidentally get the City off his back. So then once it's done he will have a barely-habitable building full of addicts, renovated by government and with government paying the rent ($$$), and no City vacant building fees. All this urban magic a stone's throw from Portage and Main. Sounds awesome.
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  #8398  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 4:13 PM
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This is a joke.

He's just trying to find a way to get someone else to pay for the most minimal possible renovations that would also coincidentally get the City off his back. So then once it's done he will have a barely-habitable building full of addicts, renovated by government and with government paying the rent ($$$), and no City vacant building fees. All this urban magic a stone's throw from Portage and Main. Sounds awesome.
Say this does come to pass - I'm not sure this is actually a worse scenario than the status quo. Minimal renovations is still a big improvement, and the city gains some needed low-income housing.
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  #8399  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 4:23 PM
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Could the St Charles strategy be to allow addicts and other housing insecure people to live there so that they can further destroy the place leading to eventual approval to tear it down?
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  #8400  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2022, 4:25 PM
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Say this does come to pass - I'm not sure this is actually a worse scenario than the status quo. Minimal renovations is still a big improvement, and the city gains some needed low-income housing.
Maybe you can try to argue that it's marginally better for the city as a whole (although even then, is it? for a downtown already suffering from image problems, do you really want what will inevitably be a run down transitional housing facility for addicts right next to the main business address in the city?). But there's no denying that it's a whole hell of a lot better for Zaifman.

I get that people are doing what's best for them. But it would be nice if a property owner like Zaifman had at least some regard for the urban community instead of adopting a "screw you" attitude where the only thing that matters is his bottom line. He has owned this building for decades now. If he can't/won't do anything positive with it, then sell it.
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