A boost for the inner city

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Artist�s rendering The proposed $18-million complex would benefit everyone, not just the African community, proponents say.

A new $18-million complex that includes a cultural/recreation centre and 100 student apartments could begin to take shape early next year in downtown Winnipeg.

The African Canadian Foundation (ACF) has been given first dibs on acquiring the former Young Men's Hebrew Association site on Hargrave Street for its proposed African-Canadian Centre. The property is now a gravel parking lot.

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PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA The African Canadian Foundation has been given first dibs on acquiring the former site of the Young Men�s Hebrew Association.

The foundation needs to raise about $7 million to buy the property from Shelter Canadian Properties Ltd. and to complete the first phase of the two-phase development, which has been seven years in the making.

ACF president Akim Kambamba said the foundation has already raised a portion of the money -- he wouldn't say how much -- and hopes to obtain the rest by the end of this year and to begin construction in the spring of 2012.

"The key thing is that the land has been made available to us, which has never happened before," he said. "Phase I is definitely a go. We're just waiting for finalization of the funding."

The new cultural/recreational centre would dovetail nicely with a number of recent government initiatives aimed at bolstering housing and recreational services for the inner city's growing immigrant population. That includes the recent $5.5-million overhaul of Central Park, which is less than a block away from the ACF site.

Kambamba said there are about 20,000 African immigrants in Winnipeg and many live in the nearby West End and regularly use Central Park's new facilities.

The ACF project would also be in keeping with Mayor Sam Katz's pledge to encourage the redevelopment of some of the downtown's surface parking lots.

Although the new complex will be called The African-Canadian Centre, Kambamba said it will be open to all inner-city residents.

"We want to make sure that every inner-city kid benefits from this. Our belief is that this centre will be very helpful in the development of the downtown... and will reduce the problems of youth crime and gangs and stuff like that because we plan to keep the youth very busy."

He said all three levels of government and the Winnipeg Foundation helped develop the business plan for the project and have agreed to provide some funding. Several local business leaders, including Business Council of Manitoba CEO Jim Carr, downtown Winnipeg businessman Mel Lazareck and Shelter president Arni Thorsteinson, have also helped with the planning. And Carr and Lazareck will be assisting in the fundraising, as well.

"Everybody is very keen for this to happen," Carr said. It's a great location and the community needs it. It's also a natural extension of everything that's been done already."

Phase I will involve the construction of the cultural/recreation centre. Phase II would involve construction of the apartment/retail complex, which would include an underground parkade.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

About the project

Here are some details about the proposed African-Canadian Centre project:

How much will it cost? $18 million

Who's building it? The African-Canadian Foundation

Where will it be built? On the former Young Men's Hebrew Association property on the west side of Hargrave Street between Ellice and Qu'Appelle avenues

What's there now? A gravel parking lot

Who owns the property now? Shelter Canadian Properties Ltd.

Who would be the developer? Shelter would act as developer and manager of the construction project and would also manage the complex for the ACF once it's built

What would be included in the development? Phase I would involve the construction of a $6-million, 24,000-square-foot building including a 7,000-square-foot recreation centre, a 5,000-square-foot multi-purpose hall, meeting rooms, office space, a daycare centre, an African arts and interpretive centre, a kitchen and an African-Canadian restaurant.

Phase II would involve a four-storey, 32,000-square-foot residential/retail complex that would include an underground parkade, African-themed shops and an imported-food store on the main floor, and 100 student apartments on the other three floors. The apartments would be mainly one-bedroom units 500 to 600 square feet in size and would rent for about $1,000 a month.

What's the timetable? The ACF hopes to begin building Phase I in the spring of 2012 and complete it by the summer of 2013. Work on Phase II would begin in 2014 and be completed the next year.

-- Source: ACF and Shelter Canadian Properties Ltd.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 4, 2011 B3