Heritage advocates are poised to OK the demolition of one of Winnipeg's oldest dwellings now that a hotel developer has agreed to leave pedestrian-friendly Albert Street alone.
The Albert Street Business Block, a rundown retail strip that contains the remains of a 131-year-old home, likely faces the wrecking ball now that a tentative compromise has been reached between Heritage Winnipeg and Ken Zaifman, the immigration lawyer attempting a $10-million renovation of the adjacent St. Charles Hotel.
Since late 2006, Zaifman has been trying to gain approval to demolish the 3,000-square-foot, two-storey Albert Street Business Block to make way for what was at first going to be a parking lot north of his hotel.
Heritage Winnipeg, the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, Parks Canada and all four members of city council's property and development committee initially opposed the plan, largely because it called for a curb cut on Albert Street and would create a hole in the pedestrian-friendly streetscape.
Sixteen months and two design changes later, Zaifman has a new site plan that will see a new restaurant and patio extend north from the St. Charles Hotel toward the Royal Albert Arms.
"We've extended the restaurant and we got rid of the curb cut," Zaifman said Thursday in an interview. "I think we've addressed the concerns of the stakeholders and we've addressed the concerns of the councillors."
Also gone from the St. Charles design is a plan to build an interpretive centre on the site of the old house. There is no longer room for a new structure in the site plan, he said.
Zaifman's new design is slated to go before council's property and development committee and is expected to be endorsed by the Exchange BIZ and Heritage Winnipeg.
"Those are significant changes he's made," said Heritage Winnipeg director Cindy Tugwell, whose organization opposed the demolition of the Albert Street Business Block as recently as one month ago. "I believe everyone is on board."
Rebuilding or restoring the home within the block was not a genuine option because no pictures or drawings exist depicting what the dwelling looked like, said Giles Bugailiskis, the senior city planner in charge of heritage.
"We have a roof and parts of walls," said Bugailiskis, noting the city won't really know what the house actually looked like until it is demolished, if that is council's wish.
"It's more important to preserve the streetscape aspect of the Business Block, as opposed to rebuilding part of a very old house."
Council's protection committee -- Couns. Justin Swandel, Scott Fielding, Russ Wyatt and Dan Vandal -- could consider Zaifman's new plan as early as Tuesday. Over the past year, Wyatt and Vandal have been most skeptical of the project.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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