Sutherland Hotel fire forces non-profit developer to pivot, revise affordable-housing project plans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/02/2025 (191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A non-profit developer is hoping an affordable housing project can rise from the ashes of a historic Main Street hotel razed in an inferno last month.

“We were expecting to remodel the Sutherland Hotel into affordable and supportive apartments, but now, it is of course… a complete redevelopment,” Keith Wiebe Gordon, chair and co-founder of Anhart Community Housing Society, told the Free Press Wednesday.

A fire broke out inside the 140-year-old, three-storey building on Jan. 15, forcing an emergency overnight demolition.

Anhart had been working on development plans for the property for several months. The B.C.-based organization signed an offer to purchase the hotel for approximately $475,000 less than a week before the fire, Gordon said.

The property remains under contract, and Anhart hopes to complete the deal in the coming months. Gordon’s team is currently completing a feasibility study, which includes public consultation and discussions with government officials and investors, he said.

The company’s business model typically involves securing the title for vacant lands and sourcing funding through private and public investors, including multiple levels of government, he said.

An apartment building with up to 100 units could be possible on the site, but he cautioned plans could change pending conversations with the City of Winnipeg.

He expects the project could cost up to $30 million.

Anhart identified the Sutherland as a potential development opportunity through discussions with Mayor Scott Gillingham and members of the city’s business community, Gordon said.

“We were looking for older hotels that needed revitalization, so we sought it out,” he said. “Hopefully, within one or two months, we will have title to the property and then we will complete design development and make another announcement about the type of housing we’re proceeding with.”

The city and province have not yet committed to the Sutherland site project — which is still in its infancy — but are working with Anhart on other developments in North Point Douglas.

The developer has partnered with Purpose Construction to build six multi-unit homes in the neighbourhood.

The construction company operates as a social enterprise and provides skilled-trades training and long-term jobs to people with employment barriers.

The new builds will include five triplex buildings and one sixplex building, creating a total of 21 affordable family rental homes. Gordon said the construction company is slated to break ground on those in the summer.

The city sold the lots that are to be developed to Purpose Construction for $1 each, Gordon said. Collectively, the project is expected to cost about $5 million and has “strong funding from the city and the province,” he said.

Purpose Construction was one of 16 organizations to receive support from the city’s Affordable Housing Now Program, announced earlier this month.

Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association, said she is excited a non-profit organization is interested in developing the Sutherland site.

“A non-profit is designed to meet a community need, not just a profit motivation,” she said. “That will be important because it is a community that needs additional support beyond just four walls and a door.”

Maes Nino said the property will likely be best suited for single people, rather than families. She recommended Anhart keep that demographic in mind as it settles on a project design.

Ensuring there are consultations and partnerships with community support groups, particularly Indigenous organizations, should also be a priority, she said.

Gordon stressed Indigenous relationships are a primary focus of the project.

All levels of government have identified affordable housing development as a priority in the coming years.

“While all levels of government are actually — for the first time in a long time — moving in the same direction to meet that need, it’s still not at the scale and level that we need,” Maes Nino said.

Gordon asked potential investors and partner organizations interested in the Sutherland project to contact him directly. His information is available online.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca