Water feature: 113-year-old St. B tower to be saved

One of the last remnants of what was once the largest meatpacking facility of its kind in the British Empire is being saved by a developer.

A 27-metre high water tower in St. Boniface, emblazoned with Union Stock Yards on the side, will be “disassembled and relocated,” says a report to the city from a developer who plans to turn the site, dubbed the Water Tower District, into housing.

Robert Scarletta, a senior vice-president with Shindico Realty, said the tower will be relocated to either the site’s business district or one of its parks.

“We were always going to try to relocate it somewhere else in the development because right where it is is not really fundamentally suitable,” Scarletta said. “We’ve got a lot that we want to sell. It’s not a featured area.”

The Union Stock Yards, which was on a 232-acre site on Marion Street, officially opened in 1913. At its peak, there were about 3,000 workers on the site, which could house as many as 450 rail cars from CP Rail, CN Rail, and Grand Trunk Pacific. It also had room for 3,200 cattle and 13,000 sheep. It closed in 1988.

Cindy Tugwell, Heritage Winnipeg executive director, said it’s refreshing to see a developer save a heritage item.

“It’s great they want to go above and beyond to pay homage to the water tower and save it,” Tugwell said. “It really adds to the site’s industrial heritage. It respects the past while looking to the future.”

St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard agreed.

“I’m pleased to see the developer take the tower seriously — even going as far as taking it apart to put in the Water Tower District,” he said.

“It’s a good symbol for the area and it is iconic. It’s a signature piece.”

Shindico, along with Alberta-based Olexa Developments, plans to turn 165 acres of the former stockyard site into about 2,800 multiple housing units, as well as restaurants, retail, commercial space and parks.

The water tower removal was mentioned in a report to the Riel community committee meeting this week.

The developer received final approval for a plan to build a five-storey building with 91 residential units and 4,405 square feet of commercial space on what would be Ibrahima Diallo Avenue on the site. It will also have 68 underground parking spots and 37 parking stalls outside the building.

Scarletta said originally the tower was going to be put into the centre of a roundabout, but that was scrapped when the city decided it wanted a regular intersection instead.

“It will come down and be restored and then we’re going to figure out how to put it back up again.”

But the project isn’t cheap.

“Just to take it down will be about $200,000,” Scarletta said. “It is a hazard. If we left it there then we would have to put fencing around so nobody went near it.

“Who knows if one day a big storm, could be 10 or 15 years from now, blows it over and it lands on somebody. So it will be relocated and made structurally sound.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca