Vacant Centre Village set for demolition

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This article was published 05/09/2024 (366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Centre Village, the inner-city apartment complex hailed as an architectural marvel when it opened in 2010 but shuttered and abandoned by the province in recent years, is set to be demolished this month.

The long-vacant building, which caught fire Wednesday night, has gone from a sign of hope and innovation 14 years ago to an unprecedented black spot on the province’s affordable housing file.

University of Winnipeg urban geography professor Jino Distasio said it’s the only time he can think of where the parties involved in building a housing complex had “so misjudged something that it needs to be demolished after good public money went into its development.”

The 25-unit subsidized housing complex at 575 Balmoral St. was considered revolutionary when it opened to house low-income tenants and newcomers, but residents found the award-winning design of the suites and safety worries around the exterior of the building ill-suited to family life and slowly moved out.

The apartment was originally a collaboration among CentreVenture Development Corp., Knox United Church and the province.

A demolition permit was approved Aug. 28.

“How often has that happened where a housing complex that is barely 15 years old has not only sat vacant, has not only rotted, but is being demolished? Where would you see that? In what other neighbourhood have we ever seen something like this?” Distasio said Thursday.

The building was taken over by Manitoba Housing and boarded up in 2022, becoming a magnet for squatters and drug use while politicians grappled with what to do as the need for more affordable housing in the province continued to rise.

In April 2023, 16 months after the property was boarded up, Manitoba Housing issued a request for expressions of interest and offered to donate it to a social housing organization. The province’s request encouraged applicants to pursue demolition to “ensure safety and security concerns with the existing site can be properly addressed.”

Wednesday night was the sixth time the structure has been hit by fire in the last three years, following fires in June 2024, March 2023, February 2023, June 2021 and January 2021.

Neighbours repeatedly raised safety concerns to police and Manitoba Housing about the property, but squatters remained at the site Thursday morning after the fire.

“(It) reinforces the views of many inner-city residents, that their needs are not being met on a number of fronts,” Distasio said. “Including, not only the provision of quality, affordable housing that’s in decent shape, but in just feeling that they’re being cared about.”

Those fears hit a climax in April, when a long-awaited announcement on the future of the complex had to be postponed when a body was discovered inside.

Ten days later, it was announced Manitoba Housing had donated the site to the non-profit Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation, which would receive $2.2 million to demolish it and build 30 new units for several key groups: Indigenous youth, young adults who are leaving the child-welfare system and expectant parents at risk of being involved with the system.

Distasio says the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation is a developer with a good track record. He hopes after the demolition happens, progress begins.

“My hope is the wrecking ball isn’t just opening up a second phase where we just drive past a fence for a long time,” he said.

Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation executive director James Heinrichs said the organization is working as fast as it can to move forward on demolishing the site so rebuilding can begin.

“We understand, especially with Centre Village, the consequences, or the risks, for the people that are around there, the people that may want to frequent that site because of the way it’s set up, and we want to get things done as quickly as possible,” he said.

“At the same time, we don’t control what the province does, we don’t control what the city does.”

A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba Housing was putting up a temporary barricade after the fire to further secure the property and is “working with WHRC to ensure the demolition is prioritized.”

Daniel McIntyre city councillor Cindy Gilroy did not comment by press time.

The land title has yet to be transferred and the property is still technically owned by Manitoba Housing, he said, and fencing will be switched out when demolition begins.

Most of the buildings WHRC manages are in inner-city areas, and Heinrichs said he’s sympathetic to the “huge” problem of long-vacant buildings in Winnipeg.

“It just takes time, and that’s the unfortunate part, and that’s where some of our problems arise from.”

It feels like too little, too late for neighbourhood resident Jason Keenan, who has lived opposite Centre Village for eight years. He has spent the last two years reaching out to police, Manitoba Housing, politicians and the media in hopes of getting more Manitoba Housing officers to check on the property and have the fence secured and re-secured.

“I made multiple calls to the police and to Manitoba Housing, and nobody ever came and did anything about it,” he said.

While he’d like to see the building come down and new construction come swiftly, he isn’t optimistic about the future of the space.

“I don’t know who’s to blame for this. Who’s the oversight here?” he said. “It’s been a joke since Manitoba Housing took it over, and they’ve basically taken tax dollars, money, and just let it burn to the ground.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca