Back lane paved with trouble

A downtown property owner is asking the City of Winnipeg to close the stretch of lane between the shuttered Marlborough Hotel and the Garrick Theatre amid safety concerns, including vandalism and arson.

An administrative report on the agenda of next week’s meeting of city council’s property and development committee details the proposal from Harminder Walia, who owns the two long-vacant properties.

He has applied to close the public lane between 330 Garry and 331 Smith streets and consolidate it with his title over the two properties.

“The applicant has cited significant safety concerns in the lane,” reads the report penned by city public service officials. “Closing the lane is intended to mitigate ongoing issues of vandalism, arson and other similar activities.”

Public service officials are supportive of the proposal and have recommended the committee and, eventually, council, approve of it.

A proposed major development of 307 housing units, led by CentreVenture Development Corp., is in the works for the closed Marlborough Hotel.

Walia has plans to restore the hotel’s banquet hall and to add public amenities to the ground level of the building, CentreVenture’s chief executive officer said recently.

Walia did not return a message sent via an intermediary Friday.

The lane, like others in the downtown that aren’t frequently used, has become dangerous, said Coun. Evan Duncan, who chairs the property committee.

“This is an option that the potential development of the Marlborough Hotel wants to look at. So having that lane closed and purchased by the potential developer so it can become private property and enclosed with fencing, parking, whatever it may be, to clean that up, I’m supportive of that,” he said on Friday.

“We need to take every step necessary to ensure that the downtown becomes safer every day, and this would move that in that direction.”

Duncan said the disused lane has become a place for people to loiter, use drugs and light fires in dumpsters.

“That’s not what we want, we don’t want people creating safety and security issues in the downtown, we want to do the opposite, we want people to feel welcome and ensure that even around the corner is safe,” said Duncan.

“This is taking those steps and making sure that if we can clean up an area, we’re doing that, and we’re working with the private sector to do that as well.”

The proposal would close off access to the north-south alley between the two buildings.

On Friday, litter was strewn throughout the ice-slicked lane. Charred bits of wood sat next to piles of garbage, while apparent human feces stained the exterior back walls of the Garrick, alongside graffiti.

The east-west backlane, behind Portage Avenue and between Garry and Smith, would remain open under the proposal, said Duncan.

Duncan said the closure of the lane would mark a major step in cleaning up the area around the shuttered hotel, which he said will hopefully get more people interested in living in the city’s downtown.

The report notes others with an interest in accessing the alleyway — power and telecommunications utility firms — have asked for some conditions on the closure.

The former hotel made headlines following an incident in late 2023, when a woman allegedly tried to stab a staffer before she was restrained by several other employees. A video shared widely online showed the woman restrained with zip-ties, with her arms behind her back, as staff prevented her from leaving the lobby.

About four weeks later, dozens of protesters gathered in the hotel to oppose the citizen’s arrest, including some who stormed the basement and caused a ruckus. The hotel closed to the public on Jan. 24, 2024.

The Garrick Theatre — which opened in 1921 as a moviehouse and became a live music venue in the mid-2000s — was shuttered amid the COVID-19 pandemic late in 2020, though it was temporarily used as a virus testing site.

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca