Tenants snapping up downtown digs

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This article was published 04/07/2016 (3581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If developers build new rental units in downtown Winnipeg, it appears the tenants will come.

Less than nine months after one of the newest downtown rental properties — the Bag Factory Apartments at 311 Alexander Ave. — opened its doors, all but one of the 88 one- and two-bedroom units are occupied, said a spokesman for the firm that manages the property.

“It’s a big success story,” Adrian Schulz, president and CEO of Imperial Properties, said. “There was a very good pickup with that property.”

A check with several other high-profile downtown/Exchange District apartment complexes that have come onto the market in the last five or six years shows the experience of the Bag Factory Apartments isn’t unique. The others have healthy occupancy rates, too.

Two shining examples are the 75-unit Avenue Building on Portage Avenue, which opened about four years ago, and 43-unit Edge on Princess complex at 230 Princess St., which is about six years old.

Both are fully leased, said Sabrina Treyturik, director of leasing for the two properties.

Treyturik said while both buildings have their share of turnover, they have tenants who have remained for the long haul.

“They moved in on day one and they’re still here,” she said. “They like the building, they like the area and they like our management team.”

A spokeswoman for Your Next Place, the company that manages the Bell Block at 370 Donald St., said although they have four vacancies coming up, they don’t expect to have any trouble finding tenants.

Laura Foubert said the building, which has been open for about three years, has a fairly high turnover rate because all 38 units are small studio suites — about 450 square feet — and there are no on-site parking stalls. So tenants, many of whom are young professionals just starting careers, will often stay for a year or so. Then they’ll move to another building that either has bigger suites or on-site parking.

Because the suites are still relatively new and it’s a redeveloped heritage building with lots of character, the suites never stay vacant for long, she said.

Even the Penthouse on Princess building, which had vacancy issues for the first few years, has seen a turnaround in the last year, said a spokesman for the property manager.

Ashish Garg said 54 of the 60 one- and two-bedroom units in the building, which is located at 100 Princess St., are unfurnished suites. For the last year or so, about four of them have been vacant at any given time, he said, compared with 10 or 11 a few years ago. He said four vacancies at any given time is acceptable.

“They get leased up quickly. It’s just (regular) turnover.”

He said the other six units in the building are furnished suites that are rented out to people who are visiting the city for a few days on business, to see family, or to attend sports or entertainment events.

Most of the property managers said the people who typically lease suites in their buildings are young and middle-aged professionals who work downtown and want to walk to work, shops, restaurants and sports and entertainment venues. They also get some empty-nester couples and students from the University of Winnipeg and Red River College.

Schulz said the Bag Factory Apartments has all of those, plus a few immigrant families who arrived last winter when there were still a few suites available.

The complex includes 26 one-bedroom suites and 62 two-bedroom units ranging in size from 456 square feet to 753 square feet. Monthly rent ranges from $995 to $1,210.

Schulz believes if they had more units, they’d have no trouble filling them.

“We have a countless number of prospective (tenants who)want to be in this type of product,” he said. “But we simply don’t have it.”

The complex is one of two old warehouses in the west Exchange District that were recently transformed into rental apartments by Sandhu Developments of Winnipeg. The other is the 51-unit Stables on Adelaide at 49 Adelaide St., which has 34 heated, indoor parking stalls.

A spokesman for the firm that manages the Stables — A.S.H. Management — said the company is just starting to market the one-bedroom units, which range in size from 507 square feet to 730 square feet. The monthly rental rate ranges from $800 to about $1,500, Mark Uddin said.

Uddin, who is vice-president of A.S.H., said based on what’s been happening with other apartment buildings in the area, he’s optimistic about Stables’ prospects.

“Between students and young people… who are working downtown, we should have no problem leasing these units.”

Know of any newsworthy trends or developments in the local office, retail or industrial retail sectors? Let reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below or at 204-697-7254

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca