Turning the corner

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This article was published 21/05/2018 (2850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For more than 50 years, Ralph’s Custom Tailors kept Winnipeggers looking their best.

But now, Raff Cantafio, who took over from his father Ralph in the early 1990s, is eyeing a change at the landmark at Corydon Avenue and Wilton Street.

“We’ve been a part of the community for all of these years while we’ve been at that corner. We’ve watched the evolution of the neighbourhood, and it’s time for us to move forward as well,” Cantafio said.

“Buildings can’t last forever. At some point, you have to take a leap of faith and say, ‘I’m going to do something different here.’”

In 1956, six years after immigrating to Canada, Ralph Cantafio opened up the neighbourhood tailor shop at 1108 Corydon Ave. Decades later, he passed the family business on to his son Raff.

It wasn’t until around 2008 that the idea of doing something different with the property came up, Cantafio said.

A developer approached the family to see if they would be interested in selling the prime piece of real estate. While the family turned down the offer, the idea of redeveloping the property burrowed itself into Cantafio’s brain.

“At a certain point, I started thinking to myself, ‘Why can’t I do that?’ And then I started seriously looking into it about three or four years ago.”

In January, the building, which had stood on the corner for more than half a century, was knocked down.

Cantafio is redeveloping it into commercial and office space.

Construction has already broken ground and the multimillion-dollar project could be completed as early as October. The new space will be a three-storey building, but Ralph’s Custom Tailors is gone for good.

“I think for my dad and my mom, and even for my wife and I, it was bittersweet. But everything is an evolution and it’s exciting to move onward and upward,” Cantafio said.

That’s where Jon Blumberg and DJ Trudeau of Monopoly Realty — both former customers at Ralph’s — come into the picture. They’re in charge of finding tenants for the building and say spaces are already being snapped up.

“It was a staple in the community for a very long time. Even for the younger generation, whenever you would ask, ‘Where should I take my suit?’ The answer was always ‘Ralph’s,’” Blumberg said.

“You’d go there and he’d measure you up and make sure everything was perfect. And I think he’s taking that same strategy here: high-end, attention to detail.”

Trudeau said they’ve already got 50 per cent of the spaces leased out, with a hair salon secured to take over the first floor and a portion of the second. There are still two spaces left to rent out, however, including one with a rooftop patio.

The family hopes the building will turn into a new landmark in time, Trudeau said.

“It’s going to be a very eye-catching building. The overall architecture of the building is something a lot of thought went into. I genuinely think people will be proud to have it in the neighbourhood,” Trudeau said.

“You might drive past and wonder where Ralph’s is, but then you’ll see this beautiful, modern building, which speaks to where things are going in the city, and think, ‘What’s in there?’”

Cantafio said he hopes the building will be a legacy for his children, the same way his father left him Ralph’s Custom Tailors.

“I think my dad knows it’s something that’s going to live on. We’re still there in the same spot, just in a different capacity, in a different form. But it will live on for my kids now, and that’s the legacy we would like to leave for them,” Cantafio said.

Know of any newsworthy developments in the local office, retail, industrial or multi-family-residential sectors? Let us know at business@freepress.mb.ca.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe