Approval sought for West Broadway complex

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This article was published 08/07/2019 (2388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A six-storey, 145-unit apartment complex planned for Winnipeg’s West Broadway neighbourhood could help fill a need for new housing in the city, a city councillor says.

The plan for the development at 206 Good St., between Broadway and Portage, will be voted on by the city centre community committee on Tuesday. The necessary zoning changes were approved earlier this year after receiving the green light from city planners.

“There hasn’t been really a substantial project like that in West Broadway since the 1980s, so that was an important moment,” said Sherri Rollins, councillor for the Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry ward in which the development will be built.

“There’s a need for housing across Winnipeg, and for rental properties and for multi-family, and for newer housing stock and newer apartment stock… It’s been decades since we’ve seen some development and newer apartment stock here,” Rollins added.

The apartments will be built by Springfield-based Ironclad Developments Inc., which has built a number of multi-family apartments in Winnipeg. The company’s design plan for Good Street focused on blending with the character of the neighbourhood, operations manager Doug McKay said on Ironclad’s behalf.

“It’s designed to not be a huge imposing presence on the street, but rather to be comprised of several smaller building forms,” McKay said. “It focuses on Good Street, it has stoops out front so that it fits in well with the existing neighbourhood street pattern for this area and Wolseley.”

Most apartment buildings in the area are either three-storey walk-ups or taller towers, McKay added.

“And we’re coming in right in between these. We’ve got a six-storey (building), so I think we’re fitting right comfortably into an open spot.”

The future apartment complex will combine a strip of eight empty lots into a single lot running along the west side of Good Street for almost 400 feet. Planned amenities will include a secure underground parkade along with some surface parking, plus a business centre, a gym and a bike lock-up. McKay said Ironclad is considering a theatre room for residents.

“It’s a real nice community-builder amenity… To see a friendly face when you come through the door, so it feels like home, is a big goal of ours.”

The upcoming apartment units will be mostly one- and two-bedroom suites, along with a smaller number of bachelor and three-bedroom units.

Exact rent prices have yet to be determined, McKay said, but the marketing term “affordable luxury” will likely apply.

Ironclad hopes to start construction by the end of this year, McKay said. If all goes as planned, the developer plans to have units for rent by the start of 2021. McKay said Ironclad expects strong demand for the new housing.

“We think that there’s all kinds of traffic generators — the University (of Winnipeg), we are walking distance to downtown, if anyone is into the cultural (attractions), we’re walking distance to the theatre at U of W and the Winnipeg Art Gallery complex, we’re walking distance to the legislative and the legal community… There’s a terrific variety of user groups there.”

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israel