Excitement around The Bend

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This article was published 08/05/2023 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What started as a pipe dream more than eight years ago — and felt as such by its developers at many points since — is set to become one of the biggest recent additions to the Exchange District, by the end of summer.

The four-year makeover of the old Great West Metal building between Pacific Avenue and Alexander Avenue, and the erection of a new residential development that will wrap around the heritage building, is 85 per cent complete and will be ready for occupancy beginning in July.

The interlocking properties that face Waterfront Drive, just north of the Mere Hotel, will house 206 apartment suites — 27 in the heritage building — ranging from studio to two-bedroom units, and 6,000 square feet of commercial space in the refurbished site.

Calgary developers Alkarim Devani and his brother Afshin (their company is called RNDSQR) have named their first project in the Manitoba capital The Bend, in homage to its location along the curve of the Red River and the fact that the building itself bends.

A phased occupancy will begin in July, with units in the heritage building filling first before suites in the new development will fill in August and September.

“It’s funny, these things obviously take a lot of time from ideation, you create it once in your mind then you create it once on paper,” Alkarim said in an earlier interview with the Free Press. “But as a team that’s not native to Winnipeg, we’ve really enjoyed being a part of this community and having folks both architecturally, design consultants, they’ve just been incredibly awesome to work with.

“It’s been really refreshing to work with the folks in Winnipeg and we faced the worst winter, the worst spring — we’ve had record rainfalls and record snowfalls — and, obviously, go through a pandemic and we’re still really proud of coming out of this thing.”

“No question, it’s been a journey,” he added, “but I think the vision that we set forth has really come to light and we’re really excited about the units and, obviously, helping further round out the Exchange, being a part of such an incredible neighbourhood.”

The heritage building was originally supposed to feature more than 16,000 square feet of commercial/office space, but the developers said they felt the office sector had already been well-supplemented, leading them to add more residential space.

The hope, Alkarim said, is the commercial space and open-air courtyards will draw more patrons to the east side of the Exchange District.

“For us, we were very cognizant of the fact that the Exchange is a very special place — I think that’s actually what drew us to that neighbourhood,” he said. “We’ve really started to see that side of that community evolve with Nonsuch (Brewing Co.), (Patent 5 Distillery) down the road, so we just felt like this is another amazing addition.

David Pensato, executive director for the Exchange District BIZ, echoed Alkarim’s sentiments about what another residential development could do for the area.

“It’s very exciting and it goes to show the resilience of the Exchange District as a neighbourhood within the downtown, Pensato said. “We have a number of developments on the go, it hasn’t really stopped.

“There’s definitely still a lot of interest from developers and the reason for that is because there’s still a lot of interest from people who want to live in the Exchange District.”

And there is plenty of intent on adding to the number of attractions available to visitors and area residents. Pensato noted a number of ideas for the neighbourhood were tabled by the Exchange District BIZ during the formation of the Downtown Recovery Strategy in February 2022, including some options to reactivate the Alexander Docks.

The organization also pinned Alexander Street as a potential spot to do a shared street, which has received support from nearby businesses and property owners.

“One of the things that we learned through that is that people really see the future of this area as being a complete community and I think projects like this one are just another stepping stone towards that. I think you’re going to see projects like this not only continue but accelerate in the near future,” Pensato said.

The new building is certainly an eye-grabber and is easily distinguishable, owing to its sleek cladding design. Brett Garneau, development manager with RNDSQR, said the cladding system is “fairly innovative,” in that it’s not something that Winnipeggers will have seen much of before.

“Given the scope and scale of the building, we wanted to come forth with a cladding system that was unique and different and not just normal stucco. So, something that was economical but pretty cool and we wanted to try something new and we think it worked out really well actually,” Garneau said.

Added Alkarim: “I feel like there’s two ways to build within heritage communities. There’s either trying to be like the heritage, and we took the approach that we want the heritage to have a really juxtaposition so it stands out and is recognized as this amazing, beautiful landmark within this development.

“It’s really about highlighting the green spaces, highlighting the heritage component and hopefully… it can last as long as the heritage building has been around.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca