The waiting game

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This article was published 13/11/2023 (703 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mitch Fillion has completed more than $2.5 million in renovations inside The White House since he moved in, in 2004.

And while he stood by his valuation of the multimillion-dollar, multi-use residence on 234 Portage Ave. for more than three years, few bites on his listing have forced him to finally drop the price for the first time since it hit the market in October 2020.

The White House could originally be had for $3.5 million, but Fillion’s phone remained silent while the pandemic put the finishing touches on crippling the city’s core and rising interest rates made it less appealing to buy a home with a seven-figure price tag. That compelled Fillion to drop his ask to $2.95 million recently.

“I’ve always loved it here,” said Fillion, who conceded it’s been tough at times to remain patient while the housing market levels and downtown rebounds from the pandemic. “Some people who came to this place were disappointed that the main floor was not leased.

“For us, it’s a little touch-and-go because you’d figure if someone’s going to live here, they’d want to work in the same place. So you want someone that owns the whole thing and would operate the whole thing.”

The main floor of the nearly 4,000-square-foot building was leased by Aqua i Laser, an eye clinic and surgery centre, from 2007 until last year.

One intrigued buyer thought about converting the space into a hotel — an ironic idea since the laundry room was used as an extension of the Oxford Hotel that Fillion partially owned — but Fillion was more interested in a like-minded buyer. Others low-balled the asking price and were immediately declined.

“You never know if it’s going to go quickly or if it’s going to take a while,” said Lee Almstrom, an agent with RE/MAX who oversees the listing with her husband, Bruce Harvey.

“I suspected it was going to take a while and Mitch suspected it would take a while. We’re looking for a very specific buyer.”

A lack of interest is certainly not owing to the amenities that are inside The White House. The building’s unassuming exterior raises eyebrows once past the entryway, with cherrywood flooring, an indoor garage and two mezzanines, one of which leads to a rooftop with a garden, outdoor shower, fireplace and hot tub.

The White House was built in 1909 for real estate firm Oldfield, Kirby and Gardner and remained a commercial-use building until Fillion was handed the keys. The interior was a disaster at the time and in need of a major facelift.

As a part of the retrofit, Fillion, then a co-owner of Superb Entertainment who eventually took a stab a running for mayor in 2014, added two bedrooms, three bathrooms and redesigned the personal office spaces on the upper floors to create a space he could lease, work and stay.

The White House is a peculiar situation among multimillion-dollar properties. As a residential listing, it’s been on the market far too long, but as a commercial space in the city’s downtown, the wait could only be starting.

Despite the cost of living and houses skyrocketing over recent years, multimillion-dollar homes have fared well in 2023, according to the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board.

Since the calendar turned, 83 homes with a seven-figure listing price have sold — the second-highest sales activity for such homes in the last decade. For comparison, 2014 saw 20 million-dollar homes sold from January to October.

What’s more is multimillion-dollar homes are spending the second-lowest cumulative days since 2014.

“Part of it is we have more of those multimillion-dollar homes on the market,” said Rena Prefontaine, president of the WRREB. “The sales in Bridgwater and Charleswood and Tuxedo, there’s more expensive homes being built.

“Of course, as soon as you reach in the higher price range, the days on the market are definitely going to be affected,” she continued. “(Higher priced homes) are going to take longer regardless of where they’re located.”

Commercial spaces require sellers to take part in the waiting game.

Mark Thiessen, a commercial agent with RE/MAX, has sold two commercial buildings on Garry Street in the last two years. One took two years to move, the other took four. He agreed that The White House’s commercial space is likely what has made finding a prospective buyer so difficult, like so many sellers in the area are experiencing.

“It’s no different than when 201 Portage got built, it took downtown many years to rebuild and absorb the vacancy that was created by such a large building. Now, you couple that with the pandemic and higher interest rates, you have to be a pretty solid individual to finance a building downtown right now or be able to use it for your own business,” he said.

Downtown had more than 1.6 million square feet of vacant office space as of Oct. 4, according to a report by CBRE Canada.

“It may be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles,” Thiessen continued. “If you do have 30 buildings available for sale and a million square feet available for lease, not everybody can get activity.

“I don’t know of any that have come up downtown and sold immediately. I think they all take time. Depending on pricing and motivation and desire for your specific product, I think those all have an impact on how quickly it’ll move.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca