Affordable flats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/11/2020 (1771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four years ago, the ribbon was cut on the Downtown Commons, a 102-unit apartment tower on Colony Street that prioritized affordable housing for students, newcomers, and low-income families. The University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation project was a modest hit: it leased out in a matter of months, and it showed Jeremy Read that there was definitely a need for more housing of its kind downtown.

“We wanted to do it again, and we knew there was a demand for it,” says Read, the corporation’s CEO.

Flash forward to September of this year, and the follow-up — Muse Flats — officially opened down the street, and began accepting tenants for its 119 units, 46 of which are classified as affordable according to provincial guidelines. Many units are barrier-free.

This time around, there was no ribbon-cutting, as the pandemic began surging in Winnipeg at the time of the opening. But that hasn’t slowed the interest: in only two months, with very few international students and newcomers — key demographics for the building — in town, the flats are 45 per cent occupied, with each of the 46 affordable units already snapped up, Read says.

Muse Flats, designed by architect Michael Maltzan (who also designed the soon-to-open Qaumajuq at the WAG) in collaboration with local firm Cibinel Architects Ltd., was made possible through a series of municipal, federal and provincial assistance programs, Read says. The Muse Flats are technically a project of UWCRC 2.0 Inc., a non-profit organization independent of the U of W.

The $30-million project was funded primarily through direct lending support under the federal government’s national housing strategy ($26.2 million) with $1.43 million coming from the province’s rental construction housing tax credit, and $250,000 from the City of Winnipeg’s housing rehabilitation investment reserve. Efficiency Manitoba also ponied up $240,000, and New Market Funds out of Vancouver pledged up to $1.3 million to the project through a program-related impact investment.

In a release sent out upon the building’s opening, Ahmed Hussen, the federal minister of families, children and social development praised the project, “especially at a time when housing is so central to our well-being.”

Read said the unique funding is effectively a grant in the millions, and the building wouldn’t happen without it. He called the national housing strategy an important initiative, especially given that COVID-19 has shown the critical value of federal support.

The apartment has two affordable housing programs. The first includes studio suites ($685 per month), one-bedroom ($988) and two-bedroom ($1,233), and tenants’ total household income for those units must be lower than the province’s rental housing program income limit for Winnipeg and the catchment area. The second — with rents ranging from $1,029 one-bedroom suits to $1,853 three-bed, two bath units — is based on established market rental rates for the property, less a 10 per cent rental discount, and are to remain at or below 30 per cent of the Winnipeg metropolitan area’s median household income.

Many units have in-suite laundry and all have central air and custom millwork. Internet and cable options are included, and each resident also has access to indoor bike storage. Plus, Read says UWCRC 2.0 struck a deal with Peg City Car Co-op to give all residents a membership. The corporation paid for a Level 2 charging station for hybrid vehicles, and in exchange, residents get access to the growing co-op’s vehicle network.

“It’s a real convenience, and part of what we wanted to do from an environmental perspective,” Read says.

The building has space allocated for four visiting artist suites — “Not many artists are visiting now, though,” Read says — through a partnership with ArtSpace Inc., and all residents have access to a ninth-floor common area as well as a sound-proof music room for practice and performance.

The art extends to the building’s exterior, where a public art piece by local artist Dee Barsy greets pedestrians at street level. The mural represents the Colony Street thoroughfare’s history, with the blue background representing the Colony Creek water systems that once ran through the site, according to Chloe Chafe, the co-director of Wall-to-Wall and Synonym Art Consultation.

Below the residential units, the building also has three bright commercial spaces with massive windows that look out onto the downtown commotion. Read envisions them as spaces for local entrepreneurs, including shops, cafés, or restaurants; he says there have been some nibbles, but he’s open to receiving calls from interested parties.

Residential units are still available.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca