New housing complex gets go-ahead

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This article was published 18/2/2019 (651 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City hall has given the green light to a local development company’s plans to break ground on a new 104-unit housing complex in the University Heights neighbourhood in the near future.

Plans for a proposed seven-storey, 104-unit residential complex near the University of Manitoba, which is being spearheaded by Paragon Design Build, were approved by the City of Winnipeg Assiniboia community committee on Feb. 4.

Nigel Furgus, president of Paragon Design Build, said everyone involved in the project is excited to break ground soon after finalizing a development deal with the city and getting final building permits — both of which are expected to happen shortly.

"The design-approval process took place and the design has been approved, so now we’re just waiting on the build permits and the development agreement, which typically goes pretty quick," Furgus said.

"We’ve mobilized the site, where fencing has gone up and we’ve started doing some site work, and we’re expecting to break ground in the next few months. Exactly when depends on a few variables, one of them being the weather."

The first order of business will be to knock down three single-family dwellings — at 30, 32 and 34 University Crescent — before construction begins, Furgus said. Those properties had to be rezoned by the city before the project got the green light.

The complex will have 63 one-bedroom units and 41 two-bedroom units ranging in size from 600 to 1,000 square feet. The building will also feature underground parking and two rooftop terraces.

Construction is expected to take between 14 and 18 months, Furgus said.

"We’ve gone after the empty nesters on the market, people downsizing in the area, but we also understand there are a lot of international students, and students of all sorts, that will be there as well," he said.

"We made the building so that it will be attractive to the whole community. We wanted it to be a gateway project to the University Heights area. We’ve stayed true to that, keeping a lot of elements that were originally on the building."

The developers are also committed to keeping the complex affordable. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has agreed to contribute financing on the project, and as a result, rent will be 10 per cent below the rental rate in the area for 10 years.

"The development group has worked very hard to bring the building in at a cost that meets the affordable rental program.

"So we’re trying to keep the rents at 10 per cent below the market, which we think is going to give us a competitive advantage over everyone else," Furgus said.

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ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca