Seniors housing to replace Misericordia resource centre

The Misericordia Education and Resource Centre is slated to fall before the wrecking ball to make room for a 10-storey seniors living complex.

"Today, affordable assisted living for seniors is really needed in our neighbourhood," Heidi Klaschka, spokeswoman for Misericordia Health Centre, property owner of the resource centre at 691 Wolseley Ave., said Thursday in an e-mail.

A 2014 report studied how to make better use of the current six-storey resource centre, which Klaschka said is 80 per cent vacant, despite housing four non-profits and acting as storage space for the health centre located across the street.

She said Misericordia opted to build a new structure after the report (which is not publicly available) concluded it would cost more than $7 million to bring the nearly 60-year-old building up to code through mechanical and electrical upgrades(such as a new sprinkler system).

Klaschka said Misericordia started working with developers in 2016. The main developer is the non-profit Misericordia Corporation, but it has hired a local development team that includes real estate consulting firm Kastes Planning & Development, Raymond SC Wan Architect Inc., and construction company Concord Projects Ltd.

The project is awaiting the approval of Winnipeg city council.

Demolition of the resource centre means its tenants — CancerCare Manitoba's Breast & Gyne Centre of Hope, Broadway Seniors Resource Council Inc., Serena Manitoba, and Wolseley Family Place — have to find new spaces.

Crossways in Common announced this week Wolseley Family Place, a non-profit that focuses on helping families and children, will next month move into its building on Furby Street in West Broadway.

Wolseley Family Place executive director Emma Fineblit said the new space has on-site child care, as well as a commercial kitchen the non-profit will utilize for its catering program. She noted the new location "is a bit smaller, so we need to be more efficient."

Fineblit said Wolseley Family Place's last day of operation at the resource centre is Friday, and there is no firm re-opening date after it relocates.

In a statement to the Free Press, a spokesperson for CancerCare Manitoba said its centre is finalizing plans for a short-term temporary location, but could not say where the space is, nor when moving day will be.

Serena Manitoba and Broadway Seniors Resource Council could not be reached for comment.

According to Klaschka, all tenants told Misericordia they will be moved out by mid-October. Demolition could start as early as December.

The proposed living facility will have 97 suites, and residents will pay rent to the Misericordia Corporation.

Klaschka said all units will have rental prices 20 per cent below market value, while at least 29 units (minimum 30 per cent of the suites) will be priced further below market value.

The assisted living centre will operate strictly as a not-for-profit, with all operating surpluses being reinvested into the facility, Misericordia said.

nicholas.frew@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @n_frew