Demolition on the table for 13-year-old housing complex in downtown Winnipeg

Manitoba Housing is entertaining proposals to redevelop downtown Winnipeg's vacant Centre Village housing complex — with demolition on the table for troubled 13-year-old project.

On Tuesday, the provincial agency launched a formal search for a non-profit organization, Indigenous group or government interested in developing at least 25 units of social and affordable housing at 575 Balmoral St., where Centre Village was built in 2010.

"Options for development include demolition and a new build or remediating the existing buildings on the site," reads the request for expressions of interest.

Carolyn Ryan, Manitoba Housing's acting director, said demolition may make more sense because it allows developers to build something larger than the existing complex and end up with more than 25 units in total.

"We could go bigger, which can only be done through demolition. And I think as I understand it, the building condition is continuing to deteriorate and so renovation or remodeling may not be an option," Ryan said Wednesday in an interview.

"I don't have a preference as to which way this goes, but I have a sense that demolition may be the preferred option, so we want to put that on the table as an option. It doesn't need to go that way, but we're open to it."

Centre Village was originally intended to serve as a co-operative for observant Muslim newcomers who could not obtain mortgages without violating a faith-based proscription against paying interest.

Downtown development agency CentreVenture, Central Park's Knox United Church, Manitoba Housing and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation spent $3.7 million on the project.

The co-op model, however, was abandoned and Manitoba Housing assumed the title in 2015.

The complex's whimsical design initially won three architectural awards but soon came under fire from tenants, critics and even some of its original proponents. 

The multi-storey apartment layout was derided as impractical and the exterior design, with its many nooks and crannies, was deemed unsafe in the context of the Central Park neighbourhood.

Centre Village gradually lost tenants until none were left by the end of 2021. Security fencing went up around the complex the following month.

"We understand from the neighbours that this has become a bit of a blight, so we've tried to move this along as quickly as we can," Ryan said.

News reports about the vacant property led to more than a dozen queries from organizations interested in acquiring the site, she added.

The architecture firm that designed it hopes to partner with a non-profit organization in the hopes of staving off demolition.

"We're going to take a hard look at it and see if we can bring it back to life," said Colin Neufeld, a partner at 5468796 Architecture.

He said he was disappointed to see demolition and new construction favoured by Manitoba Housing in its search.

"There are millions of dollars of value in there that would be discarded," he said.

The city assesses the property at $1.5 million, a figure that's less than a third of the capital sunk into the project when it was built.

"We went into it with optimism when we purchased the property from CentreVenture," Ryan said. "Our optimism was not well founded."