Portage Avenue apartments undergo facelift

An aging St. James apartment complex is undergoing a major facelift.

Winpark-Dorchester is spending approximately $7 million to completely refurbish the Mount Royal and Silver Heights apartments on the north side of Portage Avenue.

The Mount Royal contains 24 completely renovated suites and is now available for viewing.

The Silver Heights apartment block, located right next door, has 112 suites that will be completed in three phases. The first group of suites will be available by November of this year. The remaining units should be completed by February 2009.

Arch Honigman, owner of Winpark-Dorchester, said the side-by-side complexes were build in the 1950s.

“They were very luxurious in the ’50s. Both buildings had doormen and they were very desirable,” he said.

Both blocks had deteriorated in recent years. Winpark-Dorchester bought them in 2006 with the intentions of renovating them.

The refurbished apartments will feature central air conditioning, new electric and plumbing lines, kitchen appliances and hardwood floors.

Honigman said the decision to renovate rather than demolish and rebuild was done for aesthetic and financial reasons.

“Rather than rebuild we wanted to retain some of the details that existed from the ’50s,” he said, pointing to the floor to ceiling windows as an example.

“It was probably cheaper to renovate because the cost of new construction has gone up so much in the last few years.”

Ian Dimerman, director of property management for Shindico Realty, said the high cost of construction is why new apartment buildings aren’t being built, despite the fact that rental vacancies in Winnipeg have been sitting at one per cent for years.

“Construction costs have gone through the roof,” Dimerman said. “It’s hard to build a solidly-built apartment complex and make it feasible. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of condos going up.”

Dimerman said renovating existing apartment buildings is becoming more popular, but “building from scratch just isn’t a viable option.” He said part of the reason is because building an apartment complex means the owner is responsible for the upkeep of the building, unlike with condo owners.

“With condos, the builder buys the land, sells the condos and then the condo holder takes over,” he said.

“It’s much like Waverley West. You build a house and you sell it and you’re out. You have no ongoing interest with it.”

Peter Squire, director of public affairs for WinnipegRealtors echoed Dimerman’s comments about recent housing trends.

“As realtors, some of our members are into the rental market, but most of our members are in the market of selling new homes or condos,” he said.

However, Squire said his organization views the scarcity of apartment units in Winnipeg as a real problem.

“We are concerned about the real shortage of rental supply in this city,” Squire said.

“Vacancy rates are sitting around one per cent, and depending on what part of town your in and what kind of unit you’re looking for, not everyone can afford or wants to buy a home and people should have that choice.”

Squire blames Manitoba’s rent control guidelines for stifling the growth of the rental industry. He said when a tenant vacates a property, landlords should be able to renovate the apartment and then charge whatever they think reflects the value of the renovations.

“When someone voluntarily leaves their unit, landlords should be free to renovate that property as they wish and then put any price on it that they wish. Then after that the apartment would fall back under the guidelines or two per cent or three percent,” Squire said.

Currently in Manitoba, landlords must give tenants three months notice before raising rent a maximum of 2.5 per cent. This can only be done once a year, although there are some exceptions.