The Number 12 Fire Hall on Grosvenor in River Heights

The CBC reported last week that Shindico had placed an ad on their website indicating they were leasing the Number 12 Fire Hall. The ad had floor plans and interior pictures indicating exclusive access for the real estate company.

Keep in mind that the property and other empty fire halls had received no public notice indicating their sale and dispersal.

I was aware that a swap of property was under way months ago but city officials assured me that a deal had not been reached. I did not know who was the primary in the swap just that someone had given up a chunk of property for a new fire hall and was asking for a cash and land deal. In hindsight, I ought to have guessed it was Shindico since they owned the land where the new Taylor Avenue fire hall sits.

In principle, I am not against land transfers but it does strike me that it is hard to say what the market would pay for a property if it is never offered. City Councillor John Orlikow was told that the land was not declared surplus. The councillor's office had referred me to city officials several weeks ago where I was told that they were in negotiations for a land transfer. I am not sure how the councillor was caught flat footed and not know it was being disposed of.

And apparently, there is more than one fire hall being negotiated for. The list also includes the stations at Mulvey and Berry Street.

CBC reports this deal has been two years in the making. The 55 year old fire hall has been in play since then but no official settlement has been reached. The head of the property department says the land should not have been advertised as yet and indicated that Shindico was being "aggressive." However, the city official did indicate that the properties had been declared surplus in a council meeting.

John Orlikow says there is a process and indeed he is correct. A vote awaits on final sale or transfer of the property. However, he did seem shocked or didn't seem to recall the land had been declared surplus in a council meeting.

The old Sir John Franklin Community Club originally sold the piece of land to the city for $1 for the fire hall. I don't know if there were any provisos on the sale like there are on the Public Safety Building. Still, the club, recently amalgamated with Crescentwood and River Heights, was also interested in re-acquiring the land.

As indicated, I made a query about the fire hall on behalf of a third party. I had backed off when told that there was negotiations under way and was waiting to hear the city make an official announcement. If a land transfer was announced, I was expecting to hear more about the future of the fire hall. At the very least, I thought I would be able to tell the third party who they needed to contact to talk about leasing or buying.

The CBC made the link to Shindico owners and Sam Katz being business partners in the Goldeyes.  This is not the first time this has been mentioned and it won't be the last. I don't know that any undue influence has occurred here. On the face of it, I'd say no. Shindico had land, the city needed land. Still, with so many financial deals going on, the city needs to be an open and transparent as it can be.

This is also not the first time Shindico has acted ahead of the action. They listed the Winnipeg Square parkade for sale long before the city decided to sell or who would do the selling. There was a tonne of grumbling back then from other real estate companies and city officials. Shindico apologized and said it was just testing the market for the parking lot. This is a bit disingenuous. It is like listing City Hall for sale and then going; Oops! The company laughed all the way to to the bank because they eventually did get the sale and netted a $500,000 commission.

Shindico didn't get to be where they are by being mild. The city can be painfully slow to move but there is a process and if it isn't followed, there can be issues. One big example is the sign that went up on the Boyd Building. There is no doubt the owners thought they would get away with putting it up and that the city would cave in. They didn't.

The city and interested investors need to make sure things follow a protocol. There are many properties that will be coming up for sale soon. Police buildings, golf courses and the like. There can be no more oops moments where suddenly all the golf courses end up on a real estate site for sale.

Be transparent and keep people informed. Nothing worse than feeling that only insiders know what is happening or can make deals.

To close off, I hope the fire halls end up being useful. I think they can.

Boyd Building Spanking?

1. That a Certificate of Suitability not be issued to maintain an existing, but unapproved, Electronic Messaging Centre sign at 388 Portage Avenue, as it is not compatible with the existing heritage building

This was added to the January 11, 2011 Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development Regular Meeting Agenda

The owners of the Boyd Building decided to kick City Council in the groin. The decided to build their electronic sign with no city approval and have dared council to do anything about it.

These owners have managed to turn any goodwill their purchase of the Boyd Building had a few years ago into hostility. They don't seem to care about promises they made on a parkade and turned the land next to their building into a surface lot right up to the sidewalk. They didn't seem to think the rules on signs applied to them and built their sign and started running ads right away annoying residents and distracting motorists.

It remains to be seen whether this city council will tell them they have gone too far.

Perhaps this council will say that rules were broken and will order the sign taken down.

Or they might approve it despite what their own civil servants advise. We'll see tomorrow.

Owners Who Don't Give A Crap - Boyd Building

CBC pictures of Boyd Building LED billboard

What do you do about owners who never do what they say they are going to do and go ahead with stuff without even bothering to do it the legal way?

In 2009, the new owners of the Boyd Building made bold promises of renovations and a parkade in the old Merchant's Park space used by the Downtown Biz for entertaiment purposes until a buyer could be found.

Less than a year later the Downtown Biz felt burned.

The new ownership group, which includes lawyer Ken Carroll and Armik Babakhanians of Caspian Construction, also purchased the nearby Boyd Building -- a 97-year-old, nine-storey commercial tower -- and another property adjacent to the former park space.

After that, however, the space known as Merchants Park between Portage Avenue buildings -- once home to benches, art, paving stones and ashtrays for a public rest area and community gatherings -- became a makeshift parking lot following the owners' request that the BIZ remove the decorative amenities.

Grande said the BIZ gladly cleaned out the space because it thought construction was to occur. Then, he said, at least three large trees were pulled out of the lot -- by whom, the BIZ isn't certain -- and simply tossed in a nearby back lane.

The tree-dumping, Grande said, is as "mind-boggling" as the site's new use.

"We don't want more parking lots -- definitely not gravel parking lots," he said. "And cars are parked almost right up to the sidewalk. Everything we know about creating wonderful downtowns is contravened."

There is still no parkade there and I never heard any resolution to the issue of a surface parking lot.

Today the CBC reports that the Boyd Building owners have put up a LED sign on the side of the building as of October. I was curious as to when it got approved because there was no indication that it had gone before council.

Well, the answer to that question is that it never did go before council.

CBC News has learned the sign, installed on the 98-year-old Portage Avenue building in October, was put up illegally.

The city's historical buildings committee declined a request by the Boyd building's owner to erect the sign, and Coun. Harvey Smith said city inspectors have told the owners to get the sign approved.

"It has to go to the standing committee [on property and development], and I will appear there and oppose it," Smith said. "So, it's a good chance, you know, that we can put an end to this."

The sign is indeed bright and residents have been complaining about it even a full block away or more. It certainly draws the eye upward even when driving.

Complaints about the sign brightness aside, the owners of the building don't seem to be keeping their promise on the parkade and don't seem to consult or seek permission from council for what they do. What was done was illegal and shows the owners either didn't give a crap or figured council would cave on giving permission.

Portage Avenue Part 4 Boyd Building

On the day before Christmas, the Free Press reported that investors had bought the Boyd Building. The investors also bought the two adjacent properties.

The building was constructed in 1912 and stands 9 stories tall. From about 1913 on, the Boyd has housed medical and dental offices. This remains true today although the building has been in need of a little upgrading for some time. A list of some of the businesses that have occupied the tower is here.

The new owners are also the builders of the Canada Post sorting plant being built at the airport.

In the Free Press story said the owners have come up with a $30 million proposal to renovate the building but also construct a 420 parking stall on the two adjacent properties, one of which is a vacant lot. The parkade would be 12 stories tall, slightly lower than the Boyd building itself.

The picture in the Free Press indicates that a lab and pharmacy would occupy the first two floors of the building and the other 10 floors would be parking.

Given what we have seen with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority building on Main Street, I believe the city should be very cautious about how this parking lot will look relative to the the streetscape. Moreover, access to the parking lot has to be given careful consideration. I am curious to see where the parking entrances and exits will be for the parkade.

The renovation and new construction of the Boyd might be very good or very bad. City Hall needs to make sure that Portage doesn't become more of an eyesore with a dreary parkade facade and ill thought out entrances to the lot.



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