The city is ordering residents of a Portage Avenue apartment block to vacate the building due to its unsafe condition.
In a release sent out Thursday night, the city says residents are ordered to leave Birchwood Terrace in the 2400 block of Portage Avenue under the Winnipeg Building By-law and Emergency Management By-law after a recent inspection uncovered severe deterioration in various locations.
More than 200 people live in the 171-unit building that was built in the 1960s.
The timeline for repairs is unknown, but the city says it may take several months to identify the issues.
Henry Borger of Lakewood Agencies, which owns the building, says it’s a structural issue in the parkade.
“About six weeks ago, we had a reason to look at one of our columns and we thought it was not a major concern,” said Borger. “But when we saw there was a significant amount of corrosion, we called in our structural engineer.”
The engineer assessed the situation and looked at other columns and determined the stability of the building was unsafe.
“This is gut-wrenching,” Borger said. “This is a lot of people having to uproot their lives and I’m at a loss. But I am thankful we found this.”
Residents Global News spoke to Thursday night said they hadn’t been informed of the structural issues and are disappointed with a lack of answers they were given so far.
Apartment residents were notified around 8 p.m. Thursday that they’d have to vacate at 8 a.m. Friday due to what the city calls “severe” structural concerns. Many voiced their displeasure to Henry Borger, of Lakewood Agencies, which owns the building.
Melissa Ridgen / Global News
Borger says residents will have to begin leaving at 8 a.m. Friday morning and a reception centre is being established to help residents who do not have temporary accommodations.
Many were scrambling to leave Thursday night after being notified the building was unsafe.
Carrie Shier was in tears when her sister and dad arrived to help her. She said many residents are elderly and on disability.
“It is very bad,” she said, adding.
Carol Lynch planned to stay the night then hit the road with a friend who is a trucker, having nowhere else to go.
“I have a dog so pet-friendly is even harder to find,” Lynch said.
She said some residents weren’t home when notifications were issued to vacate but word spread fast.
Several told Global News the building would often make loud noises. Many dismissed it as airplane traffic overhead.
“It goes really loud … it goes ‘bang, bang’ when it’s 30-below. It sounds like a steel beam breaking,” Lynch said.
The building closure comes at a time when Winnipeg is struggling with a low vacancy rate and affordable housing is in short supply.
Lynch says many know they won’t be allowed back in after 8 a.m. tomorrow but have no means to get their belongings out and nowhere to store them anyway.
She says she was told they’ll get May’s rent and their damage deposits back — about $2000. Not enough to find a new place to live and replace belongings they couldn’t take with them.
Portage Avenue was lined with cars well into the night as some had friends or family help them leave.
Meanwhile, residents in neighbouring properties along Assiniboine Crescent are on evacuation watch, and are asked to prepare to evacuate if and when the structural conditions of the apartment building necessitates it.
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