Cornering Le Market

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This article was published 29/08/2022 (886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Out with the vieux, in with the nouveau.

On a prominent corner in St. Boniface, a local real estate development firm is nearly finished a 65-unit apartment block, a building the developer says will enliven and enrich the well-established neighbourhood and position it well for the future.

Jonathan Freed of Freedhome Developments told the Free Press that the lot at the intersection of Goulet and Des Meurons streets was an ideal location for the company’s first apartment development, which comes after some smaller-scale infill projects and years of real estate investment around the city.

About three years ago when the property went up for sale, it housed two longstanding businesses — an appliance shop, and a market aptly called Le Market. Yet despite the location, in close proximity to major amenities, restaurants, transit routes and downtown, Freed said it didn’t drum up a ton of interest. “It was for sale for some time, and I guess there weren’t many bites.”

Eventually, the property was removed from local listings, and Freed, whose family has been in business for more than 100 years in the city through its textiles company Freed & Freed, attempted to gain entrée in an off-market capacity.

The attempt was good. And after demolishing the extant buildings, development began in what Freed saw as a community on the cusp. Since the first rumblings of that deal, there has been significant change along the Marion strip: the Norwood Hotel underwent an enormous renovation; a surface lot nearby is becoming the 48-unit Les Suites Marion; and new restaurants and businesses have bolstered what was already a strip that punched above its weight.

That all boded well for Freed, 41, who said his company values infill development, building up the city’s core, and adding vibrancy to mature neighbourhoods. He said a major focus is “sidewalk architecture,” which promotes pedestrian use, a concept that lent itself well to the property. He said that area city councillor Matt Allard, as well as the Norwood Grove BIZ, were hugely supportive of the development, which the company has called Le Market in tribute to the former business that stood there.

“Infill itself is a challenging endeavour,” Freed said. “It’s a hot-button topic. Some people are vehemently against it, others are passionate for it.”

In the case of Le Market, he said the former either didn’t exist or stayed quiet; the support was overwhelming.

With only about two months until move-in, about 40 per cent of the 65 suites are pre-leased, and Freed anticipates that figure will continue climbing in the coming weeks, especially as the school year starts and many fixed-term leases end.

Designed by Winnipeg’s Number TEN Architectural Group, the building as it is intended to look certainly makes a bold impression. An art-deco-inspired street-facing facade, and a second-floor terrace, to be filled with greenery, will stand out. The developer is in the process of putting in new sidewalk along the frontage, which will be significantly wider than what was previously there. A heated underground parkade and a commercial-grade fitness centre will be available for tenant use.

“One facet of the development that we’re actually quite proud of is that we have in excess of a 1:1 parking spot-unit ratio at Le Market,” Freed said in an email. A “prevalent and contentious” issue that stems from infill development is the impact of parking and overflow onto residential streets, he added. The excess parking, he said, would help alleviate those concerns.

Freed said the use of materials such as brick and corten steel, with its weathered look, fit well within the neighbourhood and pay homage to its industrial roots. The inspiration for the second-floor terrace and podium design, he said, came in part from a trip to Chicago.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the main floor is set aside for commercial use, which Freed says will be of the local variety. “We really don’t want to see a national chain in there,” he said; there has been some interest already from a local salon. The other part of the grade-level space is allocated for a front lobby with 14-foot-high ceilings.

Upstairs, the 65 units are divided into one-bedroom plus flex space (20), two-bedroom (40) and three-bedroom (5) layouts, with rents ranging from $1,325 to $1,979, Freed said.

Freed credited Coun. Allard for championing the infill development, and reiterated that the community has been supportive of the project. That, plus the already growing interest in tenancy, speaks to the quality of the location and the concept, he said.

That support also has caused the company to look to St. Boniface for its next apartment project, a “rather large” development targeted to begin next year, which will echo the current project.

But first, in November, tenants begin to move in.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com