Near 100-year-old downtown Windsor office building converted into residential units, soon accepting tenants

A 100-year-old security building in Windsor is set to be turned into apartments in the downtown.

New life for a former office building that’s stood for nearly 100 years in downtown Windsor.

The Security Building at 267 Pelissier Street at the corner of University Avenue West is a 10-story Art Deco structure that was built in 1927 as an office building, but a developer from London has now converted it into 31 residential units.

The first couple of the floors will have office space, but there will also be social space and a gym, while the residential space begins on the third floor.

Chair of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association Chris MacLeod has toured the new units and says the plans for the building go back around four years, but the work inside has been going on for around 24 months.

The living space inside a two-bedroom apartment in the Security Building in Windsor.(Photo:

MacLeod says millions of dollars have been invested and it’s taken a lot of work with just the improvements to the mechanical, heating, and cooling systems, replacing the old boiler system, and work on the elevator.

“I think people look at buildings and say, ‘Well geez, it must be less expensive to do a conversion than it is to do a building from brand new.’ It really isn’t; it does take a ton of work,” he says. “I think what’s phenomenal about it is that you’re able to preserve a building of incredible architecture and give it new life.”

MacLeod says the solution to several issues in the core is getting more people living downtown in places like this.

“It creates demand for businesses, which is going to fill vacant commercial spaces. So, these conversions and any addition of residential downtown are exactly the cure for a lot of the things that we all know are happening,” he says.

Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino, who represents downtown, says it’s another step in the right direction for the core.

“You have more people living downtown; you’re going to need a grocery store; you’re going to need a hardware store. My goal is to make downtown the most vibrant neighbourhood in Canada. To do that, you need more people living there. You have a lot of office towers that desperately need new life; this is one of them. I used to have an office on the 9th floor. I love that building,” he says.

The building, which is right across the street from the Capitol Theatre, will feature one-bedroom apartments going for $1,600 per month plus utilities and two-bedroom apartments set at $1,800 per month plus utilities.

True North Tenant Solutions is handling the lease applications from tenants looking to move in as of April 1.