Canad Inns to work with city on heritage status of downtown building

Heritage status of building being discussed Canad Inns and city admin have one month to find a compromise over the heritage status of the Downtown Somerset building.

WINNIPEG — City administrators will attempt to find a compromise with Canad Inns over heritage status for the Downtown Somerset building.

In a tight 4-3 vote, Mayor Brian Bowman’s Executive Policy Committee directed the city’s property department to work with the company over the next month to find a solution.

Council has to give final approval for the 30-day delay.

Canad Inns purchased the building in 2018 with plans to connect it with the Raddison Hotel and the Met around the corner.

The campus-style project known as Canad Place could see new retail, restaurants, and hotel rooms in the Somerset.

But Canad Inns says a heritage designation recommendation, to protect some of the building’s facades, stairwells, and windows, is a financial impediment to its plans.

A report from the historical buildings committee says the nine-store, century-old building is made of brick with “stone accenting on a reinforced concrete structural system, representative of contemporary construction methods” and is “highly conspicuous” in downtown.