City of Winnipeg orders evacuation of Exchange District heritage building over fears of collapse

Building owner frustrated at city order to vacate Jeff Keele has details on a building owner’s frustrations after the city ordered him to vacate his property over fears of structural damage.

A heritage building in Winnipeg's Exchange District had to be vacated over concerns a damaged beam could lead to a potential collapse.

The building's owner Dennis Boyko contacted an engineer to examine a crushed beam on the sixth floor at 92 Arthur Street. The engineer then reported the problem to the city.

“To me, that's pretty serious stuff. You don't want the building collapsing with people in it," said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West).

Last month, city inspectors determined the damage was so severe there was a risk of the building collapsing. They ordered the property be vacated and a temporary fix made within five days.

"We found a number of other issues in areas of concern that we issued an order to mitigate an unsafe condition," said Kelly Happychuk, chief of enforcement and investigation.

The beam has been shored up with posts until a permanent fix can be done. While the city is satisfied things are now safe, Boyko is not. He appealed the order to make a point.

"This was a very stressful period for me,” he said.

Boyko said five days was not enough time to get the work done. He struggled to get in touch with someone from the property department to let them know he would need another day or two to comply.

On top of that, he doubted the claims the building could have collapsed and said he suffered financially when he had to vacate the premises for a few days and shut down his book business on the ground floor.

"This was one deficient beam. I can't understand how the one deficient beam would bring down, implode the entire building,” Boyko said.

The city said it sets hard dates in order for people to follow through with orders, to not let them lapse.

While councillors on the property committee denied the appeal, they sympathized with Boyko over the lack of communication.

Cindy Tugwell from Heritage Winnipeg said the process needs to be improved, adding the city should look at grants to incentivize owners of Exchange heritage properties to upkeep their buildings.

"We're in a crisis now where a lot of the buildings in the Exchange need a lot of work for maintaining them for the next decade,” Tugwell said.