Winnipeg | 291 Bannatyne Ave | Maws Garage & Sanford Building | In Development
 

Maws Garage & Sanford Building
Location: 291 Bannatyne Ave
Developer: RIDGIX Building Solutions Inc
Architect: Northern Sky Architecture Inc
Status: In development
Documents: VARIANCE: 25-130698/B-April 24, 2025 | Appeal–June 11, 2025 | Heritage Permit Application | Historical Reports for Buildings
Project Thread
Media:

• Neighbours concerned by redevelopment plan for Exchange District building-CTV Winnipeg
• Apartment, commercial space proposal for historic Exchange buildings moves a step forward–Winnipeg Free Press

Description: New 9 Storey 115 Unit residential addition above both the Maws Garage and Sanford Buildings. Includes the redevelopment of the main floor of Maws Garage into 2 new CRU's and 36 automated parking stalls. The main floor of the Sanford Building will be redeveloped into a new CRU space, a new lobby entry, elevators and support spaces. The existing foundation and structural framing systems in both these original buildings will not be affected or altered for this project other than the steel trusses over the Maws Garage which will be refurbished and reinforced to meet current code for life safety for the CRU space below. Several frames will be relocated to help reinforce the exposed roof portion of Maws Garage. The new addition will be supported on new micro piles with no new load on the existing buildings. New facades both sides of Maws Garage.
Permits:
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Public notice of decision
On April 11, 2025 the Director of the Planning, Property and Development Department approved a heritage permit application to redevelop 291 Bannatyne Avenue (Sanford Building and Maw's Garage). This approval does not follow Historical Buildings and Resources Committee (HBRC) advice.

The HBRC advised the public service to not support the application. The proposed building additions were not considered to be subordinate to the heritage buildings. They felt that this part of the project did not follow Standard 11 of the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, which says:

“Conserve the heritage value and character-defining elements when creating any new additions to an historic place or any related new construction. Make the new work physically and visually compatible with, subordinate to, and distinguishable from the historic place.”

Winnipeg residents can appeal the Director’s decision by sending a letter of appeal. You can also attend the appeal hearing and may speak in delegation.

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thankfully the design has changed...I am still very opposed to building fake old buildings in the exchange district.

We should leave heritage buildings alone in the national historic site in my opinion. An addition is fine if done sensitively, but ten storey fake old buildings on top of one storey real heritage buildings with the facades glued on like wallpaper is damaging to the district.

Idk, isn't this densification done well? It takes underused heritage buildings and puts people in one of densest parts of the city. If those finishes are all masonry and brick, why not? Seems respectful to the local context. If anything, I'd hope they'd go a little more faux-old (or traditional from a different perspective) and add some nice ornamentation for the cornices. Atm maws garage is a shell where people and pigeons piss, seems like a good upgrade to me.

curious that the floor plans seems to show the tower set back four feet but the elevations do not.

Yeah I’m not with Vike on this one, wasted space made useful is more important to me in these sorts of scenarios as long as the finish is done properly and enforced thusly.

^ fake old buildings is precisely what Heritage is requiring of this project. They just want something that is shorter.

Main floor commercial on all fronts, including restoration of the Maws garage facade for the shell of a building which is currently used for... parking. And has been since what, the past 50 years or more?

the renderings I saw were literally a suburban building with big balconies....this is very different, thankfully.

I believe that the exchange district buildings are a treasure and as a collective make one of the most special urban neighbourhoods in the country. We shouldn't be tearing them apart and adding replicas of old buildings on top of them....additions should be subservient to the heritage, not overwhelming to it.

New buildings on parking lots is different.

I definitely like that improvement.

I'm against fake old, and I don't like facadism, but this it at least a vast improvement from the original. I wish developers of this type would fill the other side of downtown, not try to infill the most sensitive areas of national historic sites. we are so lucky to have the exchange district....every intervention should be special.

The drawings look interesting, bit it would be nice to see photos of the proposed facade materials to see how closely they would approximate the vintage materials. If they come across as obvious fakery then I'd be against it, but if they can make it look decently "vintage" I don't have a problem with these plans. I like the two different colours of the buildings.

As long as the faux historical facade is done fully in brick I'm happy with it.

Same here.

you have to remember that it will not look like an old building. The walls of heritage buildings are 3 feet thick and the windows deep set. This will have 4 inch thick brick walls and the windows will be shallow on the facade.

it will have this kind of vibe

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thank God it's not EIFS though.

Thank goodness the parking lot on the King side is included. If done well, this will greatly improve that block. fingers crossed!

Yeah, I think this would be a major improvement. It basically builds on top of underused one story heritage structures by creating tasteful density. I can’t see anything wrong with what’s being proposed here.

Three feet thick on the foundation maybe. The exterior walls will vary from 12 to 24 inches depending on the number of brick courses thick it is. But they thin out as you go up. I've done several repurposing projects with exchange buildings over the years.

But, you do know that Heritage has a requirement for window setback as well. That being said, these new builds will also have a thick wall assembly.

4" brick + 1" airspace + 4 to 6" of insulation + plus a 4 to 6" steel stud back up + 0.5" drywall. That adds up to about a 17.5" thick assembly leaving lots of room to set the windows back from the outside.

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faux modern heritage on the cheap is appalling to architects but tends to disappear visually for everyone else

above is a late 80s building in toronto (it's a supportive housing development) that was built to try and match/echo design elements from the neighbouring buildings. it's unsuccessful, but it sort of doesn't really matter. same with the mckim building tbh.

Looking at Google Street View, Maws garage and the Exchange Event Centre are currently in a sad state. Peeling paint, windows boarded up, missing bricks, dented metal flashing, pigeon feces … This proposal looks like a huge improvement over the current state. I’m excited to see the heritage elements restored while adding some density to the area.

This is possibly me being ignorant, but I'm surprised 3D printing isn't used more to replicate authentic-looking vintage building elements. Maybe it's cost-prohibitive, but I'd think that some clever boots should be able to scan and replicate things like mouldings and cornices in a way that looks more authentic than the clumsy-looking roof they have on the McKim (aka "big 4 sales") building.