Winnipeg's Lions Place renamed as new, private ownership meets with residents

Winnipeg's Lions Place is officially under new ownership and has been given a new name, but questions still swirl among residents about the future of the former non-profit housing complex.

Calgary-based Mainstreet Equity Corp. held a meeting with residents on Thursday after officially taking ownership of the apartment building, which has been renamed The Residences at Portage Commons, according to resident Gerald Brown.

"No more Lions Place. That's gone as of noon yesterday," he told CBC Thursday.

Mainstreet's vice president fielded questions at the meeting, said Brown, promising tenants that they won't be evicted and their rent payments won't rise.

"Any of the suites that are vacant in here will be upgraded to their standard and then will be put on the market, at new market value. Whatever that is," Brown said.

While Brown said residents left the meeting much more relaxed, he's waiting to see if Mainstreet will live up to its promises.

"We've heard what they said, now let's see if their actions match their words," he said.

The Manitoba government is providing $1.2 million in subsidies over two years to Mainstreet so residents won't have to pay more in rent, but that doesn't mean Mainstreet can't apply to the Residential Tenancies Branch for a rent increase in the future.

Some residents wonder what will happen once provincial funds run out.

"Where do we go from there? Or is it just two years for us to find another place to live?" Kerry Smith asked.

Smith, 59, lived at the former Lions Place building for the last two years with his 89-year-old mother, and may consider moving elsewhere after the introduction of private owners.

"We don't know what to find from the new owners, or what their rules are. I guess we'll be finding that out very soon."

'Wait and see'

CBC attempted to get into the residents-only meeting on Thursday to observe, but was turned away at the door. So was home care worker Vicki Rempel, who visits seniors she's cared for in the past at the apartment.

She wonders why the publicly-funded building was purchased by a private owner, instead of the province or another not-for-profit organization.

"We have to step up for our seniors, and this is a giant step backwards," Rempel told CBC on Thursday.

"This has been a really good place for seniors," she said. "It would be a shame for seniors to be taken out of something that was built, maintained and funded for them."

The complex is Mainstreet's third property in Winnipeg. The company's website lists Moxam Court Apartments at 280 River Ave. and The Princeton at 314 Broadway as Mainstreet properties.

On its website, Mainstreet said "we buy under-performing mid-sized apartment buildings at low cost. We improve them, often dramatically, before placing them back on the market at rates that reflect their increased value."

Brown said that has some residents concerned their monthly rents will eventually rise above the $844 they currently pay. He's also unsure of what will happen to his building after the next two years.

"There's lots of questions about what it's going to be like two years from now," he said.

"Well, we don't know. We're going to have to wait and see."