St. Charles Hotel’s historic designation challenged in court

A Manitoba judge is considering a case that may determine the fate of the historic St. Charles Hotel in Winnipeg's Exchange District.

• St. Charles Hotel owner meets city deadline

Winnipeg immigration lawyer Ken Zaifman bought the 101-year-old Albert Street building in 2006 with plans to turn it into a boutique hotel.

He has more recently stated he wants to tear it down. A historic designation would make that much more difficult.

There was a historic designation on the hotels title since 1986, but an amendment to provincial regulations in 2010 required that caveat to be applied for once again.

Zaifman's lawyer argued in court Monday that the city was late in re-registering the historic designation on the title and therefore it should be taken off the list.

The city admits it missed the deadline on the St. Charles property by just over eight weeks.

Either we protect the land title system or excuse the city for being late," Zaifman's lawyer, Jamie Kagan, told Justice Chris Martin.

"The land titles system must be protected to have all caveats visible to those who use it," he added. "There is real mischief done to the land titles system if this is allowed to stand."

City of Winnipeg lawyer Markus Buchart argued Zaifman "certainly would have known this was an historical building."

Martin will deliver a ruling at a later date.