Blaze destroys historic Exchange District buildings

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This article was published 18/04/2012 (4389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fire destroyed two historic buildings on Albert Street and damaged a third Thursday morning while filling the Exchange District and downtown with a cloud of heavy smoke.

The fire tore through the Keng Hong Restaurant at 38 Albert Street and the neighbouring music co-operative War on Music, both housed in the historic Albert Street Business Block.  A space at 44 Albert was vacant.

"This is the heart of the Exchange, and it’s burning to the ground right now," said an emotional Jade Rennie-Harper, who works in the area. 

"People worked so hard to make these businesses happen and they’re such small businesses.  This is people’s lives that’s going up in smoke right now."

Charley Justice, one of the founders of War on Music, said the building contained records, CDs and other merchandise.  The business is insured and he’s hopeful it will survive, though he doubted the building would stand.

During the fire, the family that owns the restaurant showed up on scene, staring at the wreckage with glassy eyes and miserable expressions. Relatives didn’t want to comment to media.
 

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The buildings are part of the Albert Street Business Block, which contains one of Winnipeg’s oldest dwellings. The small strip had a few tiny storefronts built in the 1920s attached to a portion of a 135-year-old house.

Ken Zaifman, owner of the numbered company that owns the buildings, estimated damages at about $400,000.  The buildings will probably be demolished, he said.

“The buildings are destroyed,” said Zaifman, adding he was sad for the tenants who ran their businesses there.

“They had businesses and now those businesses can’t operate. It’s more my concern for them, than for the buildings themselves,” he said.

Zaifman had asked city council for permission to demolish the block in 2008 to make way for an expansion of the neighbouring St. Charles Hotel, which he also owns. He was granted permission to do so only if substantial renovations were conducted to the hotel itself.

Those renovations did not occur and the block remained untouched — until now.  Zaifman said he expects the fire means the new development proposed for the site will proceed more quickly.

"We’ll just have to move to redevelop the property a little faster than we originally planned,” he said.

Bill Clark, acting deputy chief of operations for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, said it’s not yet known what caused the fire or where it started.

“When we arrived the entire structure was completely involved in fire, and it spread throughout the building by the time we had arrived,” he said.

Firefighters were trying to prevent the fire from spreading to the neighbouring Royal Albert Arms Hotel, which suffered some smoke damage.

Clark said there were no injuries due to the fire, and said there was nothing to suggest the fire was deliberately set.

“I don’t even go there (until) we’ve had a chance to get our investigators in there,” said Clark.

Winnipeg Police issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the fire did not appear to be suspicious in nature.

Gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Tyler Walsh