Residents evacuated from structurally unsound St. James apartment block to avert ‘potential disaster’ By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 12:23 PM CDT Friday, May. 10, 2024 Last Modified: 4:32 PM CDT Friday, May. 10, 2024 Updates

The sudden decision Thursday evening to evacuate about 250 residents of a Portage Avenue apartment complex was made to “prevent a potential disaster” after engineers determined the structure was at risk of collapsing.

“Collapse of the building is the biggest (concern)…. The engineers are unsure about how (that would happen) and what that would look like. Therefore, their recommendation was to evacuate the building as soon as possible,” Jason Shaw, deputy chief of emergency management for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, said Friday.

The owners of the five-storey, 171-suite Birchwood Terrace at 2440 Portage Ave. received the order to evacuate the property Thursday at 7:30 p.m. A team of Winnipeg Police Service and WFPS officials went door to door Friday, beginning at 8 a.m., to reach residents and help them move out, Shaw said.

The problem was detected by a third-party engineering inspection conducted on behalf of the building’s owner, who completely co-operated with the order, Shaw said.

“Over the course of (the) inspection, they uncovered severe deterioration of the building structure… the building is not safe to occupy at present,” he said.

It’s not clear when residents might be able return to the building. A city news release noted it could “take several months to address the identified structural issues.”

Specifically, Shaw said engineers determined columns that support the weight of the building are structurally unsound. He said he did not have any information on whether the building might need to be demolished.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the decision to evacuate the building was necessary to ensure tenants’ safety.

“We recognize that this is an unexpected situation for the residents. I want to assure (the residents) that the City of Winnipeg will continue to support you in any way that we can as you navigate this challenging time. The city will continue to work closely with the property owner to address the unsafe condition and address the safety of all residents. We understand the disruption and the uncertainty that this evacuation can cause for you and your families,” said Gillingham.

A reception centre at the Holiday Inn Airport West at 2520 Portage Ave. has been set up to connect tenants with housing, medical and mental health supports. The mayor said more than 50 evacuated residents had received help at the site by Friday morning.

Shaw said tenants’ needs will be assessed and the city may find hotel rooms for some of them, while others could choose to stay with family or friends.

He noted city bylaws guide safe building construction, while property owners are responsible for maintaining their buildings.

“The building owners are responsible for making sure that they take care of the structural integrity of their buildings,” he said.

In an email, city spokesman Kalen Qually said city inspections have not been required due to structural issues at the building in the past, though the city has inspected electrical and plumbing work at the site.

“The city does not conduct routine structural inspections. The Winnipeg Building Bylaw indicates the owner is responsible to ensure their building is maintained, which should include regularly scheduled inspections by individuals or professionals that they’ve retained,” wrote Qually.

The residents of about 30 to 40 nearby homes on part of Assiniboine Crescent have been placed on “evacuation watch.”

“Generally speaking, when we look at a building and the potential for a building collapse, we look at a larger area to be able to determine what the risk factors are,” said Shaw.

He believes this is the first large apartment block the city has had to evacuate due to the risk of collapse in at least two decades.

While some residents expressed frustration about the short notice they were given to leave their homes, Shaw said the city acted as quickly as possible after being notified of the issue by “end of day (Tuesday) May 7.”

“The second we were notified, we operated our emergency operations centre and we started… the process,” he said.

An emergency order obtained by the Free Press notes the Tuesday engineering assessment led the city to conduct site observations on Wednesday, which found “severe deterioration” in the parkade area that “affected the stability and performance of the building.”

Shaw said the apartment complex was constructed in the 1960s.

On Thursday, one of the building’s owners told the Free Press the issues were discovered in the building’s parkade.

“We had discovered one column where there was an issue with the steel, there was corrosion. We contacted our structural engineer right away,” Henry Borger said.

Borger couldn’t provide a timeline of when, or whether, tenants could return to their suites.

Neither he nor Lakewood Agencies, which operates Birchwood Terrace on behalf of Ladco, responded to requests for comment on Friday.

In a letter to tenants, Lakewood Agencies notes repairs can’t be completed while the building is occupied. It states leases are considered terminated, though tenants would have the first right of refusal to return to their suites following repairs.

— With files from Nicole Buffie

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga