City orders residents of Portage Avenue apartment block to vacate over unsafe conditions

The city is ordering residents of a Portage Avenue apartment block to vacate the building due to its unsafe condition.

In a release sent out Thursday night, the city says residents are ordered to leave Birchwood Terrace in the 2400 block of Portage Avenue under the Winnipeg Building By-law and Emergency Management By-law after a recent inspection uncovered severe deterioration in various locations.

More than 200 people live in the 171-unit building that was built in the 1960s.

The timeline for repairs is unknown, but the city says it may take several months to identify the issues.

Henry Borger of Lakewood Agencies, which owns the building, says it’s a structural issue in the parkade.

“About six weeks ago, we had a reason to look at one of our columns and we thought it was not a major concern,” said Borger. “But when we saw there was a significant amount of corrosion, we called in our structural engineer.”

The engineer assessed the situation and looked at other columns and determined the stability of the building was unsafe.

“This is gut-wrenching,” Borger said. “This is a lot of people having to uproot their lives and I’m at a loss. But I am thankful we found this.”

Residents Global News spoke to Thursday night said they hadn’t been informed of the structural issues and are disappointed with a lack of answers they were given so far.

Borger says residents will have to begin leaving at 8 a.m. Friday morning and a reception centre is being established to help residents who do not have temporary accommodations.

Meanwhile, residents in neighbouring properties along Assiniboine Avenue are on evacuation watch, and are asked to prepare to evacuate if and when the structural conditions of the apartment building necessitates it.

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