Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
To the joy of many folks stuck in low-income housing — or worse, with no home of their own — Massey Manor has opened to tenants.
Finally.
As the Brandon Sun reported yesterday, new tenants for the historic building began moving in on Thursday, with arms full of furniture and smiles on their faces.
“It just feels better to have our own place now because we did face homelessness for a while in August,” said Heather Sharpe, who moved in with her 16-year-old daughter this week.
Sharpe, and many others like her, stand to benefit from the beautifully restored and refurbished old warehouse.
Set in the four-storey 92-year-old structure formerly known as the Massey-Harris building, the $7-million project has been a partnership between the Canadian Mental Health Association, the now-defunct Brandon chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and the Brandon Friendship Centre to provide low-income and affordable long-term housing in what is now a 58-unit complex.
After a lengthy and often-delayed construction and renovation process, we can finally see the fruits of their labour. And to our eyes, the building has been reborn. The building, located at 638 Pacific Avenue, hasn’t looked this good in generations.
According to the Heritage Brandon website, heritagebrandon.ca, the location of Brandon’s early industrial buildings was determined by their close proximity to the CPR tracks and sidings. This prompted the majority of old warehouses to be built along or near Pacific Avenue.
The building was designed by Brandon architect Thomas Sinclair and built in 1913 and has long been a distinct landmark in this city.
The CMHA owns the bottom two floors, half of which were designed to be rent-subsidized, the rest at market rent. The basement has five emergency homeless units which open out into Pacific Avenue.
The Brandon Friendship Centre owns the third floor, which, according to original plans, holds 14 apartments and are rent-subsidized. There are eight transitional apartments for individuals who need some assistance in developing skills, which will have a limited tenancy for approximately three years.
And Habitat for Humanity owns the fourth floor. When the Brandon chapter of the organization began construction work on its section of the building, there were 14 condos planned, ranging from one-bedroom to four-bedroom units.
Unfortunately, Habitat for Humanity Brandon closed its doors earlier this year, leaving Habitat’s share of the Massey building project run out of the Habitat Manitoba office based in Winnipeg.
To date, it remains unclear what is happening with Habitat for Humanity’s 14 condos.
“There are negotiations happening and hopefully they’ll be concluded in the next short time,” CMHA regional director Glen Kruck told the Sun.
While that piece of the Massey puzzle has yet to be resolved, it should not detract from the fact that the CMHA and its partners have been instrumental in refurbishing one of Brandon’s stately old heritage buildings, while helping to improve the slate of low-income housing in this city.
Good on them.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 15, 2012
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To the joy of many folks stuck in low-income housing — or worse, with no home of their own — Massey Manor has opened to tenants.
Finally.
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To the joy of many folks stuck in low-income housing — or worse, with no home of their own — Massey Manor has opened to tenants.
Finally.
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