A six-storey mixed-use building is coming to Steinbach’s Main Street.

A conditional use and variance were both approved for 362 and 366 Main Street after a public hearing at Steinbach City Council yesterday, in which there were no objections. Council's approval was unanimous.

The conditional use approved was to allow a multi-family residential development within the ‘C2’ Commercial Community Zone, as the first floor of the building will be commercial, with the five stories above it to be residential.  

The variance approved was to allow for a maximum of six stories as the maximum for buildings situated along Main Street is five stories.

Also included in the variance was to allow for a total building height of 78 feet whereas the C2 Zone only permits a maximum of 50 feet.  

Once construction is complete, this will be the second tallest building along Main Street, with the Steinbach Credit Union (SCU) being the tallest in our City, towering at a height of 118 feet.  

Councillor Jac Siemens says council has been wanting to increase the height in the central business district, so this variance is quite welcome.

“We’ve got the event centre that will be completed sometime later this year, as well as the credit union in place. This would be another piece of that vision that we had for our downtown, and hopefully we get more of that.”  

The owner of the properties being developed is Solomon Budala Enterprises Inc. and the applicant is Avedo Inc.   

Stefan Hodelmann, President of Avedo Inc., informs the project will feature four commercial units, with 50 per cent already leased, and 32 residential suites.

He says they are excited to bring the owner’s vision to life. 

“This project marks a significant milestone in the revitalization of Main Street, with the last major development, the SCU building, dating back 10 years." 

The development will also include 67 parking spaces, which is in compliance with the zoning bylaw requirements. 

Hodelmann notes developers typically try to avoid having the bottom floor commercial. 

“Especially in the City of Winnipeg, you see it all the time, developers don’t want to do the commercial. We feel like the appetite is there for commercial on Main St.”  

Councillor Susan Penner initiated the motion to approve, noting this will build a lot of density and keep downtown vibrant.  

“In the past 10+ years that I’ve been on council, this is exactly the type of thing we’ve been wanting in our downtown. I don’t see why we wouldn’t approve this project, when this is exactly the type of thing we have been envisioning for our downtown.”

She continues, "The vision for downtown predates I think anybody on this council. As council, so many of these decisions are so long term and you are setting things up for after you are gone, so to see downtown developing the way it's been planned for decades now is really exciting." 

Councillor Damian Penner says this is the next step of investing into Steinbach’s downtown.  

“Often on council, you get asked, ‘how do we get more businesses downtown?’ And the answer is usually we need more population and we need more density. And then they ask, ‘how do we get more population and density?’ And then you answer we need more businesses downtown within walking distance.”  

He continues, “So this is a two-pronged approach this developer is taking to reinvest into downtown, much as the City has done, much as the credit union has done, so this is that next step to invest into our downtown.”

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