A proposal to add dozens of “digital” hotel suites, along with homes and retail space on Ellice Avenue is moving forward.
The development would create a six-storey mixed-use building with two retail units on the first floor, 36 hotel rooms on the second to fourth floors and 14 residential units on floors five and six at 701 Ellice Ave., pending city council approval.
The digital hotel would allow guests to book and access otherwise “conventional” rooms virtually, the project’s applicant said during a city centre community committee meeting at city hall this week.
“It’s what we call a clerkless hotel. We have our own software that we use to manage it … You use the app on your phone to unlock your room and to check in and check out. Cleaning and other services happen after you’re gone,” said Daniel Serhal, of Serhal Consulting Inc.
A city report notes the rooms are open for “all lengths of stay” and a similar project is now under construction in Bridgwater Town Centre.
Councillors asked if the site would risk attracting similar complaints that short-term rental properties, such as Airbnbs, did in the past. Before the city began licensing those properties, some neighbours said a lack of onsite owners allowed some rentals to become problem properties, attracting wild parties, excessive noise and, in some cases, crime.
Proponents of the businesses deemed them valuable economic drivers that attract tourists, with many properties a good fit in their neighbourhoods.
Idris Knapp, executive director of Winnipeg Central Mosque, said he is concerned a digital hotel could disrupt the house of worship and other neighbours. He also fears hotel guests could take up spaces in the mosque’s parking lot.
“To see a vague project with vague explanations of … how (it is) going to work, it seems like we’re being experimented on. (But) I’m all for housing and I’m all for development. I love to see that,” said Knapp.
While she asked several questions about how the hotel would operate, Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) joined Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) to cast the first vote of approval.
Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), the committee’s third member, was absent from the meeting.
Gilroy said she was convinced the development was worth testing out a relatively new hotel concept.
“We’re seeing a lot of vacancies (on Ellice Avenue) and we really need to breathe some life into it. So, it’s trying to embrace this future model, understanding that we’re going to have to … watch that model as it moves forward,” she said.
“To see a vague project with vague explanations of … how (it is) going to work, it seems like we’re being experimented on. (But) I’m all for housing and I’m all for development. I love to see that.”– Idris Knapp, executive director of Winnipeg Central Mosque
The now-vacant site for the project held a commercial building for several decades.
“I really feel like putting this project in this location is fixing a blight. It’s really a sad corner, so I’m just happy we’re able to do it,” said Serhal, who participated in the meeting by Zoom.
He could not be reached for further comment.
Knapp echoed the sentiment that new construction is greatly needed along Ellice Avenue.
“It’s good to have development … as opposed to all of the burned-out houses, all of the derelict buildings, all of the shuttered spaces,” he said.
The digital hotel concept is a new one for Winnipeg. The Bridgwater Town Centre project will have 43 hotel rooms, 49 residential units and as many as six commercial units.
Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) said she believes the Ellice development would be the city’s second digital hotel, following that project.
Lukes said the concept is quite popular in the United States and shows promise in letting out-of-town people stay in the same neighbourhoods as relatives they visit in Winnipeg.
“It’s brand new. So, of course, I like to think of myself as an early adopter (of the new technology) but I also like to think of myself as someone who (considers potential) problems,” she said.
“Seeing more housing and more commercial is something positive … There have been fires in the neighbourhood and we need to see some of those housing units restored.”– Joe Kornelsen, executive director of the West End BIZ
Both digital hotels would be registered as hotels and subject to accommodation tax, parking regulations and other rules that help ensure they don’t clash with their neighbours, Lukes added.
“It will be regulated and monitored no different than a hotel.”
While the city centre committee approved a conditional use and variance to support the Ellice project, its rezoning application requires a final council vote.
Joe Kornelsen, executive director of the West End BIZ, declined comment on the specific proposal. However, he said the area could use more home construction.
“Seeing more housing and more commercial is something positive … There have been fires in the neighbourhood and we need to see some of those housing units restored,” said Kornelsen.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
X: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.