All Seniors Care Living Centres Ltd. has built five multi-storey retirement residences in the province since 2005 -- four in Winnipeg and one in Brandon. That's more than in any other province except Quebec, where it also has five.
And there's more to come. The company's chief financial officer said construction will get underway next month on a fifth Winnipeg residence -- a $30-million, six-storey, 173-unit complex to be built in the North Main Street area.
The company is also scouting out several other potential building sites in the city.
"Winnipeg is a growing city with a growing seniors population," All Seniors CFO Mike Fraser said in an interview from Toronto. "I could see room for another couple of buildings."
Fraser said All Seniors is looking into the feasibility of expanding into smaller urban centres in Canada with a scaled-down version of its retirement residences -- the five it has in Manitoba range from 126 to 183 units each.
If it decides to go that route, it will be looking at expanding into a number of rural Manitoba centres, Fraser said. For competitive reasons, he wouldn't say which ones.
Fraser and Heather Mutcheson, vice-president of the company's Manitoba operations, said there are a lot more things to like about the Winnipeg market than the fact it's growing.
"We just love the people, we love the area and the sites you can get," Fraser said.
"Doing business in Winnipeg is also good," he said. "It's not a problem. We haven't really had any issues."
Mutcheson said there is a healthy demand here for the kind of luxury retirement residences All Seniors builds.
Its first three Winnipeg complexes and the one in Brandon are fully leased, and the last one it built here, the 168-unit Seine River Retirement Residence that opened in fall 2009 at 1015 St. Anne's Rd., should be fully leased by the end of this winter, she said.
Mutcheson and Fraser said company officials don't think they'll have any problem filling their new River Ridge Retirement Residence that's about to rise on the banks of the Red River at River Crest Avenue and River Grove Drive.
"Our feasibility showed a need (for another retirement residence) in the area," Fraser said.
Dianne Himbeault, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s senior market analyst for Manitoba, said there will be a need for more seniors housing throughout the province in the coming years.
"I think the demographics certainly speak to that," Himbeault said. "The front end of the baby-boomer wave just hit 65 (years old) and life expectancy is getting longer."
She said CMHC began conducting an annual seniors' housing survey in 2009 and last year's survey found there were 32 seniors residences operating in Manitoba.
That number covers private or non-profit residences of 10 or more units where the majority of residents are 65 years of age or older and have access to additional services not offered in traditional rental housing, such as meals, housekeeping and laundry. It doesn't include nursing homes and long-term care homes where higher levels of health care are provided.
In terms of rental units, Himbeault said there were 3,086 standard units in the province, including 2,619 in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area, which includes Winnipeg and 10 surrounding municipalities.
Mutcheson said All Seniors residences feature one- and two-bedroom suites of varying sizes and offer a full slate of amenities and services. That includes meals, laundry and housekeeping, a dedicated shuttle bus, on-site nurse, a coffee lounge, a spa/workout gym, Internet lounge, games room, movie theatre, chapel, and a hair salon/barber shop. All utilities except telephone and cable TV are included in the rent.
She said monthly rents range from $2,000 to $2,900 for a one-bedroom unit, depending on size, and from $3,100 to $3,600 for a two-bedroom suite.
Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office, retail, or industrial real estate sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below, or at 697-7254.
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office, retail, or industrial real estate sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below, or at 697-7254.
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
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Here are some key numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s 2010 Seniors' Housing Report, issued last year:
32 -- number of retirement homes (10 or more units) in the province
3,086 -- number of standard rental units, including 2,619 in Winnipeg
3,321 -- number of standard and non-standard units
3,473 -- number of residents in those units (just over four per cent of the province's population 75 years of age or older)
7.9 per cent -- Manitoba's overall vacancy rate among standard rental units
7.8 per cent -- the rate in 2009
7.1 per cent -- overall vacancy rate in Winnipeg last year
8.3 per cent -- the rate in 2009
10.8 per cent -- Canada's vacancy rate in 2010
$2,112 -- average monthly rent in Manitoba last year for a standard seniors unit
$2,169 -- average for Winnipeg
$1,553 -- average rent for a bachelor unit in Winnipeg
$2,100 -- average for a one-bedroom unit
$2,607 -- average for a two-bedroom unit
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 24, 2011 B4
