After 20 years with the same owner, the corner of Stradbrook and Osborne across from the firehouse has changed hands. It is has been pointed out in this blog a number of times that there are few actual owners of entire strips of Osborne as they have remained tightly within the families who were to invest in the street. They owned and operated businesses from the 1970s till now although a number of long term retailers and restaurants have closed.
A number of vacancies have lingered on long as rents are very high for newcomers. As a result, thoughts of sub-dividing properties for a better mix of tenants has been proposed. For some owners, it has become a good time to sell. And so it was at Stradbrook and Osborne where Jeckyll & Hyde’s pub and the Stradbrook Chiropractic Centre reside amonsgt others.
The corner was purchased by the Norman Hugh Group (NHG) and KAI Asset management. NHG is a Winnipeg-based real estate investment firm based in The Exchange founded by David Bell. KAI is a real estate and business investor also in The Exchange founded by Paul Allard and Robert MacKay. KAI is majority owner while NHG is minority shareholder.
The corner which includes 16,000 square feet of lease-able property and 50 parking spots has some of the highest traffic counts in Winnipeg. The property was purchased for $4.25 million and an additional million is being invested as part of the site improvements as detailed in the picture. The previous owner had not too much in the last 20 years in terms of the overall design.
Over the next months it is expected that several properties will be re-developed and leased along Osborne. It is obvious the value of the property remains high and some of the long term landlords are now cashing in.
This has been a editorial by John Dobbin.
To read more from John, visit his blog Observations, Reservations, Conversations
