Winnipeg's 104-year-old Royal Albert Arms is up for mortgage auction in November

Winnipeg's Royal Albert Arms, a heritage property a block from Portage and Main, will go up for foreclosure next month in what downtown development officials hope will be the catalyst for its redevelopment.

Completed in 1913, the 53-room property currently serves as low-income housing, but has been zoned for hotel use only.

CenterVenture, the downtown development agency, expects to nominate a number of developers for the Nov. 15 mortgage auction. Angela Mathison, president and CEO of CentreVenture, said she hopes to renovate the Exchange District property as residential or a boutique hotel.

“It's an important building that's a national historic site, and it's been neglected for years,” Mathison said in an interview Thursday.

“Really, the only way to ensure that this building is properly preserved and that it stays there for another 100 years is to put it to a high economic use and have someone take good care of it.”

CentreVenture plans to help the building's existing residents relocate, Matheson said, warning potential bidders not to bankroll the city by continuing to allow the building to operate in violation of zoning.

“We think there is a high risk that someone will buy the hotel for this purpose,” he said.

City of Winnipeg real estate officials declined CBC News' request for an interview about The Albert, known for its main-floor indie rock venue that operated from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

Performances by bands such as Husker Du and Green Day have given Albert legendary status in music circles. But the hotel has also been known for violent crimes, including a murder case involving stolen jewelry from actress Susan Sarandon.

In 2007, pharmacist Daren Jorgenson purchased the Albert and announced his intention to turn the property into a boutique hotel. But the hotel closed in 2011 due to water leaks, and Jorgenson partnered with the late Ray Rybachuk to reopen the building.

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Rybachuk, who had ties to organized crime, died in 2013 while snowmobiling. Jorgenson said he now regrets the partnership and hopes the hotel will be rebuilt.

“Currently, this property generates over $30,000 per month in monthly income from room rentals to low-income residents. If the property is eventually converted into a boutique hotel and rented out on a nightly basis, that could increase dramatically,” Jorgenson said. email, adding Albert will be a great place for students to stay, as well as live music.

“I hope that someone with the means and the time will come forward with a winning bid and start reviving the long history of live music here.”

Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, said properly managed affordable housing would be an acceptable use for the building.

“This is clearly not how this hotel works,” he said in an interview. “The wrong people own heritage buildings and if the right people can own them they can and they are a huge asset to our town centre.”

One potential buyer for the Albert is immigration lawyer Kenneth Zaifman, who owns the St. Charles Hotel on Albert Street South and oversees the vacant lot where the Albert Street business block burned down in 2012.

Zaifman told Albert on Thursday that he wasn't sure if he would attend the auction.

“From my perspective, whether it's owned or someone else owns it and they redevelop it, that's going to get me where I want to be,” he said, adding that the south block of Albert Street is important to downtown.

“It's a block type of Portage and Main. There's a lot of development going on. I think it's going to be a catalyst for further and future growth.”

Zaifman, who announced plans to turn the vacant St. Charles Hotel into a boutique in 2008, said he is still working on the plan, which he said would cost more than $5 million.

Matheson said he, too, is looking forward to the revitalization of the block of Albert Street between McDermott Avenue and Notre Dame Avenue.

“It's very close to Portage and Main. It's really the gateway to the Exchange District, which is one of the most important tourism assets in the city,” he said.