Woodbine Hotel hurting Exchange district's changing image: residents

A recent assault in Winnipeg has the agency responsible for downtown development askingthat a historic hotel that has operated in the Exchange district for more than 100 years be sold.

Ross McGowan, CEO of Centre Venture Development Corporation, says he is fed up with the problems Woodbine Hotel is causing in the area, and he has started looking for investors interested in purchasing the heritage building.

Hotel owner Don Mathews is not actively looking for buyers but said he is open to offers if the right one comes along.

The area around the Main Street establishment has been changing in recent years, with redevelopment luring back residents to live in the once-troubled neighbourhood.

'This is becoming a people's neighbourhood, and if this [violence] was happening in other neighbourhoods in the city, it wouldn't be tolerated.' Ross McGowan, Centre Venture

McGowan said it's time the Woodbine straightened out as well. A woman was stabbed outside the hotel in broad daylight earlier this week.

"This is becoming a people's neighbourhood, and if this [violence] was happening in other neighbourhoods in the city, it wouldn't be tolerated," McGowan said. "I think we need to have that same line drawn in the sand here and some serious intervention take place.

"We're trying to re-establish the Exchange [district] as a place to live, work and be entertained. I don't think anyone is prepared to make that kind of investment with these kind of activities going on."

The Woodbine, built in 1878, has been classified as a heritage building since the mid-1980s. John Giavedoni, a spokesperson for a neighbourhood group called Residents of the Exchange District, said the potential of the building is being wasted in its current state.

"The Woodbine scene is a bit of a sore spot in the area," he said. "It would be very nice to see the Woodbine transitioned into something more in line with the character of the area."

Mathews takes offence to some of the comments criticizing his hotel, insisting this week's stabbing was a random act not committed by anyone staying at the hotel.

"It's just unfortunate that the rest of our patrons got tarred with the same brush, which shouldn't have happened," he said. "Shopper's Drug Mart customers wouldn't have got tarred with the same brush if something happened outside of a Shopper's Drug Mart."