longer needed, and the building remained vacant for almost 30 years. Within that period of vacancy, 17 attempts were made to revive the historic structure, but the proposals were all denied, and the building was eventually slated for demolition. That’s when Alston Properties got involved. At the time, Alston was working on the Porter Building, which was itself a challenging project that other developers had tried and failed to make sense of. One of the stakeholders on the project was the CentreVenture Development Corporation – an arms-length agency of the City of Winnipeg, whose mandate is to provide leadership in the planning, development, coordination and implementation of projects in the downtown. They were impressed with Alston’s success on that job, and they were the ones that encouraged them to take on The Pump House. They even offered a substantial grant to make the project more appealing. “I was motivated to say yes because of everyone that had failed,” Bryce says. “The challenge motivated me. I love a project with a good sense of challenge. That keeps me going.” Ultimately, Alston Properties purchased the property in 2015 and immediately brought 5468792 Architecture on board. The two companies had already worked together on the Porter Building, and had established a strong and collaborative relationship based on their mutual creativity and forwardthinking. “What I really appreciate about THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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