Ron Keenberg
Westboine Cooperative
Winnipeg, MB
IKOY had done some public housing townhouses and they were not kind places. I wasn’t proud to say they were mine. Then one day, a single mom came in with her mother and asked us to help them organize a ‘life-cycle’ co-op, a place where you’d start in a one-bedroom apartment and then, as your family expanded, you’d move to a two-bed townhouse and then to a four-bed. After the kids left you’d move back to a smaller unit.
We liked the idea and the challenge. We found the land, designed a 17-acre development, got CMHC to insure the mortgage and built it.
It was fun and co-opers have been enjoying it for 30 years. Today, many of the original co-op shareholders are still there and their children have joined.
Previous Project
Ron Keenberg
Westboine Cooperative
Winnipeg, MB
IKOY had done some public housing townhouses and they were not kind places. I wasn’t proud to say they were mine. Then one day, a single mom came in with her mother and asked us to help them organize a ‘life-cycle’ co-op, a place where you’d start in a one-bedroom apartment and then, as your family expanded, you’d move to a two-bed townhouse and then to a four-bed. After the kids left you’d move back to a smaller unit.
We liked the idea and the challenge. We found the land, designed a 17-acre development, got CMHC to insure the mortgage and built it.
It was fun and co-opers have been enjoying it for 30 years. Today, many of the original co-op shareholders are still there and their children have joined.
