425 Osborne Street

The University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation 2.0 (UWCRC 2.0) is a not-for-profit housing developer that will lead the development of the site. This means they reinvest all revenues into developing more affordable housing through a mixed-income model. They were selected to build this project through a competitive City Expression of Interest process in July 2025.

The 425 Osborne St. project is an innovative partnership that will help address two important community needs: housing and public transit services.

The project will transform a vacant and contaminated City-owned property into approximately 131 new homes, including affordable housing units, while also providing new office and customer service space for Winnipeg Transit.

By combining housing and public services on the same site, the City can:

• Make better use of publicly owned land
• Reduce costs
• Create a development that supports a vibrant, walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhood

This approach allows the City to deliver multiple public benefits from a single property while helping address Winnipeg's growing need for housing.

The project includes approximately 20,000 square feet of Winnipeg Transit office and customer service space.

Today, Transit staff and customer service functions are located in different locations, including a leased office space across the street from the site. The proposed development provides an opportunity to consolidate these functions into a modern purpose-built facility that better meets Transit operational needs and improves the customer experience.

Including the Winnigeg Transit office and customer service space contributes to the overall development approach while providing long-term accommodation for Transit operations. 

The proposed building is designed to balance several project objectives, and the proposed height helps with this balance. The objectives include:

• Providing new housing
• Creating affordable housing units
• Accommodating Winnipeg Transit office space
• Making efficient use of City-owned land.

The site is located on Osborne Street, one of Winnipeg's major mixed-use corridors, where City policies encourage additional housing and higher-density development near transit and active transportation networks. This proposed project is within 500 metres of three 7-storey buildings to the north, and an 18-storey building to the south.

The proposed building has also been designed to provide new housing while minimizing impacts on neighbouring properties. Features such as a larger setback from the rear lane and building orientation help reduce impacts on nearby homes.

UWCRC 2.0 also completed a shadow study to understand how the proposed building would cast shadows at different times of day and throughout the year.

The images show the location and extent of shadows created by the proposed 10-storey building based on the position of the sun.

The study found that the proposed building would:

• Cast shadows primarily on Winnipeg Transit lands to the north during the morning
• Cast shadows on nearby commercial properties along Osborne Street during portions of the afternoon and evening
• Cast some shadows on neighbouring properties east of Osborne Street during summer and fall evenings
• Have limited impact on residential properties along Woodward Avenue due to the building's location and setback from the rear lane

425 Osborne Street New Development Shadow Studies (PDF, 6.8MB)

The 425 Osborne site was selected in part because of its excellent access to a variety of transportation options. Residents will be able to walk, cycle, use transit, car-share services, or drive, depending on their needs.

The development also:

• Includes a car-share vehicle
• Is located adjacent to Osborne Station and the Rapid Transit network;
• Is located along a major bike route;  and
• Is within walking distance of shops, services, restaurants, and employment opportunities

The project includes a two-level parkade to meet the parking needs of residents and transit employees. Adding more parking on an existing parking lot will minimize impacts on surrounding residential streets and neighbouring properties. For example, transit employees will continue to access stalls within the parkade directly from transit campus.