The Galt Manor, a heritage building in Lethbridge, may be looking good now, but just nine short months ago, the building was a completely different sight.
“We’ve done renovation jobs before but we’ve never done anything on this scale,” Adam Morstad, the new co-owner of the building, said.
“I guess we bit off a lot more than we could chew at the beginning but we managed to eat our way through it.”
Back in 2017, the Galt Manor was condemned after squatters and trespassers damaged the building, breaking in through windows, leaving human waste and drug debris scattered across the floors, and rooms piled with stolen goods.
But now, under new ownership, the Manor has gone through extensive upgrades and will be re-opened for business in the New Year.
“We started with basically tearing down all the plaster that was on it before. There was no insulation in any of the exterior walls so we added spray foam insulation to the entire building,” said Morstad, who worked with his father and fellow co-owner to complete the renovations.
“We also did new windows, a new plumbing system, new heating system, entirely new kitchens, new bathrooms… Basically anything that could have been changed or upgraded in the buildings was.”
The Galt Manor is a historic piece of downtown Lethbridge that not only has the new owners excited to be re-opening the doors of the building that’s occupied 7th Street since the 1930s, but members of the community as well.
“It’s great to have it back to where it was before it was falling into disrepair and before all the drug issues with the house,” said Ted Stilson, executive director with the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ).
“It’s a beautiful heritage building that’s been in our downtown core for many years.”
The manor has eight units available for renting, with new security measures in place, which Morstad hopes will help deter similar events from happening again once the building re-opens.
“We’ve tightened the precautions as far as security goes,” said Morstad.
“We have cameras in the front and in the back. We have an intercom system for letting people in and out, so it should be one of those things that if we have it set up to be safer at the beginning then hopefully we do a better job of letting people in and it shouldn’t have the chance to be getting to that point again.”
Final renovations are wrapping up this December, with the apartments set be ready for renting in January of 2019.
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