The old Eaton's powerhouse will be transformed into an English-style pub, marking Canad Inns' first foray into the downtown bar market.

The city's best-known hotel and restaurant company has partnered with the MTS Centre to open a bar called Tavern United.

It will be modeled after the Canad Inns pub of the same name on Pembina Highway.

The red brick powerhouse at the corner of Hargrave Street and Graham Avenue is now most easily recognized by its tall smokestack, which is being preserved.

The powerhouse, opened in 1910, boasts high ceilings, a loft-like mezzanine, huge windows and original brick and ironwork.

By mid-November it will become an 8,406-square-foot pub-like sports bar able to serve 400 people. Earlier this summer, Moxie's Classic Grill announced plans to put a restaurant in the new MTS Centre arena, along with a 100-seat patio on Portage Avenue.

Instead of a sidewalk patio, the powerhouse pub will feature a rooftop garden able to seat 200 people "away from the mosquitoes and the street," said Canad Inns president and CEO Leo Ledohowski.

He is even exploring the possibility of offering lawn bowling on the rooftop patio.

Ledohowski said he was approached about a month ago by the MTS Centre's management and the deal moved very quickly after that.

"We like to think we're of like minds," said Mark Chipman, the arena's chairman. "We're both good Manitoba companies." Canad Inns operates more than a dozen nightclubs and restaurants in Winnipeg, most located near the company's seven suburban hotels.

Ledohowski said opening a pub in the city's still-struggling downtown is a riskier proposition but said the proximity to the arena and the powerhouse's historic features made it a good fit that jibes with Canad Inns expansion plans.

"This project is very consistent with the location, style and fit," he said. "We are quite comfortable."

The powerhouse's third floor will become office space for the Manitoba Moose hockey team, as well as the arena's management staff and any other support services.

The powerhouse will also expand to the west, covering what's now a surface parking lot. Chipman said a tenant has been found to occupy the space, but the deal is not yet done and so remains under wraps.

The redevelopment and expansion of the powerhouse will cost about $6 million, but Ledohowski would not reveal how much he is paying to refurbish the interior.

Meanwhile, the MTS Arena is about four months away from its Nov. 15 opening and the interior finishing work is well underway.

Over the last few weeks, crews have been installing the 15,000-plus seats at a rate of about 2,000 per week. And, drywallers and painters are working on the interior concourse while finishing work on the exterior brick and masonry continues.

By the end of the week, the final four-inch layer of concrete needed for the ice surface should be poured.