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Council approves parkade sale
Winnipeg Square Parkade. (BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)
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WINNIPEG - It took five hours, but city council has approved the sale of the Winnipeg Square Parkade.
Council voted 10-4 at a special meeting this afternoon to sell the so-called "gold mine at Portage and Main" for $24 million to Toronto's Crown Realty Partners, which also owns Winnipeg Square mall and the Commodity Exchange Tower.
The sale was supposed to come to council this morning, but opposition councillors refused to suspend council's rules to allow the proposal, which was just approved by downtown development committee on Monday, to make it on to the agenda as a walk-on report.
Hence this afternoon's special meeting, which saw sale proponents argue the cause of downtown revitalization can be better served through the sale of an asset that the private sector is willing and able to operate.
Sale opponents argued a recession is wrong time to sell a profitable asset and also expressed concerns about how the money will be spent.
The Winnipeg Square Parkade generated $1.8 million for the Winnipeg Parking Authority this year but faces a repair tab pegged at anywhere from $2.5 million to $12.1 million.
Cash from its sale could be spent on eliminating the Winnipeg Parking Authority's debt (which was built up over the years through transfers to general city revenue), fixing the Millennium Library and Civic Centre parkades or building new facilities, Mayor Sam Katz and other sale proponents said.
The city won't spend proceeds from the sale until the Winnipeg Parking Authority completes a downtown parking strategy, a document expected next spring.
The city will earn $23.6 million from the sale, as about $400,000 in real-estate fees will be paid to brokerage firm Shindico.
Three weeks ago, council's downtown development committee rejected an earlier Crown Realty offer of $21.4 million for the parkade and issued what amounted to a $26.5 million counter-offer.
City real-estate officials said in a report that the sale is not worthwhile for the city at anything less than $21 million.
The councillors who voted against the sale were Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge), Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre), Lillian Thomas (Elmwood) and Dan Vandal (St. Boniface).
Couns. Bill Clement (Charleswood) and Russ Wyatt (Transcona) were absent today.
History
Updated on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 2:08 PM CST: Corrects typo
2:40 PM: Adds sale approved
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