City to OK Upper Fort Garry takeover

On Monday, city council's downtown development committee will meet behind closed doors to sign off on the sale of surplus city land that used to be Upper Fort Garry, the 19th-century trading post that served as the predecessor to modern Winnipeg.

In March 2008, the city cancelled a deal to allow an apartment tower to rise on the southwest corner of the site to allow the Friends the chance to acquire city land north of Assiniboine Avenue between Main Street and Fort Street.

The city required the Friends to reach a deal to buy the adjacent Grain Exchange Curling Club and raise $10 million out of the $12.5 million the group said it needed to build a heritage park and interpretive centre.

The city is satisfied these conditions have been met, as the purchase of the curling club was concluded in November and the city is satisfied the donations obtained by the Friends are genuine, city land-use managers write in a report published on Thursday.

The Friends have raised $10.3 million, according to an independent review by accounting firm Ernst & Young. Manitoba and Ottawa each contributed $1.5 million to the volunteer group, while private donors ponied up $7.3 million, the firm concluded.

The city's sole contribution to the project is the land itself.

Pending council approval late this month, the Friends now have a new set of conditions to meet before the Upper Fort Garry heritage park can proceed.

First, a city office building at 100 Main St. must be demolished, no later than May 30, 2010. The following day, the Friends must then begin construction of the project and complete the entire park by June 1, 2014, the report stated.

Some time before the project is completed, the Friends must also transfer the title to the land to the province of Manitoba. This is contentious, as the city would prefer to see Manitoba take over the land as soon as possible, downtown development chairman Mike Pagtakhan said in April.

The Friends also plan to remove asphalt from some of the surface parking lots on the site and conduct environmental impact and archaeological studies of the site as soon as June 1, according to a letter sent to the city in April.

In order for the park to proceed, the city must also declare the land containing Upper Fort Garry's sole remaining gate to be surplus. That will require a vote from council.

"It's pretty much a formality," said Friends spokesman Jerry Gray. "This has been a long time coming."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 1, 2009 B2