Heritage park deal nearly done

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DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 080228 Dr. Jerry Gray with Metis flag Upper Fort Garry.

One year ago last month, the volunteer Friends convinced the City of Winnipeg and apartment builder Crystal Developers to walk away from a deal to create a residential tower at Fort Street and Assiniboine Avenue, just outside the former footprint of Upper Fort Garry.

City councillors granted the Friends the right to develop a heritage park on both this piece of land and a larger parcel of surplus city property alongside Main Street, provided the volunteer group raise $10 million within two years and also strike a deal to buy Fort Street's Grain Exchange Curling Club, which also stands over part of the former fort.

One year later, the Friends say they've reached a deal to buy the club, have raised the money in question and have also responded to a subsequent city grilling about how much of their fundraising pledges amount to actual cash, as opposed to services in kind.

The group is now trying to settle technical issues stemming from the arcane deed to Upper Fort Garry gate, the sole remaining section of the fur trade-era fort, said spokesman Jerry Gray.

"It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would, but when you're dealing with property that's more than 100 years old, a number of issues come to the surface," Gray said.

He says the group is "quite close" to formally meeting all of its commitments to the city and have raised more than their $10-million short-term target.

"We're going to raise more. We just stopped because we wanted to get (the title to) the property," Gray said.

City officials said they expect the Upper Fort Garry deal will be completed within months, if not weeks.

"I don't think there are a lot of hurdles left," said St. James Coun. Scott Fielding, city council's property chairman. "It's generally heading in the right direction."

But Point Douglas Coun. Mike Pagtakhan, who chairs council's downtown development committee, said the city remains concerned about the timeline for the land becoming a provincial park, a move that will have financial implications for both levels of government.

"For this thing to happen, it needs funding," Pagtakhan said. "The real story is the provincial park designation. That's the final piece."

The city would prefer to see the province take over the land as soon as possible, as Winnipeg receives grants in lieu of property taxes for Crown land located inside city limits.

The province, however, would prefer to see the Friends take over the land first.

"We're in active discussions with the city and the Friends on timing that best suits the project," a spokesman for the Doer government said in a statement on Monday.

"The land will then be transferred to the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, who will develop the site over the next few years, following which it will be transferred to the province so that it may be designated a provincial park."

Manitoba would provide operating funds for the heritage park once it attains provincial park status, the spokesman added.

Gray, the Friends' spokesman, said he wasn't aware of the discussion about the park's status.

No development has taken place on the Upper Fort Garry site since city council's downtown development committee awarded Friends the right to complete their fundraising plan one year ago.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 14, 2009 B1