Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
No ties to Shindico, Katz says
Real-estate firm involved in numerous transactions
Mayor Sam Katz
On a day when city council approved three separate deals involving real-estate company Shindico, Mayor Sam Katz was asked about the nature of his relationship with the Winnipeg company.
On Wednesday, council approved a $24-million parkade sale brokered by Shindico, a $30-million police-building purchase vetted by Shindico and a $9-million library-lease extension in a Shindico-managed mall. During a break in the proceedings, the mayor said the city does a lot of business with Shindico because the company does its job extremely well and said he has no special connection to the firm.
"My relationship with Shindico is no different than my relationship with any other real-estate company in the City of Winnipeg. They are out there doing a job, end of story," the mayor told reporters outside his office.
"Maybe someone should be extolling the virtues of someone who's getting things done in our city. Maybe someone should look at who's developing property and broadening our tax base. Maybe you should look at the big picture."
According to city officials, Shindico ranks No. 1 on a list of five commercial realtors qualified to handle large transactions on behalf of the city of Winnipeg, whose own real-estate staff does not have the capacity to handle large, unusual deals.
The list was compiled on the basis of objective criteria such as fee schedules and commission rates to ensure all decisions about realtors can be defended if they're ever challenged, said Deepak Joshi, Winnipeg's director of planning, property and development.
"Whoever provides the best deal for the city is the way we choose them," he said.
Shindico outperforms national firms when it comes to certain types of transactions, Joshi said. The company conducted the due diligence on Winnipeg's acquisition of the Canada Post building on Graham Avenue because it was best qualified to assess the 10-storey structure's suitability for the Winnipeg Police Service, he said.
Shindico is in line to receive a $400,000 commission on the $24-million Winnipeg Square Parkade sale because the company brought the highest bidder to the table, Toronto's Crown Realty Partners, he added.
But Shindico was not selected to handle the city's $3.4-million acquisition of the Midtown Car Wash as part of a rapid-transit-corridor expropriation, Joshi said. That job went to rival realtor Cushman Wakefield Lepage.
The presence of the Canada Post and Winnipeg Square Parkade deals on the same council agenda as a Henderson Library lease extension in a Shindico-managed mall merely illustrates how active the company is, Katz added.
But the mayor does have a connection to company officials. Shindico executives Robert and Sandy Shindleman sat on the board of Riverside Park Management, the non-profit organization that sublets city land to the Katz-owned Winnipeg Goldeyes -- and used to list Katz as president. That relationship has nothing to do with Shindico's deals with the city, said Katz, dismissing any supposed connection as "a ridiculous observation" -- especially since the company listed city properties when Glen Murray was mayor.
"They had that listing because they gave the best service and the best price," Katz said.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2009 B1
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