The land where Upper Fort Garry once stood will become a brand-new heritage park if three dozen of Winnipeg's most prominent citizens can raise $10 million in less than four months.
In a shocker of a vote on Thursday, city council's downtown development committee decided to give heritage group Friends of Upper Fort Garry a chance to build a $12.5-million heritage park and interpretive centre on the site of the city's birthplace, provided they come up with 80 per cent of the cash before March 31.
Upper Fort Garry as seen in early 1800s could be site of a heritage park if group can raise $10 million.
The move, which follows months of lobbying by the Friends, effectively shelves an earlier decision to sell a smaller chunk of the land to Crystal Developers, which wants to build a 20-storey apartment building at the corner of Assiniboine Avenue and Fort Street.
Now the Friends of Upper Fort Garry have been given the chance to build a heritage park that would cover most of a city block bounded by Main Street, Assiniboine Avenue and Fort Street, provided they meet the fundraising deadline and also purchase the Grain Exchange Curling Club, which sits northwest of the surplus city land.
"This is what we've been waiting for and we're raring to go. We're confident we can meet the city's challenge," said Harold Buchwald, a spokesman for the Friends, whose ranks include philanthropic business people such as Hartley Richardson, John Buhler and Leonard Asper and former politicians such as Duff Roblin, Gary Filmon, Ed Schreyer and Bill Norrie.
If the Friends fail to meet the terms laid out by city council, the southwest corner of the land will revert to Crystal Developers, who will then proceed with its apartment building plans.
Crystal owner Ruben Spletzer said he is not thrilled city council backtracked on an earlier decision to sell his company part of the land, but said he's learned not to get too upset by politicians.
"You learn to shake your head and not take them seriously sometimes, because you would go crazy if you did," he said. "However, there is history on that piece of land and anything can happen."
Thursday's surprising vote follows a tumultuous seven months following the downtown development committee's May decision to sell Crystal 24,400 square feet of land for $1.8 million.
City planners recommended Crystal's bid over a proposal to build a 35-storey skyscraper as well as the Friends' plans for a heritage park that would have required funding from city council.
For months, city hall ignored pleas from the Friends to reconsider the sale. But when an October archeological dig found the edge of Upper Fort Garry was located further west, the size of the land available for Crystal was reduced by 3,000 square feet, downsizing the scale of the apartment project from 180 to 120 units.
While city planners proposed to reduce the price of the land to $1.2 million, two city councillors -- downtown development chair Russ Wyatt and committee member Jenny Gerbasi -- reconsidered the historical park idea, forcing Mayor Sam Katz to step in with a plan to give the Friends a chance, albeit within a limited time frame.
"We were able to broker a deal everybody is content with. I'm not happy a company that's done everything right has been placed in a holding pattern for four months, but now we can see if the Friends can do what they say they're able to do," Katz said.
The actual vote at downtown development committee was 3-2, with Wyatt and Gerbasi opposing the plan because they no longer wish to see an apartment building go up on part of the land, regardless of whether the Friends succeed at raising $10 million.
"Our downtown is so big, there are plenty of places for an apartment building. The argument this is housing versus heritage is nonsense," Wyatt said. "You wouldn't put an apartment building on the Plains of Abraham, so why put one here?"
Voting in favour of the plan were councillors Justin Swandel and Gord Steeves, along with Katz, who attended his first downtown development meeting since 2004, when the mayor used to chair the committee.
Katz rarely sits in on committee meetings he does not chair, according to records from the city clerk's office. Before Thursday's closed-door vote, he has exercised his ex officio power only once -- in 2005, he attended a special meeting of the protection committee to vote in favour of aggressive panhandling legislation.
Wyatt conceded it is rare to see the mayor and a committee chair disagree, but said he voted with his conscience and now simply wants to encourage Winnipeggers to get behind the Friends of Upper Fort Garry.
While the Friends take a stab at fundraising, Crystal Developers will turn its attention to developing land alongside Sterling Lyon Parkway, owner Spletzer said.
"This gives them a chance to put their money where their mouth is," he said.
According to Buchwald, the group has already raised $300,000 and has commitments for an additional $200,000.
bart.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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