Much-needed recreation complex just got more expensive

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This article was published 09/04/2024 (516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The price of the City of Winnipeg’s most expensive recreation project has soared and led officials to pause design work until they determine how to pay for it.

The long-awaited South Winnipeg Recreation Campus project is expected to cost $126 million overall — up $37 million from the previously approved estimate of $89 million, when a provincial daycare and vocational building are included.

The city’s recreation portion of the project has jumped to $94 million from $71 million.

Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes said the price hike is disappointing, but not a surprise, given recent construction inflation on a long list of city projects that came before it.

“This is a time with COVID, with inflation, with supply-chain issues, that we’re going to have to deal with. And, like we’ve seen reflected in every other major project, we’ve had massive increases,” said Lukes.

The councillor, whose ward includes the site of the future recreation complex, believes the city must find a way to cover the budget increase without reducing the scope of the project.

“This is the first regional campus that the City of Winnipeg is building for the area four to six kilometres around (it), which is (expected to serve) 120,000 (residents)… I think everyone around here realizes… that we can’t build a city (that is) actually larger than Brandon and not put a recreational facility in. So, it is disappointing to hear that we have to find another $23 million, but (we) just have to keep moving forward,” said Lukes.

The recreation campus will be built on Bison Drive, west of Frontier Trail and east of Kenaston Boulevard. It is set to feature three gymnasiums, a walking/running track, fitness areas, multi-purpose rooms and a spray pad in its first phase. A community library, leisure pool and hockey arena could be added in future phases.

Lukes noted plans for the project began in 2009 but said it took several years to plan and secure funding. Over the years, she has argued the facility is desperately needed, since this portion of south Winnipeg was deemed an underserviced recreation area even before Waverley West was built.

A new city report blames the cost hike on several different factors, including a very preliminary cost estimate that’s now been revised, a delay in securing Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program funding and “unprecedented cost escalation” linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report, with options for council to address the project’s rising cost, is expected by next month, said Lukes.

“The report will include options for addressing the projected funding shortfall. Design of the recreation centre is on hold until such time that direction is received back,” writes Brad Erickson, the city’s manager of municipal accommodations, in the staff report.

Construction of the rec facility was expected to start in 2022 but the city didn’t receive a draft funding agreement from the province until February 2023, the report notes.

As a result, the procurement process for the recreation centre is unlikely to begin before the first quarter of 2025, writes Erickson.

Coun. Jeff Browaty, head of the finance committee, said he would prefer efforts to secure more funding rather than cutting any of the project’s amenities.

“We’re definitely committed to a project there. It’s a huge portion of Winnipeg that has no (recreation) services right now… That part of Winnipeg does need, and should have, a substantial facility there,” said Browaty.

The North Kildonan councillor also blamed delays for fuelling at least part of the cost hike.

Meanwhile, the province’s vocational building at the site is proceeding, so construction on that element of the complex could begin as soon as this summer, the report notes.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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