‘This is it’: True North reaches deal to buy Portage Place for $650-M redevelopment project By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 12:27 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 27, 2024 Last Modified: 5:37 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 27, 2024 Updates

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This article was published 27/09/2024 (420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than a year after sharing its vision for the massive redevelopment of Portage Place mall, True North Real Estate Development says all the pieces are now in place to finalize the project.

“This is it. The whole purpose of today was to confirm that we are removing all the conditions of presale. We are entered into our purchase agreements with (the) Forks North Portage (Partnership) and (the building’s owner),” Jim Ludlow, the company’s president, told media after a Friday news conference, held on the third floor of the beleaguered mall.

The 1.2-million-square-foot mixed-use project will create 216 housing units, with up to 40 per cent of them designated affordable, a health-care services tower, main-floor grocery store, community centres, office space for social agencies and other services.

Ludlow said the redevelopment will cost at least $650 million, the figure advanced in a recent cost estimate.

“We’ve got room to grow. In part, it’s our expectation that we would like to try and continue to do more — more in some of the public spaces, perhaps more in some of the health-care spaces, and so on,” he said.

During the announcement at Portage Place, the federal government committed to its own multimillion-dollar investment in the project. That will include $10 million to support public spaces. Another $17 million could flow from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said Dan Vandal, the federal minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada.

Further infrastructure funds could also be provided, Vandal told reporters.

“The CMHC money is not ready to go yet, but they’re deeply engaged with True North, with Southern Chiefs,” he said. “There’s also potentially some infrastructure money.… It’s going to be a long project and the federal government will be there to the end,” he said.

City council approved $40 million of incentives (which includes another $10 million of federal housing dollars earmarked for Winnipeg) Thursday. The Manitoba government previously promised to lease the health tower and fund medical services to the tune of about $77 million per year.

True North Real Estate Development, an arm of Winnipeg Jets’ owner True North Sports and Entertainment, has repeatedly said the project requires funding from multiple levels of government.

As part of the plan, True North will partner with Southern Chiefs’ Organization to create a non-profit organization called TN-SCO Housing 92 Inc. to deliver and manage the housing component.

During the news conference, SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said many people from Manitoba First Nations move to Winnipeg in search of jobs and homes, which the construction of “Project 92” will help provide.

“(It) is the shining example of what economic reconciliation truly means,” said Daniels.

The project is set to include a heritage plaza and park commemorating Canada’s commitment to reconciliation.

Daniels said profits from SCO’s part of the project will be reinvested into the property or used to build additional housing.

The struggling, largely vacant mall was itself meant to revitalize downtown when it opened in 1987. Decades later, it has increasingly been deemed a poor fit for the area, which faces challenges linked to addictions, poverty and homelessness.

Premier Wab Kinew said the project is part of a “360-degree plan” to help people in Winnipeg’s downtown and across Manitoba.

“Leaders of four orders of governments are standing with the private sector to build Portage Place 2.0,” he said at the news conference.

”Not only is this about building up physical capital, it’s about building human capital, specifically the investments in addictions medicine, the investments in primary health care and the job opportunities that will increase people’s incomes.”

The premier did not speak to reporters after the event.

The health tower will include a primary-care clinic with integrated mental health and addictions services, as well as surgery, diagnostics and renal dialysis and an expanded Pan Am Clinic.

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said health-care services will support area residents.

“We’re talking about access to mental health services, addictions supports… (and) meeting people where they are at in their neighbourhood,” said Asagwara.

The Forks North Portage Partnership will sell the land, parking and “air rights” (to build upwards) at the site to True North Real Estate Development for $34.5 million. The city, province and federal government are all members of the partnership and have approved the deal.

“This moment has taken months, in fact, years of building up, discussions, dreaming, planning,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

Gillingham said the development will help Winnipeg “reach its full potential.”

True North confirmed a separate deal is in place to buy the mall itself, which is owned by the Vancouver-based Spruceland Mall Limited Partnership.

Ludlow said the housing component of the project should be completed by the end of 2027, and the entire development should be built by the end of 2028.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga