Business leaders cheer news downtown mall has suitor

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This article was published 05/07/2019 (2257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUSINESS leaders in downtown Winnipeg didn’t play down their reaction to news of a potential buyer for the troubled Portage Place Shopping Centre.

“With hoots and hollers,” Kate Fenske, chief executive officer of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone, said with a laugh Friday. “I think it would be fantastic for the downtown and Winnipeg as a whole.”

Starlight Investments is prepared to buy the centre from Vancouver-based Peterson Group and the land it is built on (plus underground parkade) from North Portage Development Corp. for close to $70 million.

“We’re optimistic that a sale could happen and add some new development to the existing development going on downtown,” said Loren Remillard, president and chief executive officer of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

Investors in another province (Starlight is Toronto-based) wanting to buy the Winnipeg property is a good sign, he said. “It says a lot about the potential of our community from an objective perspective, purely looking at a business case.”

“I think it’s a good deal,” Shindico president and CEO Sandy Shindleman agreed. “It brings another investor to Manitoba. It’s nice to have other people’s money in here.”

The developer wished the potential buyer well with whatever it is planning for Portage Place: “Retail is not the flavour of the month.”

Student housing is reportedly among the proposed avenues for Starlight.

Whether or not Portage Place is viable as a shopping centre is a question the potential buyer will ultimately answer, Remillard said.

“We want to see something happen at Portage Place to add additional energy into the downtown,” he said, adding he hopes a number of “issues,” including public safety concerns, will be rectified.

“One of the things time and time again we hear is that more people on the streets, living and playing in downtown, adds to the perception of safety and deters crime.”

The potential buyer reportedly plans to invest $230 million to develop the property.

“The more activity we have downtown, the more people we have and the better it is for business,” Fenske said.

The head of the city planning department at the University of Manitoba said Winnipeg has a chance to get Portage Place right this time.

“We do have a bit of an opportunity to be cutting edge here,” Prof. Richard Milgrom said. “The city needs to have a vision for what it wants downtown to be.”

He mused about opening up Portage Place where it blocks off Edmonton Street — which could run from Central Park south to the Assiniboine River. “It’s an interesting opportunity,” Milgrom said, adding he hopes for “things that are attractive to getting people to live downtown,” including a grocery store.

“We also need to have a conversation with the citizens of Winnipeg,” he said. “What could make it a place where everyone wants to be, and not excluding the people who are already there?”

The downtown community is diverse and it’s important it stays that way, Fenske agreed.

If city council approves the sale, there will be public consultation, she said. “It’s always so important to think about the community as a whole.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca