Railside at The Forks gets funding boost

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This article was published 05/08/2021 (1494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Railside at The Forks, an ambitious project to erect 30 four- to six-storey residential and commercial buildings, just got an injection of taxpayers’ cash.

“We’re so excited to see Railside come to life,” said Sara Stasiuk, vice-president of finance and operations at The Forks.

The land borders Union Station and is currently being used as two parking lots.

Plans for the project include 1,000 to 1,200 residential units, 10 per cent of which will be “affordable” housing as defined by the province. There will also be a mixture of public storefronts, office space and other commercial uses.

Construction crews broke ground on the geothermal system in early May. Next spring, work is scheduled to begin on two public plazas, pedestrian streets and alleys and Israel Asper Way will be repurposed into a parkway.

The federal government has committed up to $1.8 million for the geothermal system that will heat and cool the development, said Dan Vandal, Manitoba’s senior federal cabinet minister.

The cash will come from a national fund to support carbon emission reductions.

“We know that climate change is already here, and it’s a reality that’s affecting our daily lives all over the world… and we know that the problem is carbon pollution,” said Vandal.

The Forks will cover the rest of the $4.5-million budget for the geothermal system, which is estimated to prevent 12,200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

The province and the City of Winnipeg will contribute money through tax-increment financing, meaning they’ll redirect a portion of increased property tax revenue generated by the development.

The provincial government has allocated up to $7.7 million to support the first of two phases of the project: development of the south lot. That’s down from the $11.9 million the province first approved in December 2019.

The two phases are scheduled to be done over 20 years.

However, provincial tax-increment financing is currently funded through the education property tax, which the premier has promised to phase out. It’s unclear if this will affect the province’s contribution. Newly installed Economic Development Minister Jon Reyes did not respond to a request for clarification.

The city will chip in a maximum of $7.9 million over 20 years.

Coun. Sherri Rollins said the project represents a move toward “green builds” in the city.

“We’re centring this project to do all the things we need to be doing in terms of city building,” she said, noting the many wildfires that set a thick smoke over Winnipeg Thursday as evidence for the need for climate action.

Vandal also cited Manitoba’s wildfires, as well as the prolonged heat and drought ravaging the province, as he pitched the importance of the geothermal project.

He touted his government’s carbon emission targets announced in July: emission reductions of 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. However, Canada has been historically poor at following through on its targets. It failed to meet its targets from the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, from which it withdrew in 2011, and from the Copenhagen Accord in 2009.

A study from the Pembina Institute concluded not a single province is prepared to hit the 2030 targets and points to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta as particular offenders.

But Vandal said projected growth in the “clean economy” could help promote carbon emission cuts, pointing to the new development at The Forks as a way to “build back greener” after the pandemic.

The three governments are the shareholders of The Forks.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca