True North Real Estate Development unveils plans for Portage Place
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2023 (848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The man who brought a desperately needed sense of optimism to downtown Winnipeg when he bought an NHL hockey team 12 years ago unveiled an ambitious $550 million rescue plan for the transformation of Portage Place Friday.
Mark Chipman, executive chairman of the Winnipeg Jets and owner of True North Sports and Entertainment, said the Vancouver owners of the massive, mostly empty three-storey shopping mall indicated they were about to turn out the lights.
“We got the distinct impression from them that it was the end of the line. It was, ‘This is going to close,’” Chipman said.
“You don’t have to be a commercial real estate expert to walk through a space and see the amount of vacancy… (and) quickly calculate this is just no longer viable.”
The proposal announced Friday by TNSE division True North Real Estate Development features a 15-storey health-care services tower at the east end, and a 16-storey residential building with up to 225 multi-family and affordable housing units anchoring the west end of the structure. Amenities between the two buildings include a main-floor grocery store, community centres, office space for social agencies and various other services. The YM-YWCA and Prairie Theatre Exchange would remain in their current locations.
The atrium at Edmonton Street would be removed and replaced with a new outdoor pedestrian greenway connected to Central Park.
“To replace the mall atrium with outdoor public green space… will serve to liberate the imposing three-block structure (and create) a more people-friendly environment,” said Jim Ludlow, president of True North Real Estate Development.
About 100,000 square feet of public green space would be added overall, including a new community garden.
An overall sketch of the downtown Winnipeg campus. (True North Real Estate Development)
True North Real Estate Development previously secured an option to buy the property and its parkade and is in discussions to buy the 36-year-old mall itself from Vancouver-based Peterson Group. Those deals aren’t yet final.
“I would certainly expect that we would be exercising those options. That said, there’s a lot of work to do,” said Chipman.
The business leader expects the proposal’s focus on health services should help meet community needs but stressed additional work is needed to support folks experiencing homelessness.
In 2021, Toronto-based Starlight Investments revealed it was “unable to proceed” with a planned $400-million mixed-use project to redevelop the 439,600-square-foot structure that opened in 1987 with high expectations of generating new interest in the area’s declining retail fortunes.
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Ludlow described the current mall as a “large, cumbersome and mostly vacant asset in a state of continuing decline” that divides north and south downtown communities.
Subject to funding approvals and consultation, the proposed health-care centre would include a primary-care clinic, extended-hours walk-in clinic, dialysis centre and a Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine clinic. A Pan Am centre for advanced musculoskeletal medicine would offer a diagnostics centre, a surgical suite and several specialized clinics.
The site would retain the underground heated car park with more than 1,000 stalls.
True North noted it plans to renovate much of the existing structure, rather than tear it down.
Ludlow said the company expects to seek partnerships and financial support from the municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Premier Heather Stefanson welcomed the proposal as a “game-changer.”
“This is absolutely integral to future economic development opportunities in our province, but also tackling a very significant challenge that we’re facing in downtown Winnipeg,” said Stefanson.
Shared Health will pay to lease facilities at the site, while future funding could also be considered, she said.
Mayor Scott Gillingham also welcomed the proposal.
“This property is under-performing currently and needs investment,” he said. “I think these are very good ideas… that would attract people to our downtown.”
The new health-care building is expected to expand services but its impact on the existing Pan Am Clinic on Poseidon Bay is still being determined.
“At the Pan Am Clinic right now… we’re bursting at the seams,” said Mike Nader, president of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. “If you show up at Pan Am first thing in the morning, there are lineups out the door. We need enhanced surgical capacity, we need enhanced diagnostic capacity.
“As we have… conversations with staff, we will look at what (the demands are) for this new facility and we’ll plan accordingly.”
True North’s plans could complement the nearby $130-million Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn redevelopment of the downtown Hudson’s Bay building, which also includes housing.
“You’re going to have a lot more traffic downtown,” said Jerry Daniels, Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which received the building from HBC last year and is overseeing its development.
Daniels said he is open to consultations and potential partnerships with True North.
“The vision is exciting. We can’t deny that. A lot of what the community has been identifying (as needed) over the past few years, is mentioned…. But, as always, the devil is in the details.”–Kate Kehler, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg director
“I think we’ll take a very active role from the Indigenous side as, obviously, the elected leadership has given us a mandate to ensure that… our concerns and our interests are respected,” he said.
The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg previously called for a 24-7 community space with a washroom, shower, laundry facilities and social supports to be placed at the site. On Friday, the group’s executive director said True North’s proposal is promising.
“The vision is exciting. We can’t deny that. A lot of what the community has been identifying (as needed) over the past few years, is mentioned…. But, as always, the devil is in the details,” said Kate Kehler.
Further information will determine the value the community receives for any public dollars spent on the project, Kehler said.
The proposal is expected to go through an extensive public consultation process.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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