Prime Osborne Village land back on block

The City of Winnipeg is listing a prime Osborne Street property for sale a second time, aiming to trigger the long-awaited redevelopment of its surface parking lot.

The city hopes to sell the 771-square-metre (8,300-sq.-ft.) lot at 145 Osborne St. for $1.655 million.

“It’s a hot commodity, that particular corner … When (it was previously for sale) people were reaching out to us all the time asking about it. It’s just a really cool spot in the village,” said Zohreh Gervais, executive director of the Osborne Village BIZ.

The city has been trying to find a buyer for the land for several years. It declared the property surplus in 2020 and approved a deal to sell the lot to a numbered company for $1.625 million in 2021. While the city said negotiations were still underway in 2024, the deal fell through in 2025.

Gervais said she expects several developers will be “very interested” in the land, noting it is located next to the BabyBaby and Shirley’s restaurants and across the street from the Happy Cooker.

“It is a very valuable property and I think it will probably go for a significant price … (it) is definitely a prime location,” she said.

Since businesses welcomed keeping parking stalls so close to their stores and restaurants, a parkade at the site could accommodate more vehicles, though other development goals may trump that convenience, said Gervais.

“It would be nice to have a central parking space in the village. But, that being said, parkades are not the most pedestrian friendly or community-building spaces and it would be better to have a different type of usage there, probably (in the longer) term,” she said.

Customers managed to find alternative parking when the surface lot was closed for lengthy periods in the past, Gervais noted.

City council first acquired the property and turned it into a 20-stall surface parking lot in 1965, before declaring it surplus to the city’s needs in 2020, according to a property and development report.

The current listing notes the city paid to remediate soil at the site, as it was once occupied by a gas station. That environmental cleanup was completed in November 2024, it notes.

The area’s city councillor said attempts to redevelop the property are part of a broader effort to rejuvenate the area, which is now well underway.

“The intention of spurring higher and better uses and making sure people aren’t sitting on their land has worked and we’ve seen a resurgence in development in Osborne,” said Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry).

Rollins said a new use for this lot is needed.

“I don’t think the city should be in the business of surface parking lots. I think we should be in the business of planning for vibrant neighbourhoods,” she said, suggesting the site might offer housing in the future.

The parking stalls initially generated around $90,000 a year for the Winnipeg Parking Authority before the city stopped operating the lot in 2021.

While the spaces are still regularly used, Rollins said it’s disappointing that they no longer generate revenue for the city.

“It’s not clear to me why council wasn’t provided the option to continue having (the parking) provide the city revenue while we sort out the legal transfer (of the land),” she said.

On Friday afternoon, vehicles were parked in several of the spaces, with no parking signs or meters in sight. A metal fence bordered part of the lot, while a black decorative fence was in place facing Osborne Street.

A request to interview city real estate officials was not granted Friday.

In an email, spokesman Kalen Qually confirmed the parking operations stopped when the city prepared to sell the property. The municipal government eventually spent $688,000 to remediate the soil.

“The city didn’t re-open a paid lot after 2021 because there was ongoing remediation work at the site and we had intended to complete the sale of the property after that point,” wrote Qually.

While the property was at one point listed with a sale price of $800,000 in 2021, a more recent appraisal valued the land at double that figure in 2025.

The city will accept bids for the property until March 6.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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