City puts Osborne Village lot up for sale third time

The city is making a third attempt to sell a seemingly prime Osborne Street property, after an offer for the surface parking lot fell through earlier this year.

The 772-square-metre space at 145 Osborne St., which formerly operated as an official paid city parking lot, has been posted for sale once again.

It may puzzle some Winnipeggers to see the site in the heart of Osborne Village remain empty so long after the city declared it surplus in 2020.

However, a few different challenges may limit its appeal to potential buyers, alocal real estate agent said.

“There (are) issues in today’s market that might explain the response (or) lack of responses that they’re getting … (The property’s zone) is going to allow a wide range of commercial use, both office and retail. Our office market in Winnipeg is very soft, so it’s highly unlikely anybody’s looking to build an office building there. That’s going to leave retail. While the visibility there is very high, I think your market there is still the village, so there’s a limited market,” said Wayne Johnson, a commercial real estate agent with Royal LePage.

Johnson said some recent local developers have had a challenging time filling retail spaces. Since parking can be scarce on Osborne Street, retail businesses in that area could also be left to rely heavily on walk-up traffic, he said.

“For a developer to do retail there, there’s a fair amount of risk. The market isn’t city-wide even though it’s located (around) the centre of the city … (This) would be an excellent site for (small-scale) multi-family,” he said.

Johnson said the $1.655-million price tag — the same amount the city tried to sell the property for in January — is high.

“I’m guessing it would sell for less than that number,” he said, noting the city could just accept a lower price.

City officials received one offer after placing the property for sale earlier this year but that was withdrawn, leading it to be listed once again, said city spokesman David Driedger, in an email.

“The real estate market is competitive, and we’re optimistic that a developer will come forward who is interested in developing a mixed-use building on this property,” wrote Driedger.

In 2021, the city’s first attempt to sell the lot led to a deal with a numbered company for $1.625 million. While negotiations on that deal were still underway in 2024, it ultimately fell through in 2025.

The city has paid to remediate soil at the site, which was once occupied by a gas station. The environmental cleanup was completed in November 2024.

The delay in selling the property has not dampened general interest in the land, with people frequently asking about its future, said Zohreh Gervais, executive director of the Osborne Village BIZ.

“It’s right in the heart of Osborne Village. It’s literally at the corner of Stradbrook and Osborne … Those are really prime properties, they have a lot of foot traffic, they also have a lot of drive-by vehicle traffic,” said Gervais.

The lot is located next to the BabyBaby and Shirley’s restaurants and across the street from the Happy Cooker store.

Gervais said the space is still used informally for free parking, even though it’s no longer a formal paid lot.

“I’m not complaining about the fact we currently have an amazing free parking lot. That is not exactly a problem … but the constant limbo is a little bit strange. That would be a great spot for a parkade but it’s also a prime spot for a really wonderful commercial use building or a mixed-use building,” she said.

Coun. Evan Duncan, chairman of city council’s property and development committee, said the appetite for retail construction is low right now, though that ground-floor use would mesh well with the area.

“I think that whatever deals have been, in principle, agreed upon have fallen through, given the current climate for retail spaces. If we’re making decisions based on today’s climate, we don’t have any retail … However, if we want Osborne to be a place where people go to shop, go to eat, go to visit their favourite stores, it only makes sense to have retail on the ground level and then residential above that,” said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

The councillor said other options could still be considered.

“Maybe we need to think outside of the box for the sale here and look at surface parking and then residential above that,” he said.

Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), whose ward includes the property, said it’s disappointing the city has been unable to get the site redeveloped since 2020.

Rollins supports replacing the surface parking lot with a mixed-use development. But if the property can’t be sold this month, the city should consider other uses for the land, she said.

“I’ll wait until the August deadline goes by and then I will look at other options in the fall. If that isn’t realized, I think time’s up,” she said.

The city will accept offers for the site until Aug. 21.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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