Former Hydro HQ unplugged

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This article was published 07/09/2021 (1521 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro’s former headquarters on Taylor Avenue are coming to market, officially closing a chapter of the utility’s history that started over six decades ago.

For the past several years, after the construction of Hydro’s state-of-the-art 360 Portage Ave., headquarters in 2009, staff had been funnelled out of the Taylor building, with approximately 685 employees relocated to the sparkly Manitoba Hydro Place or other Hydro outposts during a major exodus in 2017.

What remained at the Taylor site was a skeleton crew with increasingly fewer bones, as well as critical technologies and infrastructure which would have been harder to move than people were. Meanwhile, over 800 employees participated in the corporation’s voluntary departure program in 2018, creating more space at the new headquarters, which opened to much fanfare in 2009.

“I only have one word: ‘Wow!’” remarked former mayor Sam Katz at the $278-million building’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, which featured drums, violins, and a performance from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Then-premier Gary Doer applauded the decision to locate the new headquarters downtown as opposed to a suburban locale, a plan which was in consideration before the Portage Avenue concept was decided.

“Generations to come will appreciate the decision to build downtown,” he said at the time.

Having the majority of workers under one roof downtown was seen as advantageous from both an efficiency and cost-saving perspective. “The whole idea was to amalgamate staff,” said Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen. But it couldn’t happen all at once, with some Portage Avenue staff also needing to shuffle to make room for the influx. It was a gradual process, which is one reason the building wasn’t immediately put on the market, Owen said.

Still, it was only a matter of time before the For Sale sign was planted in front of 820 Taylor Ave., a building whose surroundings looked much different when it was constructed in 1958.

Back then, there were no Walmarts or Sobeys box stores; no massive parking lots or condominiums under construction. The headquarters, designed by local firm Moody Moore and Partners, stood somewhat alone along what’s now a bustling and burgeoning traffic corridor with expanding rapid and active transportation options nearby.

The building was originally established as a head office for the Manitoba Hydro Electric Board, which became known as Manitoba Hydro after a merger with the Manitoba Power Commission in 1961. In 1963, about 375 Hydro administration officers were moved into the Taylor Avenue building, leaving the previous office — the Power Commission headquarters at 1075 Portage Ave. — vacant. Efficiency and cost savings, along with space, were cited at the time as reasons for that exodus.

Now it’s the Taylor Avenue building’s turn to empty.

The skeleton crew, made up of communications and laboratory jobs, will move in the coming months and head downtown, with tentative possession of the Taylor building plotted for April 2023. Core functions at the Taylor location have also had to be relocated, with technical operations still remaining there scheduled to move out promptly.

In addition to the building’s decreased use — though Owen said the film industry has made good use of the building as a shooting location over the past two years — the move is likely also motivated by the area’s growing desirability for commercial interests.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca