Empty promise

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/11/2021 (1578 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the midst of the second wave of the pandemic last fall came an announcement from the Hudson’s Bay Company that many had long anticipated: the downtown Bay store on Portage Avenue would be shut down, closed to the public after 95 years.

The initial announcement by the company forecast a closure in February 2021, but the restrictions on retail implemented by the province to curb skyrocketing COVID-19 case counts apparently hastened the final blow: on Nov. 30, a few months ahead of schedule, the iconic store’s doors were closed for good.

It has now been a full year since that day, which triggered in many Winnipeggers a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era mixed with concern over what the future held: how long would the building sit unused? Would future plans maintain the classic centrepiece of the city’s downtown? Would there be a scenario — akin to the demolition of the Eaton’s store a few blocks away to make room for a new hockey arena’s construction in the early 2000s — where the building disappeared entirely? (Heritage protections quash that fear at 450 Portage Ave.).

These questions aren’t new: they’ve been asked since long before the store closed, with two provincial entities (Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries) and the University of Winnipeg considering at different points the acquisition of the building for some sort of institutional use.

But they are pressing, as evidenced by the concern at various levels — public, private, municipal and provincial governments — over the 650,000-square-foot building’s next stage. Earlier this year, the provincial government committed $25 million for a “Bay Building Fund” to support restoration, preservation or maintenance of the building. And in December 2020, Mayor Brian Bowman announced an eight-person advisory team to take advantage of an “opportunity to think creatively about how this prime real estate can continue to have significance in our downtown.”

However prime the real estate is, a 2019 valuation of the HBC’s holdings pegged it at $0, given the likelihood of renovations and restorative work with costs in the millions. And it’s difficult to say with certainty whether the ownership has made any formalized plans for the building in the year since its closure: a request for comment from Hudson’s Bay’s senior vice-president of real estate, who sits on Bowman’s committee, was returned with a statement from a spokesperson saying, “No updates to share at this time.”

Similarly, an emailed statement from Cathy Cox, minister of sport, culture and heritage, reiterated the province’s financial support and its enthusiasm for the “inspiration of private enterprise — and other levels of government — to unlock the potential that awaits for the redevelopment of this landmark building in our province’s capital city.” The government’s financial commitment, Cox wrote, would be used to support projects to restore, preserve or maintain the heritage elements of the building.

However, Cox’s spokesperson offered no confirmation that any such projects had been yet identified.

Meanwhile, despite certain consultations within the committee, there hasn’t been much headway made yet that the public can see: in the summer, the boarded-up windows along Portage Avenue were filled with public artworks, but plywood remains on the windows along Vaughan Street.

Gordon Goldsborough, the president and head researcher of the Manitoba Historical Society, was heartened last fall to see the city’s commitment to the Bay building’s future, but less so by the lack of a representative on the committee with a historical or heritage-work background. An open letter from the province’s historical committees sought to amend that oversight.

He’s still hopeful future decision-making will include people in the heritage or historical fields, because the bulk of the committee comes from a business and development background. The Manitoba Historical Society and Heritage Winnipeg tried to bridge the gap last year by inviting committee members to an event about the Bay building’s future, but none showed up, he said.

Goldsborough said while it’s not too early to consider what the future might hold, it is still a tad too early to judge what could be seen on the surface as an overall lack of progress on solving a 650,000-square-foot conundrum in downtown Winnipeg: commitments have been made that need time to take root.

“It has been a year, but there’s been a lot going on,” he said, putting it mildly. “It seems to me the Bay hasn’t been top of mind (understandably). If another year passes and we’re still looking at nothing having been done, I think I’d be more concerned.”

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com