Major development back in public eye

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/11/2023 (648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a lengthy delay and a significant redesign, a major downtown development is back in the public eye.

Market Lands, a mixed-use project in the Exchange District, was put up for tender last Friday.

Contractors are searching for bidders to construct a residential tower and adjoining creative hub called the “Art-Cube.”

Construction was originally expected to begin in the early months of 2022. Now, project leads hope shovels will hit the ground off King Street next January.

Bloated costs delayed the timeline, according to a head developer.

“We had to take a pause,” said Jeremy Read, chief executive of the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. 2.0.

The UWCRC 2.0 and CentreVenture, a downtown development organization, helm a non-profit leading the creation of Market Lands.

The first Market Lands designs emerged publicly in 2018 via a design competition. The development was meant to replace the unused Public Safety Building across from Red River College Polytechnic’s Exchange District campus.

Market Lands drew pledges of funding, including more than $27.4 million from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in 2021.

“As we progressed through the design and got into the pricing on (the) concept, it was just cost prohibitive,” Read said.

Developers had proposed a 10-storey apartment and arts organization hub, and an open market space, using a design void of mechanical systems to heat and cool the building. The goal was — and is — to create a net-zero energy consumption site.

The space was to be naturally ventilated.

In June of 2021, Market Lands’ construction cost was a projected $34 million, Read said. The price ballooned to $40 million in the fall after another estimate came in. Developers hadn’t yet incorporated prices for consultations and other secondary costs, Read recounted.

The costs were “taking the project to a place that we were not comfortable with and didn’t think was economically feasible,” he added.

The UWCRC 2.0 has developed several downtown apartments, including Muse Flats and 308 Colony, which is designed to operate near net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

“What we had to redesign, really, was a building that incorporated mechanical system HVAC,” Read said.

Over 18 months, Market Lands went through an interior redesign incorporating electric boilers and electric baseboard heaters, among other things.

A facade built almost entirely of solar panels is part of the current design, just as it was in the design’s past iteration, Read said.

Market Lands will still be a Canada Green Building Council certified net-zero building, he added. It’ll be the first mid-rise tower in the country to attain the certificate, he said.

The project’s tender outlines a 92,730-sq.-ft. mixed-use building including a nine-storey residential tower and a three-storey art cube.

Read expects the overall project to cost around $55 million, including roughly $40 million worth of construction. General construction costs have continued to rise over the past years, he noted.

The new plan calls for 95 apartment units. Of those, 48 will be marketed at 59 per cent of the median market rental rate and targeted at tenants with lower incomes.

The rooms won’t look different from those costing full rent, Read said.

The adjoining art space will house Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery, Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA), and offices for Creative Manitoba and Manitoba Music.

“It’s important for us to be here,” said Debbie Keeper, interim director of Urban Shaman.

The non-profit will erect its gallery on the main floor. It’ll bring new attention to the 27-year-old Indigenous organization, Keeper said.

Creative Manitoba intends to open a boardroom, classroom and a co-working space that others can sublet in Market Lands.

“I think the exciting thing about it is to be part of… a landmark facility,” said Thom Sparling, Creative Manitoba’s executive director.

Still, he’s cautious. He was part of the original committee determining a new use for the former Public Safety Building lot.

“There’s been so many stops and starts in this process,” Sparling said. “I’m waiting to see the shovels in the ground.”

Read is anticipating construction to begin in January 2024.

The City of Winnipeg issued a development permit for Market Lands on Nov. 21. Developers have submitted a building permit and await approval, Read said.

He hopes to see tenants in Market Lands beginning January 2026.

“There’s no group more anxious to see the building built than CentreVenture and UWCRC,” Read said. “It’s been a long journey, and we’re doing something innovative here.”

Funders of the project will likely be disclosed early next year, he added.

In 2021, Winnipeg’s executive policy committee agreed to waive Market Lands’ property taxes for 25 years through a tax-increment financing grant.

It also agreed to reduce the land’s lease payments to $1 per year.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com