MMF raises spectre of Bell MTS exodus By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 6:24 PM CDT Thursday, Jul. 18, 2024 Last Modified: 6:40 PM CDT Thursday, Jul. 18, 2024 Updates

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The Manitoba Métis Federation’s president says he is concerned a Bell MTS exodus might be coming, but the telecom giant says it expects operations to continue as is.

David Chartrand stood inside the lobby of 333 Main St., one of two downtown towers the MMF announced it’s purchasing, on Thursday. A Bell MTS logo emblazons the building’s exterior; it overlooks Main Street.

Chartrand told a crowd of more than 150 people he’d heard Bell operations might be pulled from the office towers.

“We want them to stay,” he said.

The number of Bell MTS staff members in the downtown high-rise has dwindled over the years, the MMF president said. The Main Street building is 68 per cent vacant, MMF statistics show.

Chartrand said he’s reached out to the Bell leadership and hopes to have a meeting.

“I’m hoping that maybe even the premier will tag along with me, maybe the mayor,” Chartrand later told reporters, adding he’s heard corporate operations might leave the province. “I think we need to sit down and look at the long plan and the short plan that Bell (has).”

Bell MTS is a subsidiary of Montreal-based BCE Inc.

The company doesn’t anticipate any changes to its existing leases at 333 Main St. and 191 Pioneer Ave., the other downtown Winnipeg tower the MMF is acquiring, Bell MTS spokeswoman Morgan Shipley said.

Shipley didn’t clarify when the leases expire, nor did she say how many staff members work in the downtown towers.

The MMF said Bell MTS fully occupies the 13-floor Pioneer Avenue site and has a few floors of employees within the 24-floor Main Street facility. The federation is set to take possession Oct. 1.

“We will continue to deliver for our customers in Manitoba,” Shipley wrote in an email. “This has no bearing on our operations in the province.”

The Manitoba government had not previously heard anything about Bell MTS potentially exiting the province, a provincial spokesperson said.

Chartrand said the MMF plans to lower the Main Street tower’s vacancy rate below 10 per cent by October 2025.

It should drop to 32 per cent with the transfer of MMF staff members to the downtown core, the federation has outlined.

Its 160 staff will come from across the city, including from the Métis government’s child and family services unit at 2000 Portage Ave.

Private-sector businesses might consume the latter office space, Chartrand said Thursday. The MMF president said he’s speaking to colleagues and investors in Miami and Toronto, including the new owner of Garden City Shopping Centre.

“I’m thinking of bringing (a) new economic engine into Manitoba,” Chartrand told reporters. “At the same time, I’m asking the province, I’m asking the city, I’m asking the private sector — we need to work together here guys.

“We all work together with a plan. We will achieve reviving downtown to be prosperous, as it was in 1913, when the Bank of Montreal was built.”

“I think we need to sit down and look at the long plan and the short plan that Bell (has).”–Manitoba Métis Federation president, David Chartrand

The nearby former bank building is being converted to a Métis national heritage centre.

Red banners bearing the MMF logo and reading “partnering with the private sector” decorated 333 Main St.’s lobby Thursday morning. The purchase announcement drew provincial politicians from both sides of the aisle.

“We’re always here to be working as your partner,” Advanced Education Minister (and Métis citizen) Renée Cable said in a speech. “We can’t wait to partner on future developments.”

The MMF move received a stamp of approval from Progressive Conservative MLA Wayne Ewasko.

“They continue to breathe new life into the urban core,” he said of the MMF.

The Métis government has more than quintupled its downtown Winnipeg footprint, to 581,939 square feet, since 2019.

The seven buildings and four parking lots have an estimated $128-million value. Chartrand declined Thursday to divulge how much the MMF paid for the towers but said replacing the two buildings would likely cost $140 million.

“Our deal was way better than that, of course,” he said.

The towers and parking lot were listed for $33.5 million in August 2023. Artis REIT chose to sell its properties to the MMF, in part because of the federation’s heritage centre project.

The MMF has become “one of the most significant investors in downtown Winnipeg,” Artis president Samir Manji said in a speech.

MMF branding will ascend above Main Street once the transaction is complete. Further south, 300 MMF employees work in the former Wawanesa Insurance building.

“Métis are here. The people have not been listening to them — we’re hiding in plain sight,” Chartrand said. “Now we’re going to start seeing our brand really sparkle into the sky.

“I think it’ll bring great pride to the next generation.”

The downtown towers aren’t far from where Métis leader Louis Riel (1844-85) spoke about the pride of Manitoba, “our land and our prosperity,” Chartrand noted.

He hinted at a future announcement regarding 280 Fort St., a building the MMF purchased years ago. The Métis government’s Winnipeg plans include applying for a permit to demolish the former Roxy Lanes bowling alley on Henderson Highway, building an apartment for seniors and affordable housing in its place.

The MMF expects to receive billions of dollars through a land-claim settlement within the federal Liberal government’s recent term, Chartrand mentioned, adding it will contribute to further growth.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com