City breaks ground on CentrePort South, work slated to start in 2025

Advertisement

Advertise with us

The shovel plot was a small mound of dirt. It stood, however, for the beginning of an 1,800-acre development in northwest Winnipeg.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$1 per week for 24 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.75/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Winnipeg Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*$1 will be added to your next bill. After your 4 weeks access is complete your rate will increase by $0.00 a X percent off the regular rate.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2024 (411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The shovel plot was a small mound of dirt. It stood, however, for the beginning of an 1,800-acre development in northwest Winnipeg.

On Friday, Mayor Scott Gillingham turned soil on CentrePort South, alongside politicians and stakeholders. Gillingham expects construction to begin later this year.

The vision includes 500 acres of residential and 1,100 acres of industrial space. The Perimeter Highway runs to CentrePort South’s west; King Edward Street borders it to the east.

GABRIELLE PICHE / FREE PRESS Politicians and stakeholders turned sod Friday to mark the ground-breaking of CentrePort South.
From left: Tyler MacAfee, the Winnipeg Airports Authority’s vice-president of external affairs; Economic Development Minister Jamie Moses; Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham; Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor; Carly Edmundson, president of CentrePort Canada; and Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

GABRIELLE PICHE / FREE PRESS Politicians and stakeholders turned sod Friday to mark the ground-breaking of CentrePort South. From left: Tyler MacAfee, the Winnipeg Airports Authority’s vice-president of external affairs; Economic Development Minister Jamie Moses; Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham; Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor; Carly Edmundson, president of CentrePort Canada; and Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

It follows a build-up of CentrePort real estate in the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

The City of Winnipeg estimates residential and industrial projects will start next year. For now, tenders are out for sewage and water infrastructure.

“We’ve been talking about this, the needed investment, for many, many years,” Gillingham said.

The city tabbed $34 million for the first phase of CentrePort South, an inflation-related jump from its initial $21 million. The province announced $40 million for the project in 2022.

To speed up growth, the city has created a team to work alongside CentrePort developers, Gillingham detailed Friday.

“We want to make it easier for those who are investing,” the mayor said, adding developers won’t “jump through many hoops” with various city departments.

Representatives from Winnipeg’s water and waste, planning, property and development, public works and economic development branches will amalgamate in the team.

Matt Dryburgh, Winnipeg senior manager of economic development, will lead the group.

Gillingham said he’s open to trying the team model in future Winnipeg developments. Already, the city has a “concierge service” for non-profits building multi-family housing through the housing accelerator fund.

“I’m really excited about the strong message this sends,” CentrePort Canada president Carly Edmundson said of the new team.

It’ll be a couple years before buildings are erected; the team is a proactive step, Edmundson stated.

“That’s a really good message to the market that we’re ready to facilitate … investment. There’s no such thing as getting on that stuff too early.”

Already, investors are showing interest in the land, Edmundson said.

Manufacturers and firms heavily into distribution are eyeing property. So are homebuilders, Edmundson added.

Housing for 8,000 to 12,000 people is slated for the area. Retail services will be needed too, Edmundson said.

CITY OF WINNIPEG
                                Map showing details of CentrePort Canada South.

CITY OF WINNIPEG

Map showing details of CentrePort Canada South.

CentrePort has been a boon for investment: over the past five years, the inland port has seen more than $750 million in development permits.

Two-hundred companies have invested in CentrePort in the last five years, said Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor.

CentrePort has three million square feet of construction ongoing and completed.

“Rosser has done a very good job of making it much easier for developers to invest there,” Gillingham said. “This is really not about competition between Winnipeg and Rosser. We should be, as a city, continuing to learn from those who do it well.”

The Winnipeg Airports Authority is building a $120-million air cargo facility spanning 140,500 sq. ft. in CentrePort’s Winnipeg side. The project is expected to create around 110 jobs.

“We’re really invested in doing this and growing and building with the community,” Tyler MacAfee, WAA vice-president of external affairs, said in a speech Friday. “This is an exciting day for the airport, exciting day for our city.”

In 2022, a city report estimated a 30-year plan to extend water and sewer service to the region, called Airport Area West, could spark up to 16,000 full-time jobs. The report predicted full development would generate $129 million in annual tax revenue for the federal government, $107 million for the province and $80 million for the city.

Airport Area West, which encompasses part of CentrePort, has seven land development phases within a 30- to 50-year horizon, according to city spokesman David Driedger. Water and sewer infrastructure should come to the area in three phases.

Between Winnipeg and Rosser, CentrePort covers 20,000 acres; it’s considered one of North America’s biggest trimodal inland ports. It is a foreign trade zone with truck, rail and air cargo operations.

CentrePort continues developing its rail park on the north side, connecting businesses to Canadian Pacific Railway’s main line northwest of Winnipeg.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

History

Updated on Friday, August 9, 2024 5:48 PM CDT: Rewritten completely by reporter at the event.

Report Error Submit a Tip

Business

LOAD MORE