City police get move-in date

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This article was published 12/03/2015 (3895 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG police are expected to start moving into their new Smith Street headquarters in July.

Officials from the city’s planning department said the WPS will begin its phased move in July, but it won’t be completed until the end of the year.

The WPS is centralizing 14 divisions and 1,265 staff, now in different locations across the city, into six floors of the revamped former Canada Post warehouse facility.

The move-in was supposed to have begun in September 2014, but a late-August rainstorm flooded the building’s basement, causing extensive damage to two massive generators and other equipment.

The electrical equipment and life-and-safety systems have to be recertified or replaced before an occupancy permit can be issued.

The city expects its insurance to cover the damage caused by the rainstorm.

The cost of the heavily criticized project increased from $135 million in 2009 to $210 million in 2013. An external audit condemned the administration’s handling of the project. The audit findings were forwarded to Manitoba Justice, which then called in the RCMP, who are now conducting a full-blown criminal investigation, with allegations of payoffs and inflated contracts.

Efforts are being made to sell the attached 11-storey office tower, which fronts on Graham Avenue. Canada Post continues to occupy two floors in the tower and the Winnipeg police cadets are also located there.

Former mayor Sam Katz said he expected the sale price of the tower to fetch $20 million, but property officials said Tuesday they don’t know if the tower can be sold.

The administration is preparing a report examining options for the tower.

Officials, meanwhile, said they have no plans for the old PSB building. The property and development committee was told Tuesday a consulting firm has been hired to consider options. That report will be presented to council in September.

The city originally hoped it could sell the PSB, but later learned the land it was built on had been donated on condition it remain public-use or revert to the original owners.

The terms of the donation do not apply to the adjoining civic parkade, closed two years ago because of structural concerns. Officials said preliminary estimates for the demolition of the parkade and readying the site for sale is in the $2.5-million to $5 million range.

While the parkade is closed to the public, the police are using the lower levels of the structure until they move into their new facility.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca