City gets handle on its buildings in cost-saving effort

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This article was published 23/12/2020 (1906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg will hire help to determine what it should do with more than 230 buildings it owns, rents or leases out, as part of an effort to streamline its assets.

In February, the city plans to award a contract to a consultant who will help shape a new strategic facilities master plan. A report, which would provide criteria on how to assess the properties, is expected about six months later.

That could lead some assets, such as office buildings, to be deemed surplus and either be sold or leased out.

Coun. Scott Gillingham, council’s finance chairman, said the effort is needed to ensure tax money is spent wisely.

“It’s not a good use of Winnipeggers’ money for the city to keep paying for buildings we don’t need and office space we don’t use,” said Gillingham.

He said the office tower at 266 Graham Ave., located alongside the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters, is a prime example of an underused city-owned building. Gillingham said he’d like to determine if some tower space could be renovated to house city staff or if it should be sold.

“There is a city asset that is completely underutilized right now and it’s costing taxpayers money… That’s what we’re trying to avoid,” said Gillingham.

The city pays about $250,000 per year to maintain the office tower, 10 years after it acquired the structure as part of the headquarters site. In an emailed statement, city spokesman Kalen Qually said the tower contains six vacant floors, two that are leased to third parties and three that are used for civic needs.

During a recent public meeting, Winnipeg’s planning, property and development director John Kiernan said a plan to “rationalize” city facilities began before the pandemic. At that point, Kiernan said the work was meant to “shrink” the square footage of city assets by about 20 per cent to 30 per cent over the next five to 10 years.

Kiernan said that goal may change, however, since up to 1,800 city staff have now worked from home at times during the pandemic.

“People not being in the office… has given us pause on how much space we need,” he said.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy, council’s property and development chairwoman, said the RFP marks a key step forward to evaluate city assets. However, Gilroy cautioned the city must also consider the economic effect of closing civic office spaces downtown in the near future, since other private companies may also close their offices following the pandemic.

“I would be concerned if we had too many buildings sitting empty downtown. We would need to look at, not only our own assets, but the social and economic impact on our surrounding community,” said Gilroy.

Gillingham said the city contract will also assess properties the city leases for $1 per year to various community groups. He said some of those groups could likely shift to shared spaces instead of occupying their own buildings.

“It may be more prudent and a better use of taxpayers’ resources to combine groups into one city facility. The groups could then help to share some of the costs of operating that building,” said Gillingham.

Coun. Janice Lukes said she believes such leases create maintenance expenses the city can’t sustain.

“We just can’t afford to keep all of these buildings operating. It’s a major structural (responsibility)… and they’re old buildings,” said Lukes.

The consultant’s report is expected to help “guide future planning and financial decisions” for the portion of city facilities it will study, which includes office buildings, heritage buildings, cemetery buildings and facilities leased to non-profit groups, according to the request for proposals.

The RFP doesn’t include community centres, Gilroy said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga