Cost of demolishing old police HQ and parkade 6 times more than previously disclosed

The cost of demolishing Winnipeg's old Public Safety Building and the Civic Centre Parkade next door and preparing both properties for reuse is now projected to be nearly six times more than the city previously disclosed.

A new report authored by City of Winnipeg building managers projects it will cost $10.7 million to decommission the shuttered Public Safety Building and Civic Centre Parkade on Princess Street, demolish both structures and prepare the entire site for a new purpose.

"The estimate assumes the clearing of both subject buildings; a decision to retain the PSB for some form of repurposing would alter the financial analyses and value of the proposed work," municipal accommodations manager Brad Erickson and capital projects manager Brent Piniuta state in their report. 

The report, which goes before council's planning, property and development committee on Tuesday, states it will cost $3.3 million to decommission and demolish the structures, $1.7 million to remove hazardous materials, $700,000 to reconfigure equipment that could be used elsewhere and $200,000 to prepare the site for reuse.

Additional funds must be spent on design of the new site and its adaptive reuse, the report states.

Previously, the city only disclosed it would cost $1.8 million to demolish the parkade, using some of the proceeds from the sale of the Winnipeg Square Parkade in 2010.

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The Public Safety Bulding closed in 2016 after the Winnipeg Police Service moved into its new, $214-million headquarters on Graham Avenue. The Civic Centre Parkade was shuttered in 2012 due to structural issues.

City council approved the demolition and reuse of the entire site in 2016, paving the way for downtown development agency CentreVenture to seek public opinion about how to reuse what it calls the "market lands."

A city-commissioned study concluded it would cost too much to reuse the Public Safety Building, which heritage advocates value as a unique example of 20th Century brutalist architecture. Reports to council, including the new demolition report, also reference the abundance of city space at the tower purchased by the city as part of the troubled new police headquarters project.

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In the report, Erickson and Piniuta state while $1.8 million is available for the demolition and site preparation work, the city must find more money for the entire job.

"In consideration of the entire $1.83 million being allocated to this project, it leaves a total estimated project budget shortfall of $8.9 million," they write.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said in a statement it would still cost far more to renovate the Public Safety Building.

"The Public Safety Building and Civic Parkade lands present a tremendous opportunity to continue building and revitalizing a downtown that better connects the east and west Exchanges, and better connects the city," Bowman said in a statement.