Mayor Brian Bowman wants Winnipeg's Public Safety Building bulldozed

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman's opinion on the future of the the Public Safety Building is unequivocal.

"My position is clear — I'd like to see it bulldozed," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"What we've been advised is it's essentially beyond repair. The costs that we would have to incur in order to save it … is one that I don't favour."

Bowman said the city has a chance to use the space for better purposes "for the public."

"There is a tremendous opportunity to really revitalize an area of the city that could use a little TLC."

The city's property and development committee decided Tuesday to hold off making a decision about the future of the PSB, the old police headquarters, for at least a month. The committee was reviewing a report that recommends its demolition.

Councillors opted instead to get opinions on the building's heritage value.

The police are scheduled to be completely moved out of the PSB by July, leaving it vacant and in need of costly repairs.

The city spent $275,000 to commission the report, which considered options for the 51-year-old PSB and its attached parkade, across King Street from city hall.

The report, which went to the property and development committee on Tuesday, suggests three options — all of which call for the PSB and parkade to be razed. Preserving or renovating the building would be cost prohibitive and the land could instead be used to create a small public space, the report states.

• Winnipeg's Public Safety Building not worth saving: report

Bowman said he respects the committee's decision to examine the PSB for any heritage value but agrees with the report's findings.

 "I understand that the committee has delayed things a little bit, and I think that's fine," he said.

The building, clad in Tyndall limestone and designed in the brutalist style of modernism, was constructed in 1965. But years of freezing and thawing in Winnipeg have taken their toll.

The Public Safety Building has become unsafe.

Since 2006, a plywood-covered walkway has lined the street outside the building at William Avenue and King Street, to protect pedestrians from the risk of limestone cladding falling from the facade.

The parkade has been closed since August 2012 after engineering reports raised structural concerns about the facility.

• Winnipeg closes parkade due to structural concerns

The three recommended options for the PSB land are:

• Large public space/private development

This option recommends the city create a public space on portions of the land with surplus land sold to a private-sector developer.

• Civic campus

This option recommends the development of a small public space, the construction of a new building for the planning, property and development department, the construction of a small, 95-stall parking structure with office space for the Winnipeg Parking Authority and the sale of surplus land.

• Large parking structure

This option recommends the development of a small public space, the construction of a 520-stall parking structure with office space at grade level for the parking authority and the sale of surplus land.