True North asks for 6 more months to decide whether to buy Portage Place
Company asks City of Winnipeg to extend due diligence period to June 30, 2024
The real estate wing of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets is asking for six more months to decide whether to proceed with a $550-million proposal to purchase and redevelop downtown Winnipeg's Portage Place mall.
True North Real Estate Development has asked the city to extend the due diligence period on its option to purchase the beleaguered mall and embark on a multi-year redevelopment that would see a medical tower rise above the east side and a residential tower above the west.
The company's plan also calls for the glass-enclosed atrium at Edmonton Street to be dismantled, while the middle of the mall would be converted into community centres, offices for community organizations and a small amount of retail space and food services.
True North announced in March it had signed a purchase option that requires the company to make a decision on the project by Dec. 31.
According to a report that will come before city council's executive policy committee on Tuesday, True North is asking the city to extend that due diligence period to June 30, 2024.
The provincial and federal governments must also approve the extension because all three levels of government are stakeholders in the non-profit Forks North Portage Partnership, which owns the parkade below the mall and the air rights to build towers above it.
St. Boniface-St. Vital MP Dan Vandal, the senior Manitoba minister in the federal Liberal cabinet, is reviewing the extension request on behalf of the federal government and will make a decision in the coming days, spokesperson Kyle Allen said in a statement.
True North said in a statement that it needs the additional months to work on the redevelopment plan.
"This extension provides valuable additional time for True North to continue the analysis and due diligence necessary to ensure its vision for a campus redevelopment plan, prioritizing housing, health care and community services, is responsive to the needs of the community and can be successfully fulfilled," True North spokesperson Krista Sinaisky said in a statement.
The purchase option requires True North to keep the skywalks connecting the mall to the rest of downtown open from 7 a.m. to midnight and pay The Forks North Portage Partnership no less than $34.5 million for its stake in the mall.
The option also requires True North to conduct community consultations about the redevelopment of the mall and gives the firm a year to develop a plan to redevelop the mall and surrounding area.
The first phase of those community consultations are complete, Winnipeg economic development manager Matt Dryburgh said in the report to EPC.
During that phase, True North heard from 702 people, says an engagement summary submitted to the city. A second phase of public consultations is coming, along with talks with government and private-sector partners, Sinaisky said.
The mall itself is owned by Vancouver's Peterson Group, which made a deal to sell the mall earlier this year, True North Real Estate president Jim Ludlow said in March.
He did not disclose the purchase price for the mall itself, which was built in 1987 by the North Portage Development Corporation, a predecessor of today's Forks North Portage Partnership.
Ludlow has said there will be some form of financial request made to all three levels of government.
Former Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson said in May that the province would support the redevelopment through long-term leases for Shared Health and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority facilities in the health tower.
Stefanson also left the door open to provincial property-tax incentives.
Premier Wab Kinew said in October he would have something to announce about the project.
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