True North Real Estate, Southern Chiefs' Organization to work together to redevelop Portage Place, the Bay
The two parties have been hinting at working together since the spring
True North Real Estate Development and the Southern Chiefs' Organization plan to work together on their respective efforts to redevelop large structures in downtown Winnipeg, multiple sources have told CBC News.
The real-estate arm of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets and the organization representing 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations in southern Manitoba plan to sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday about co-ordinating their downtown Winnipeg revitalization efforts, the sources say.
True North is conducting due diligence on a proposed $550-million redevelopment of Portage Place mall that would turn it into a downtown campus with a health-care tower, residential housing and community centres.
The SCO is in the midst of transforming the former Bay building into Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn — "It is visible" in Anishinaabemowin — a mixed-use project that also includes health-care and residential components. The SCO initially pegged the cost of the project at $130 million.
The two parties have been hinting at working together since spring, when True North went public with its plans to purchase Portage Place, the land below the mall and the rights to build towers above it.
"I think that could be a great space for downtown and create more vibrancy, and I think that the community downtown needs more investment, and I think it's going to be a good thing," SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said during an interview in April.
At the time, Daniels did not say the two entities would work together. That relationship has since evolved, True North Real Estate president Jim Ludlow said in November, after his company asked for six more months to conduct its due diligence on the mall purchase.
"I think both projects are catalysts for the other. We've spent more time since May analyzing and looking at Portage Place, and I think that the more we look at it, the more we see that these projects both have to proceed essentially in lockstep," Ludlow said in an interview.
"I think they're equally important and I think both organizations, as we have evolved together in our thinking, would be encouraging the other and then encouraging our respective public partners for joint success."
Sources say officials from True North, the SCO, the provincial government and the City of Winnipeg will attend a signing ceremony slated for Portage Place on Tuesday.
Two sources said David Thomson, a partner in True North through his real-estate firm Osmington Inc., will be in Winnipeg on Tuesday as well.
True North and SCO did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
On Monday, True North announced it "will be joined by key partners" on Tuesday and will "provide an update on central pillars of the Portage Place redevelopment, new partnerships, and next steps to ensure a purposeful and synergized plan to materially improve the health of Winnipeg's downtown."
Winnipeg's mayor and Manitoba's premier say they are excited to learn the details.
"The concept of everyone working together and co-ordinating is essential for us to be successful downtown," Mayor Scott Gillingham said at city hall on Monday.
"To see that True North and Southern Chiefs' Organization are on the verge of announcing how they're going to work together in a good way is certainly something I'm happy to see," said Premier Wab Kinew, also speaking at city hall.
The SCO's plans for Wehwehneh include 300 affordable housing units for elders and university students, a Hudson's Bay Company museum and two restaurants, including a reopened Paddlewheel, which may be moved from its former perch on the sixth floor to the second floor.
There are also plans for an art gallery, office space for Indigenous entrepreneurs, a health centre, a child-care facility, a seniors centre, a new seat of government for the SCO and a memorial for residential school victims and survivors.
True North's plan for Portage Place calls for a medical tower to rise above what's now the east side of the mall, with a residential tower to be built above the west.
The 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 space for retail and food services.
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