Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman mends fences with True North
Brian Bowman calls meeting with Mark Chipman "positive and productive"
A big downtown development called True North Square, could be back on track after Mayor Brian Bowman met with True North head Mark Chipman and Centre Venture to smooth things out.
The project was put on hold after a war of words broke out between the Mayor and Chipman after Bowman said a deal for the $400 million dollar project at 220 Carlton Street was done behind closed doors.
Chipman called the comments damaging.
Bowman issued an open invitation to meet with Chipman in February.
They finally met this week.
"We discussed among other things the True North project more fully and it should be clear that they followed the processes in place at that time. But I've also indicated we need to improve our processes going forward, and we will," Bowman said.
The mayor stressed his issues weren't with the individuals at Centre Venture or True North.
"There shouldn't be any impression left that they've done anything wrong, but the processes need to improve and you know I campaigned on positive change and trying to improve things and that's what we're going to do," Bowman said.
"I believe everyone acted in good faith and I've got a lot of respect for Mark Chipman and he and True North have done really good things for our community and this is really about, let's move forward," Bowman said.
Statement from Mark Chipman
"I can confirm that Mayor Bowman and myself, along with Centre Venture chairman Curt Vossen, did indeed hold a productive meeting this past week to clear the air about the proposed plans for True North Square. We are very appreciative of the mayor's words today acknowledging that True North Sports & Entertainment Limited did, in fact, follow all the proper steps last year when we entered into an option agreement with Centre Venture regarding the property at 220 Carlton Street.
"We also appreciate the mayor's view of the potential impact of this project. However, we wish to remind everyone that there is still a great deal of work to do before this becomes a reality. We will continue with our due diligence and work with our partners to assess its feasibility. In the meantime, we will have no further comment until such time as we can provide a substantive update."