Times Change(d) bar, Parker Lands on city committee agenda Tuesday
CBC News | Posted: January 12, 2016 11:30 AM | Last Updated: January 12, 2016
Property, planning and development to review plans for Parker Lands, Times Change(d) bar
The fate of Times Change(d) bar and a retention pond planned for the Parker Lands are on the agenda for the city's property, planning and development committee on Tuesday.
The committee will decide whether to list Times Change(d) on Main Street as a historic resource, which could prevent it from being torn down.
The current owners want to sell the Fortune Building and another attached building next door to make way for a new development.
Coun. John Orlikow chairs the committee and said councillors will have to determine if the "buildings have historic significance in the City of Winnipeg."
John Pollard, the co-CEO of Pollard Banknote, came forward last week with an offer to "save" the Fortune Building and keep Times Change(d) as a tenant.
Is Parker Lands retention pond 'remotely doable'?
Also on the agenda for the committee is what to do about a portion of the Parker lands near Taylor Avenue and Pembina Highway.
Developer Andrew Marquess got the land in a swap with the city years ago, but city staff then realized they needed part of the property for a massive retention pond.
The pond is needed to mitigate basement flooding and sewage overflow into the river in the Fort Garry area.
The city's executive policy committee voted to expropriate the land at a cost of at least $8 million in Feburary 2015, but a report commissioned later in the year put those plans in jeopardy.
The committee will again discuss to expropriate the land on Tuesday.
Marquess has made it clear he wants to develop the property, and Orlikow said part of the challenge is figuring out what the land is worth to him and to the city.
"[A factor is] the amount of buildup that he expects, that he could put in to his land-locked piece of land – because it will be landlocked – is much higher than the City of Winnipeg thinks is even remotely doable, so that's what we will be debating," said Orlikow.