Winnipeg to pull three residential properties out of the SHED

Winnipeg plans to yank three residential properties out of downtown's so-called sports, hospitality and entertainment district to allow tax revenue to pay for projects other than public amenities in the immediate area.

On Wednesday, city council's executive policy committee will consider a plan to remove the Sutton Place Hotel & Residences on Carlton Street, GlassHouse on Hargrave Street and Marie Rose Place on Edmonton Street from the sports, hospitality and entertainment district, a tax-increment-financing zone informally known as the SHED.

The SHED was set up by the city to allow additional property taxes that result from developments within the area to pay for public amenities such as the streetscaping on Donald Street, which has been completed, and the forthcoming public square that will be built south of Graham Avenue as part of True North Square.

The new tax revenue from the three properties, however, is destined for other purposes.

GlassHouse and Marie Rose Place have been conditionally approved for a separate tax-increment-financing program aimed at stimulating housing in a wider area of downtown. This program allows new additional property-tax dollars that flow from new condos or apartments to be returned to the developers behind those projects.

Sutton Place, meanwhile, has been eyed as a means of financing the expansion of RBC Convention Centre. According to the report to EPC, the new property taxes emanating from the forthcoming hotel and neighbouring condo tower on Carlton Street will be used to pay back $16 million worth of principal convention-centre debt,

"We can't use the same tax dollars for two different purposes," said John Kiernan, Winnipeg's planning, property and development director.

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The 40-unit Marie Rose Place, which provides transitional housing for single female refugees and their children, was approved for a downtown housing grant in 2014. It's now complete and eligible for a $798,000 city-provincial grant, Kiernan said.

GlassHouse, a 195-unit condo tower, also was approved for a $5.7-million grant in 2014 and is nearing completion, Holmes writes.

Sutton Place consists of a 27-storey, 275-hotel-room tower and a 17-storey, 130-residential-unit tower. It's the second phase in the True North Square project across the street, which consists of a parkade, public square and towers of 17 and 24 storeys.

On Friday, Mayor Brian Bowman declined to respond to questions about the plan to remove the three properties from the SHED. 

Pending EPC approval on Wednesday, the plan faces council approval on Oct. 26.