WINNIPEG – Mayor Brian Bowman is “saddened” to hear how Jets owner Mark Chipman feels about the city’s handling of a downtown property, but he’s not going to back down, he said as he stepped off a plane Friday.
“We obviously have some fences to mend,” Bowman said at the Winnipeg airport as he returned from the big city mayors conference in Toronto. “I’m obviously saddened to hear how he feels about the situation.”
Chipman on Wednesday held a news conference where he said he felt his True North Sports and Entertainment has been tarnished by discussions around proposals for city-agency-owned land at 220 Carlton St. Chipman said a lack of trust prompted him to step back from a plan for a $400-million development on that land and another parcel across the street at 225 Carlton.
READ MORE: What’s next for Mark Chipman’s ‘paused’ downtown development
Bowman said he’s reached out to Chipman and hopes to sit down with him in the coming days. However, the mayor said he’s not willing to back down on his stand that the land at 220 Carlton St. should be subject to a public request for proposals.
Bowman admitted he doesn’t have the power to quash a development deal between True North and city development agency CentreVenture. However, he threatened to withhold $3.75 million that had been part of the 220 Carlton development plan if a request for proposals isn’t made.
“This deal can proceed. … City council doesn’t have the ability to stop CentreVenture from completing this deal,” Bowman said. “All we’re saying is if $3.75-million of taxpayers’ money, your money, is to flow to CentreVenture, then we’d like to see public expressions of interest so that it’s a level playing field.
“They can decide if they want to take the money or not.”
READ MORE: Timeline: Conditional offer with TNSE for 220 Carlton
While CentreVenture board chair Curt Vossen said they have no plan to back out of the deal with True North, they can’t move ahead without the $3.75 million.
“A failure to get the $3.75 million in liquidated damages certainly creates a problem for us, it allows debt to remain on our balance sheet,” said Vossen.
That money came from a process in which Stuart Olson Dominion, the construction firm working on a Winnipeg convention centre expansion, got out of a deal to build a hotel at 220 Carlton St.
The contract for the convention centre included a $16-million holdback. Stuart Olson Dominion was required to find a hotel developer for the 220 Carlton land in exchange for the $16-million. When the firm didn’t succeed in finding a developer, CentreVenture entered into the agreement with True North and asked the city to allow Stuart Olson to pay a $3.75-million penalty instead of the $16 million. CentreVenture had apparently expected to use that $3.75 million in the new development plan.
Comments