WINNIPEG — The redevelopment of the old Public Safety Building and condemned Civic Parkade won’t begin until 2019 at the earliest.
Hundreds of people have given their input in a round of public consultations that, according to the city’s downtown development agency, will continue until the end of this year.
“You’re going to see us doing some urban design planning and review to decide exactly how the site should be configured,” Angela Mathieson, CentreVenture president and CEO said.
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Mathieson said site plans should also be completed by the end of this year, followed by a search for contractors and development partners that will likely take up all of 2018. That means the earliest construction would begin is 2019.
“The building’s not going anywhere, it’s there, let’s do it right, it’s not urgent need at this point,” said city councillor John Orlikow, chair of the property and development committee.
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The city has already earmarked the Public Safety Building for demolition and the adjoining civic parkade was closed in 2012 due to structural instability. It too will be torn down.
The site, referred to as the market lands, could see new roads and paths built through it to improve connectivity between surrounding neighbourhoods.
People who work in the area told Global News the redevelopment needs to happen as soon as possible.
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“This thing’s been falling down for 10 or 15 years, so it’s time to fix it and move downtown in the right direction,” said Phil Fletcher, an instructor at Red River College.
The findings of CentreVenture’s first stage of public consultations can be found here.
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