Winnipeggers will have to wait longer to see the Assiniboine Park‘s newest building, as the conservancy says the completion date has been pushed back.
“As you can imagine, 2020 was a challenging year,” said Laura Cabak, a spokesperson for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.
Canada’s Diversity Gardens was expected to be substantially finished in mid-August 2020, but that plan has been scratched.
The gardens are meant to celebrate culture and biodiversity with three external gardens, a main building with tropical plants and a butterfly garden.
“While we didn’t halt construction due to COVID-19, the pandemic has certainly made things more difficult and there is still a great deal of uncertainty about how it may impact the project going forward.”
Assiniboine Park Conservancy says significant progress was made on The Leaf, as well as the outdoor gardens.
However, two important steps planned for this winter have been pushed back to the spring.
The conservancy says the roof of The Leaf is still being prepared for installation, and the final step of the outer translucent ETFE walls needs to be put in place.
“Due to the seasonal nature of some aspects of construction and planting, this means the opening will not take place in 2021.”
Assiniboine Park was not able to provide a new opening date. It says once the ETFE installation is underway, it will have a better idea of a new competition date.
A 2019 report to the city’s executive policy committee says estimates on the cost of the project jumped from the original $50 million in 2012 to $75 million in 2017, and in 2019 sat just shy of $98 million.
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