A future plan for Portage Place may be one step closer.
The executive policy committee of Winnipeg’s city council has given the go-ahead for The Forks North Portage Partnership to give the real estate arm of True North Sports and Entertainment an option to buy the land connected to the downtown mall.
True North has said it’s interested in buying the beleaguered shopping centre and turning it into a mixed-use building.
This comes after years of debate over the 36-year-old mall’s fate, including an attempt by Toronto-based Starlight Investments to buy and redevelop the site — a planned $400-million renovation that fell apart in 2021.
Kate Kehler of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg said affordable housing needs to be a key component in any new Portage Place development.
“This is a chance to actually turn around Winnipeg — to turn it into that walkable, livable, downtown community — where it’s not (only) about people who come from the suburbs down to entertainment. They’re more than welcome to come, clearly, but we want it to be a place that people actually can live and be in.
“It needs to meet the needs of the people who are already in the community and not be focused on moving those people someplace else … and that’s a major concern.”
One of the stakeholders involved in any decisions with Portage Place is The Forks, as The Forks North Portage Partnership owns the land the mall sits on, as well as the underground parkade, which it still operates.
The Forks’ Zach Peters said the mall is currently on a long-term land lease to the company that operates it.
Peters said he’d like to see the space used for something that will improve the community at large.
“What we see with Portage Place is that the status quo is not working,” he said. “This big declining mall for downtown Winnipeg is not serving our city, the north Portage community, the downtown community … so something needs to happen here.
“I think what it comes down to is a downtown that needs to have people living here — it needs to have folks that want to be here to make it sufficient and to thrive… this declining mall is not what’s serving our community anymore.”
Peters said The Forks North Portage Partnership has a firm belief that community consultations will be key to whatever becomes of the building going forward.
The option agreement will head to council later this month for approval and will come back to City Hall later this year if True North decides to go ahead with the buy.
Coun. Brian Mayes says he’s feeling optimistic about True North’s involvement — a very different feeling than he had during Starlight’s involvement with the mall development.
“That Starlight proposal really divided council. I was one of the people who voted against it,” Mayes said.
“I thought the financial asks just kept growing and growing … the deal just seemed to get worse and worse, whereas here I think we’re off to a good start. All of us voted for the potential deal with True North, so I’m feeling a lot more optimistic about this one.”
Mayes said he’s also hoping to see some residential component in True North’s proposal.
“Certainly some residential makes sense. The retail experience here hasn’t succeeded. Even if you go in now, it’s strikingly different than even a few years ago,” he said.
“Maybe some commerical could make a go of it if we have more of a population base here. True North’s been pretty successful with their projects here, so we’ll see what they can come up with.”