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SkyCity developer could lose St. Regis Hotel, planned site of project's first phase
Fortress Real Developments has 10 days to act or property could be sold to someone else, CentreVenture says
Joanne Levasseur · CBC News · Posted: May 01, 2018 11:51 AM CT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago
This conceptual drawing shows SkyCity, a planned Fortress Real Developments project in Winnipeg. Fortress could lose the property where it planned to build the first phase of the development, a city development agency says. (Fortress Real Developments)
Fortress Real Developments could lose the property where it plans to build the first phase of SkyCity after the company failed to live up to an agreement to demolish the St. Regis Hotel and turn it into a parkade, say officials at city development agency CentreVenture.
CentreVenture, Winnipeg's arm's-length development agency, notified Fortress, the Richmond Hill, Ont., company behind the SkyCity condo project, that it has 10 business days to rectify the default.
"CentreVenture will be entitled to exercise its rights, including reacquisition or sale of the property to another party," if the developer fails to take the required actions, CentreVenture CEO Angela Mathieson wrote in an email.
Fortress had already received a one-year extension last year after it failed to start building on the St. Regis site by the agreed deadline.
Parkade and retail plans to replace dry St. Regis Hotel
CentreVenture gives Fortress another year to start work on parkade at St. Regis Hotel site
The St. Regis development is the first phase of SkyCity Centre, a 45-storey condo project slated to rise at Graham Avenue and Smith Street.
Less than two weeks ago, Fortress published a project update newsletter that included the latest on SkyCity.
"The St. Regis Hotel was shut down in the summer of 2017 and the project has secured a long-term lease from a parking operator for the parkade that will be constructed on those lands. The demolition and construction timeline on this phase is one year," the newsletter says.
Fortress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.