Winnipeg | Downtown | True North Square | U/C

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by pspeid

I'm sure the city will pony up the money for the skywalk to the convention centre. I imagine it help convention centre sell bookings to have two hotels linked to it by skywalk.

That's the huge win for the Convention Centre, it allows them to secure large international conventions and events that simply cannot be accommodated with the current downtown hotel capacity.

This was always the plan from the inception of the Convention Centre expansion, initially the concept was to incorporate a hotel tower into the expansion.

[Wpg_Guy]

Company building new downtown hotel looking for money to connect skywalk
By Devon McKendrick
Published: June 30, 2026

The company building the new downtown hotel on Carlton Street is asking the city and province for some money to connect the skywalk to the building.

Northland Properties Inc. is the company in charge of building the new Sutton Place Hotel. It will be a 4.5 out of 5-star hotel, which will feature 352 rooms, costing a total of $140 million.

Construction was paused in 2018 due to the pandemic and the lot sat empty for years before work started again recently.


As part of the hotel, the public skywalk would connect to the building. Northland Properties is now asking for a total of $6 million from the city and province to construct and connect the skywalk.

The Public Service is recommending the city pay half of the amount at $3 million—$2 million coming from a grant approved by council in 2018 and $1 million from the tax increment financing grant.

“This will fund the skywalk only, not the hotel, and is conditional on matching support from the Province of Manitoba. This is consistent with the past practice of the city and province of funding the capital cost of public skywalk connections between downtown buildings,” a report on the project reads.

The city is projecting the hotel will create 220 full-time jobs and it’s expected to generate at least $340,000 a year in incremental property taxes and $500,000 in accommodation tax revenue.

It’s expected the project will finish in 2028.

CTV News Winnipeg

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

That's the huge win for the Convention Centre, it allows them to secure large international conventions and events that simply cannot be accommodated with the current downtown hotel capacity.

That would be a big plus for a lot of businesses in the area, not to mention a potential higher profile for the city. I did a quick search on potential larger conventions when there's an increase in hotel capacity. National trade shows, large medical conventions and union conventions are possibilities once room capacity is increased. Of course the increase in traffic at local restaurants, bars and Thomas Hinds cigars would be enormous.

[neutroniks]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

That's the huge win for the Convention Centre, it allows them to secure large international conventions and events that simply cannot be accommodated with the current downtown hotel capacity.

This was always the plan from the inception of the Convention Centre expansion, initially the concept was to incorporate a hotel tower into the expansion.

Is the pad the Convention Centre sits on strong enough to build up??

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by neutroniks

Is the pad the Convention Centre sits on strong enough to build up??

No, the design of the expansion never included any foundation for a vertical tower.

[Wpg_Guy]

Construction on Carlton Street hotel to finish in 2028, more than decade after initially planned: city report
By: Joyanne Pursaga
Tuesday, Jun. 30, 2026


MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES

A $180-million expansion of the convention centre was officially completed in 2016. The initial plan called for a nearby hotel to open the same year.

The city expects a hotel eyed to help pay for Winnipeg’s convention centre expansion will be completed in 2028, more than a decade after the major renovation wrapped up.

A $180-million expansion of the convention centre was officially completed in 2016. The initial plan called for a nearby hotel to open the same year, triggering $17 million in new convention centre business and $16 million in tax revenue to support the project.

Instead, a successful hotel proposal did not pan out for years, then the COVID-19 pandemic was blamed for additional delays.

A new city report states a 352-room, $140-million Sutton Place Hotel should finally complete construction at 220 Carlton St. in “late 2028.”

The hotel will be “the largest new luxury hotel built in Winnipeg in decades,” it notes.

“It is big news. The hotel development beside the convention centre on Carlton has been a long time coming.… We really need that hotel to be completed, so it’s good to see the work happening,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

Coun. Jeff Browaty, city council’s finance chairman, also welcomed the target timeline.

“This is obviously good news for the downtown and for the convention centre. We’ve got a top-tier convention centre, in terms of the amount of leasable space, but one of the challenges we’ve had in terms of the business is the lack of hotel rooms in the immediate vicinity…. (The convention centre’s) business plan was to bring in more out-of-town guests and an extra 352 rooms will certainly do that,” said Browaty (North Kildonan).

The timeline of the hotel has been in flux for years. Northland Properties Inc. acquired the land in 2016 and started construction on the hotel in 2018. A target completion date was once set for 2021.

However, work paused during the pandemic and hasn’t been completed since, the city report states.

City officials expect the hotel to be “transformative,” generating millions of dollars of provincial tax revenues and creating new jobs.

Winnipeg’s municipal government expects to receive about $340,000 in annual property tax revenues from the site, plus $500,000 per year in accommodation taxes, once it’s operating.

“This is likely a very good news story for the city’s finances, when it comes to hotel tax revenue,” said Browaty.

The councillor said the overall timeline to get the hotel in place is disappointing, since it created a financial challenge for the city and convention centre.

“Perhaps there are lessons to be learned here in terms of timing these things and making sure your partner is working on the same time frame as yourself. Regardless, the fact we’re getting these rooms (soon) is definitely encouraging,” he said.

The city has covered more than $12 million in loan payments for the conventions centre’s expansion since 2017, using hotel tax revenue. That includes a $1.3-million payment earlier this year.

The convention centre is required to fully reimburse the city for the loan payments.

Browaty said the new hotel should help the convention centre begin paying the money back.

“I would think that this would certainly help their business enough that it could reduce that dependence,” he said.

A new proposal tied to the hotel calls for city council to provide $3 million for a link that would connect the hotel to the downtown skywalk system and the convention centre, subject to the province paying the same amount.

The mayor said he supports that proposal.

“It’s important that the convention centre, the new hotel, True North (Square) and the other skywalk system throughout downtown Winnipeg is all linked. It makes it convenient for the public, and certainly those who are staying at the hotel, to access the convention centre and other parts of our downtown,” said Gillingham.

If city council approves the proposal, and the province matches the funding, the city would devote $2 million from a previously approved grant linked to the nearby True North Square and a $1-million tax increment financing grant to cover its portion of the cost.

The developer would be required to ensure public access to its addition to the skywalk system.

“Progress is underway and this is good news for Winnipeg’s downtown,” said Gillingham.

Northland Properties did not respond to a request for comment.

Winnipeg Free Press

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

I may be even more common that Speid...but I thought the whole point of the hotel was to connect to the convention centre. Seems to me these i's should have been dotted and t's crossed on day 1...and probably on a cost sharing basis.

A large part of purpose of the whole TNS development was to connect the Convention Centre to the Canada Life Centre with as short an indoor walk as possible. Both venues gain new possibilities if they can effectively sell themselves as a single venue for certain large events. It brings back the advantage that they were going to gain when the new rink was slated to be built next to the Convention Centre, on the lot that later became the Convention Centre's expansion.

[Malcsta]

How on earth do we not have a single rendering of this thing yet?

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Malcsta

How on earth do we not have a single rendering of this thing yet?

Typical of Northlands:

Northland Properties did not respond to a request for comment.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Malcsta

How on earth do we not have a single rendering of this thing yet?

Perhaps it's so breathtakingly beautiful they know too many people would injure themselves fainting with rapture.

[primetimey]

The only way it should get approved by the City and Province is with a deadline. For each month over the deadline the payout to Northland Properties drops $500,000.

Give them some incentive to actually finish this project when they say they will.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by pspeid

Perhaps it's so breathtakingly beautiful they know too many people would injure themselves fainting with rapture.

[borkborkbork]

It strikes me that the skywalks are a private good and a public bad.

Of course, Winnipeg is freezing, and the main use would be moving conventiongoers between the convention centre and their hotel.

But like Atlanta, Calgary, etc., these systems just take people off the street, so you can have a vibrant event with thousands of people descending on the city... but at the street level, it's still tumbleweeds.

It's interesting that we still invest millions of public dollars in a system that seems guaranteed to lead to a less vibrant downtown.

[EndIt]

I see your point, but it seems to me that skywalks and the like exist parallel to the street level. The Toronto PATH system is basically exclusively used by office workers, and all the businesses there basically shut down after 5:30pm after their customers clock out and commute home elsewhere. You're not getting a ton of urban vibrancy by moving these businesses to street level.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

It strikes me that the skywalks are a private good and a public bad.

Of course, Winnipeg is freezing, and the main use would be moving conventiongoers between the convention centre and their hotel.

But like Atlanta, Calgary, etc., these systems just take people off the street, so you can have a vibrant event with thousands of people descending on the city... but at the street level, it's still tumbleweeds.

It's interesting that we still invest millions of public dollars in a system that seems guaranteed to lead to a less vibrant downtown.

The argument would be that, much of the time, you wouldn’t be getting the event in the first place without being able to overcome Winnipeg’s weather reputation with the assurance of climate-controlled movement.

[Wpg_Guy]

The province has confirmed they have approved 3 million for their portion of Sutton Hotel skywalk.

[Wpg_Guy]

Winnipeg approves $3M for skywalk from new hotel to convention centre, provided province matches it
Hotel project conceived in 2012 now slated to be completed in 2028
CBC News · Posted: Jul 16, 2026



The City of Winnipeg will cover half the cost of a skywalk between the forthcoming Sutton Place Hotel and the RBC Convention Centre — provided the provincial government covers the rest of the tab.

City council voted unanimously on Thursday to contribute a $2-million grant and $1 million worth of future tax revenue from the hotel toward a $6 million skywalk over St. Mary Avenue, west of Carlton Street.

The skywalk will connect the convention centre with the long-delayed hotel project, which dates back to the centre's expansion in 2012.

City council approved a plan that year to finance the convention centre expansion with new property and business tax revenue from the hotel. That plan fell apart in 2015, when initial developer Stuart Olson Dominion walked away from the project.

In the absence of the hotel, the city has used revenue from its accommodation taxes to cover an $8-million city debt related to the convention centre expansion. A report to city council states this debt will be paid off once the $140-million, 352-room Sutton Place Hotel is completed in 2028.

This will allow new tax revenue from Sutton Place to pay for the city's portion of the skywalk, the report states.

The Sutton Place project was announced in 2016, along with other facets of True North Square. It was intended to be a two-tower project but was later scaled back to a single hotel.

Developer Northland Properties, which owns the NHL's Dallas Stars, began construction on the hotel in 2018 but placed the project on hiatus during the pandemic and prioritized the construction of its airport-area Sandman hotel instead.

The report to city council describes the 4.5-star hotel as "the largest new luxury hotel built in Winnipeg in decades."

The report states the hotel will generate $3 million of new provincial tax revenue every year from operations and $17 million of provincial tax revenue during construction.

The city also expects the hotel to generate $340,000 of new property tax revenue and $500,000 of accommodation tax revenue every year.

The city's $3-million contribution to the skywalk requires Northland Properties to maintain and operate the new connection. It is also contingent on the province providing $3 million of its own.

Premier Wab Kinew's office did not respond to a CBC News request to confirm it will cover half the cost of the skywalk construction.

While the city stated the hotel will be completed in 2028, Northland Properties declined to say when it will open.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

CBC/Radio-Canada

The province is currently in an announcement blackout period, but they have confirmed to the City they will indeed cover their requested portion of the skywalk.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Breaking news!!! /s

The. Crane. Is. Operating. Today.

[bomberjet]

Although I did not see the crane move, here it is. Bonus coverage of the Bay crane and atrium skylight.