True North will be redeveloping Portage Place mall into 2 Health Care Centres along with a mix use of housing some retail and a grocery store. Price tag is in the 500 to $600 million range. True North will fund $300 million worth for the 2 Health Care Centres. This coupled with True North Square is probably close to $1 billion worth of development True North has spurred in downtown Winnipeg. Kudos to Chipman along with Premier Heather Stefanson and Mayor Scott Gillingham for getting this done.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9693240/w...evitalization/
Friday marks a new day in the history of Portage Place.
The beleaguered mall in the heart of downtown Winnipeg – an crown jewel intended to anchor the city’s downtown, filled with ‘For Lease’ signs just a few decades later, is set to get a massive shot in the arm today.
The Province of Manitoba, Shared Health, True North Sports and Entertainment will unveil ambitious plans for the property at a news conference Friday morning.
Global News got an early look.
A healthcare hub
The east end of the property, adjacent to Carlton Street, will become home to two separate healthcare centres.
You’ll be able to visit a walk-in clinic and primary care clinic on the ground floor, which government sources say is designed to take the stress off the nearby Health Sciences Centre and Misericordia hospitals.
Dialysis patients will have a 26,000 sq. ft. facility for their treatment, and others will be able to go their physiotherapy appointments.
The Downtown Winnipeg Health Centre for Excellence will also contain a future Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic.
Rising above it: a 15-storey tower containing the Pan Am Centre for Advanced Musculoskeletal Medicine.
It will contain nearly 50,000 sq. ft. of ambulatory and orthopedic surgery space, a concussion clinic, pain clinic, space for minor injury and sports medicine professionals and more.
The healthcare centres come at a cost of more than $300 million.
“Right in the downtown area: Where people are working, where people are living, where people are part of that community, they’ll be able to have access to those services,” Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson told 680 CJOB’s Richard Cloutier.
Plans shown to Global News ahead of Friday’s announcement show Edmonton Street cutting through the property, allowing a space for patients to be dropped off at the centre.
The two centres promise more than 220,000 sq. ft. of new healthcare space for the city, and province.
A place to live, shop, eat, and connect
The space to the west of the new Edmonton St. greenway will be re-worked to include community services like a dental office, optometry space, pharmacy and more.
“This is really connecting the downtown area, and making it a very welcoming place to come to, and a place where they can get help,” Stefanson says.
The ground floor features space for groups like Service Canada, Newcomer Services, and the Downtown Community Safety Partnership.
The heart of the property will also have plenty of room for a food court and retail stores.
Above it, the existing Prairie Theatre Exchange and YMCA will be joined by a community centre/drop in space complete with a basketball court, and an outdoor community garden overlooking Portage Ave.
The westernmost portion of the property will see another large tower rise above the existing structure – this one full of homes.
Details on how many residences, and the portion of homes designated as affordable housing, are unclear.
And the building contains something the downtown area has been lacking for years.
Adjacent to the lobby near the Portage Ave. entrance: a 20,000 sq. ft. grocery store.
Plans, partners, and a start date
True North’s real estate arm will purchase the mall from the Forks North Portage Partnership, which represents the city, province, and federal government.
A report sent to city hall earlier this year gave True North a year to do due diligence on the property – and noted the minimum purchase price would be a little more than $34 million.
The ambitious plan will result in 569,000 sq. ft. of floor space being added to the property – more than double the mall’s current amount.
1,000 existing underground parking stalls will be retained.
A government source tells Global News the plans will run in the $500-600 million range. True North Sports and Entertainment will put up the money for the healthcare portion of the property – more than $300 million – and the province will lease the space.
All three levels of government will be involved in the build, particularly the housing component, and the Richardson family is also a part of the group working to transform the mall.
Premier Stefanson will be joined by True North CEO Mark Chipman, President of the group’s real estate arm, Jim Ludlow, and new Shared Health CEO Lanette Siragusa for a formal announcement at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
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