Efforts to spare terminal from bulldozer fall short
Thu Jul 26 2007
By Geoff Kirbyson
THE businessman hoping to redevelop the terminal building at Richardson International Airport is talking with Red River College about moving its aviation and aerospace courses there.
It's part of a last-ditch effort that Arni Thorsteinson, president of Shelter Canadian Properties, has mounted to try to save the building that some consider a Winnipeg architectural gem.
However, the president and CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority said the building will be demolished unless somebody comes up with a better money-making plan for the 400,000-square-foot structure. And, Barry Rempel said nothing he has heard thus far fits the bill.
Shelter's pitch includes a $10-million to $15-million capital expenditure to create a new home for the Western Canadian Aviation Museum, as well as office and retail space.
"(Shelter's proposal) didn't provide us with the return we're after. It wasn't a sustainable plan in our estimation," Rempel said, declining to cite specific shortcomings.
"We could raze the building and put in aircraft parking and have a better return than some of the proposals that came in."
Thorsteinson said the terminal building would be an ideal site for Red River.
"(Red River's) existing facility for aircraft maintenance training is in the old Winnport hangar and that facility is inadequate for their total requirements over the next 10 years," he said.
Twylla Krueger, director of college relations at Red River, confirmed the school has been approached by Thorsteinson and has had discussions regarding a possible relocation of its aviation and aerospace programming to the nearly half-century-old terminal building.
"It's extremely preliminary," she said. "It's a constant process for us. CentreVenture has approached us about the possibility of moving into some other buildings downtown."
Rempel said there are a number of things he would like to accommodate to make the property a more effective part of the airport campus, such as expanding hotels and building an intermodal facility.
He said it's a question of finding the best use for the property, regardless of whether it makes use of the terminal building.
"Our lease requires highest and best use," Rempel said.
Thorsteinson said bulldozing the building would be a "grave error." "It's an architectural icon. There's no need to demolish it. They have hundreds of acres of undeveloped land at the airport," he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca