Not related to Portage Place per se, but a similar situation happening in Hamilton right now. The challenge of re-purposing an immense downtown mall or roughly the same era as PP:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...date-1.7056869
In Hamilton's case, a private developer bought the property promising towers full of condos, since put on hold indefinitely.
I'm not trying to point fingers at Hamilton or crow about the promise of development with PP, but I admit to a feeling of "there but for the grace of God goes Winnipeg". I wonder if Starlight managed to buy PP, whether we would be in exactly the same situation as Hamilton?
Honestly, I like Hamilton and I hope this development goes forward for them sooner, rather than later, but personally I'm relieved the city has SCO/TNSE working on PP and Weweneh.