Two Toronto-area developers offered up preliminary details of a new highrise planned to tower over all of downtown Winnipeg as the province’s highest building.
Fortress Real Developments and Mady Development Corp. unveiled some information Wednesday for a mixed-use office, retail, condo and parking complex that they say would reach about 40-storeys high and cost about $200 million.
It will be built on the lot north of Graham Ave between Smith and Garry streets.
Developers said they've had success and positive feedback from similar projects in other cities and the Winnipeg building would be their largest.
“Our lead design is the tallest building between Toronto and Calgary, over 40 storeys,” said Jawad Rathore, CEO of Fortress Real Developments.
They guaranteed it will include a grocery store.
The promise of a grocery store is welcome news to many, since recent closures of several other grocery stores in the core area have created what some in downtown call a “food desert.”
“Definitely makes it nicer and (likely) more people willing to live downtown,” said Brianna Crowe, who attends school downtown.
Other Winnipeggers who spoke to CTV News on Wednesday wonder if the city is ready for a project of this size.
Mayor Sam Katz, meanwhile, expressed support for the project.
“They’ve gotten people who have built these kinds of buildings – the contractor that built Trump Towers. You know they’re serious,” said Katz.
Developers hope to have a model unit up in less than a year to start sales and hope to break ground in 2014.
Developers are asking for input on what should be included in the building at liveworkplaywinnipeg.com
- with a report from Alesia Fieldberg
