Manitoba signs off on sale of Portage Place

The Province of Manitoba has signed off on the sale of Portage Place, finalizing a deal with all three levels of government for True North to purchase the mall.

The announcement came Friday at a news conference inside the mall. The province said it has signed an agreement with True North Real Estate Development (TNRED), authorizing the sale of Portage Place and opening the door for the planned $650 million redevelopment project.

“We're very pleased to confirm that we will be purchasing the Portage Place lands and building and will commit to the Portage Place campus redevelopment plan,” said Jim Ludlow, president of TNRED.

All three levels of government have now signed off on the agreement which will see TNRED pay $34.5 million for the land, parkade, and air rights. In turn, the city has approved nearly $40 million in subsidies.

The federal government has thrown $10 million behind the project with potential for another $17 million from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The province has agreed to a 35-year lease agreement for the Health-Care Centre of Excellence.

“We are going to be the tenant to bring health care and addictions medicine and a Pan Am clinic to Downtown Winnipeg,” Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said.

According to the province, the center will have a primary care clinic, along with mental health and addiction services, surgery, diagnostics, renal dialysis, and an expanded Pan Am Clinic.

“I’m very emotional because this is truly historic, a historic event that is going to lead to our people getting help that they need to deal with past trauma from the residential schools and all those colonized systems that have done so much damage to our children and families for generations,” said Margaret Swan, a knowledge keeper with the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO).

The SCO is partnering with TNRED for the project.

“We are now going to take over a facility that is going to help us deal with homelessness and addictions as a result of the trauma from our past.”

True North said it has also come to terms on a deal to buy the mall itself from Sprucelands, the current owner.

TNRED said foundational work on the redevelopment – specifically for the health and housing towers - will begin in early 2025 and is expected to be completed by 2028.