Take a look inside the former Hudson's Bay building

The historic Hudson's Bay building has stood in downtown Winnipeg for nearly a century, and now work by the Southern Chiefs' Organization is underway to make sure it stands for another 100 years.

The SCO officially took possession of the building last month after the Hudson's Bay Company transferred ownership last year. On Tuesday, SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels gave CTV News a look inside.

Old magazines, dishes from the Paddlewheel Restaurant, and mannequins from long-gone shopping displays are all still inside, almost like a time capsule untouched since it closed to the public more than two years ago.

"The whole space needs to be cleaned up. That's a big project," Daniels told CTV News. "There are lots of changes that are going to happen here very quickly."

Signs and mannequins from long-gone shopping displays scatter the floors inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

Signs and mannequins from long-gone shopping displays scatter the floors inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

The Hall of Fame can still be found inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

The historic six-storey, 655,000-square-foot building opened in November 1926. After 94 years in business, the Hudson's Bay Company shuttered the building in November 2020 due to shifting consumer behaviours and changes to how and where people shop.

A look inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg, the future home of Southern Chiefs' Organization's new development Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

Signs and mannequins from long-gone shopping displays scatter the floors inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

After sitting vacant for years, the Hudson's Bay Company announced last year it would transfer the building to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) to be used for economic and social reconciliation.

That comes in the form of Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn (or 'It is visible').

READ MORE: Southern Chiefs’ Organization to take over downtown Hudson’s Bay building, will feature hundreds of housing units

The redevelopment includes plans for 300 housing units, 100 childcare spaces, a First Nations museum, a health and healing centre, and restaurants including a rebooted Paddlewheel.

The Southern Chiefs' Organization has plans to relocate the old Paddlewheel Restaurant. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

The Southern Chiefs' Organization has plans to relocate the old Paddlewheel Restaurant. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

The kitchen of the old Paddlewheel Restaurant inside the the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg remains deserted. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

Daniels said the goal is to relocate the new Paddlewheel to the second floor of the restaurant and open it to the public.

"We want to have many of the designs to continue to exist. Obviously, we'll have a bit of an Indigenous twist to it, but we will keep a lot of the same features," he said. "We want to have that same feel, and maybe even some of the same cuisine, that was offered here to also be available to those that attend in the future."

A sign discouraging theft still hangs on the wall inside the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg – a relic from the building's decades as a retail store. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels boards a freight elevator with SCO Operations Manager Sirous Barazandeh and Communications Director Melanie Ferris. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

"We want to make this place a vibrant part of the community and a place for hope for the future of our nations," Daniels said.

The project, according to a previous report to the city, will cost more than $130 million.

The Manitoba Legislature is seen through the fifth-storey windows of the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

Daniels said the SCO is now doing a request for qualifications from construction companies to get the project started. The goal is to have it completed by November 2026 – just in time for the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original Bay building.

"Hudson's Bay was a colonial instrument for North America on behalf really of the British," Daniels said. "And so we want to make sure that this building tells a new story, that the story is about reconciliation."

Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels walks through the former Hudson's Bay building in Downtown Winnipeg, the future home of SCO's new development Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn. (Source: Danton Unger/CTV News Winnipeg)

"I'm looking forward to having people in this building, and living here, enjoying the space," Daniels said.

"It is an end of an era for sure," Daniels said. "Now we are talking about the next 100 years. Imagine it in another 100 years, what is going to be here."