Upper Fort Garry site saved

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This article was published 28/03/2008 (6020 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 10-month struggle that pitted heritage advocates against downtown-housing proponents has ended as the Friends of Upper Fort Garry have won the right to build a historical park at the site of Winnipeg’s birthplace.

Late on Friday afternoon, Crystal Developers walked away from a $1.2-million deal for a chunk of surplus city land at the corner of Fort Street and Assiniboine Avenue — an empty parking lot that had become the most contentious piece of real estate in Winnipeg.

Crystal wanted to erect a 20-storey apartment building at the site, which the Friends coveted for an interpretive centre that would serve as a centrepiece for a $12.5-million heritage project.

The Friends had until Monday to raise $10 million of that cash to secure the site. But the deadline was rendered moot when Crystal offered the group two more years to meet their goal.

“At the current rate, we will raise something like $300 million,” Friends spokesman Jerry Gray joked at city hall, noting his volunteer group secured $8.2 million from the public and private donations in only 106 days.

Gray thanked Crystal Developers for their “kindness and generosity” by allowing the Friends “far more than enough” time to complete their fundraising.

Only last week, Crystal owner Ruben Spletzer appeared at city hall to insist a deal was a deal. But he said he had a change of heart after Mayor Sam Katz called to tell him the Friends were about to miss their deadline.

“A week can change someone’s mind,” said Spletzer, insisting he had not been offered any incentives to walk away from his deal with the city.

“When I saw the efforts of the Friends of Upper Fort Garry and the response from the community, we felt we could make our contribution. As a good citizen in a wonderful city, you do your thing.”

Spletzer said Crystal Developers will now focus on a development planned for Sterling Lyon Parkway in southwest Winnipeg before possibly pursuing another downtown housing project.

“My dream is gone, so you set aside your dream and look for another one,” he said.

Winnipeg needs to move more quickly to create more downtown housing, said Katz, who also insisted Spletzer’s about-face does not signal the city does not honour its deals.

“He did not have to do this. He chose to do this,” the mayor said.

Councillors who lobbied on behalf of the Friends of Upper Fort Garry were magnanimous in victory. St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal, who jousted bitterly with Katz in recent weeks, congratulated the mayor for “doing the right thing,” while Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt said “there are no winners or losers” after a divisive public debate that he concluded is over.

On Monday, the downtown-development boss will chair another closed-door meeting to decide the fate of the former fort — this time to ensure the establishment of a heritage park.

The Doer government, meanwhile, will still pursue plans to designate Upper Fort Garry a provincial park, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Steve Ashton said.

“It will take some time, but you already have a clearly designated historical site,” he said in a telephone interview from Thompson.

The Friends of Upper Fort Garry still have work to do, as the group must purchase Fort Street’s Grain Exchange Curling Club, which sits above the northwest corner of Upper Fort Garry’s former footprint.

The Friends will also look at redeveloping land currently occupied by a Petro-Canada station at the corner of Broadway and Main Street, but not until some time in the future, Gray said.

To date, the Friends have raised $3 million from the federal and provincial governments and a further $5.2 million from non-governmental sources, including a $1-million pledge made by the Manitoba M ©tis Federation on Friday.

The surplus city land destined for the heritage park has a market value of approximately $5.5 million, according to city estimates.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca