New life for iconic building

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2022 (1026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The future of downtown’s former Hudson’s Bay Company building could soon be revealed, according to those involved in the site’s planning.

“I got a song in my heart that spring is coming and with it good news for downtown,” Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort-Rouge East Fort Garry) wrote in an email.

Rollins is on the City of Winnipeg’s Bay downtown advisory committee. She said she’s working on getting a tax increment financing policy through.

“I’m full of optimism,” Rollins wrote Sunday. “People have been working hard to re-envision the building and the iconic corner. That’s the great thing in Winnipeg — people rally around hard work and hope.”

Hudson’s Bay shuttered its Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard location in November of 2020 after 94 years of operation. The building is 650,000 square feet — twice the size of Winnipeg’s Ikea store — and six floors.

In 2019, a company-wide valuation of HBC’s real estate found the landmark site worth $0.

“If you gave me that building, I’m not sure that I would accept it,” said Craig Patterson, the editor-in-chief of Retail Insider.

Patterson, also a University of Alberta professor, has researched the Hudson’s Bay Co. and done work on the decline of retailing in U.S. city centres. He said the Portage Avenue site is a hard sell for for-profit businesses.

“It’s a stunning heritage building, but it’s also very, very large, and it would cost probably a couple hundred million to renovate,” he said.

Complicating matters is the structure’s heritage status, which it received in 2019. The designation means it can’t be demolished and ensures several features are preserved.

“With any piece of real estate, for a redevelopment to happen, it needs to make financial sense… for the party that’s developing it, unless it’s a government body,” Patterson said.

He believes the space could become a museum or other entity receiving government funding. The size is likely a detractor for most for-profits, he said.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to see a large single retailer in there again,” he said, noting it might be a good place for a technology firm that likes open floor plans.

A brand such as Costco or Walmart might work in some of the building, but also, consumer demand might not be there because of the location, Patterson said.

A city spokesperson was mum on re-development details Sunday.

“The City considers the Hudson Bay Company department store building an important and historic landmark in Winnipeg’s downtown and looks forward to discussing any development proposal that includes adaptive re-use of the building,” they wrote in a statement.

Angela Mathieson, CentureVenture’s CEO and a member of the Bay’s advisory committee, told 680 CJOB she’s expecting news about the building to break in the coming weeks. The interview took place Thursday.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com