$25-million makeover Portage and Main tower invests in downtown revitalization: ‘It makes the city a better place’ By: Martin Cash Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 Last Modified: 8:20 AM CST Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022 Updates

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What better way to support the revitalization of Winnipeg’s downtown than to spruce up one of its Portage and Main office towers?

Among other things, that was the thinking at Regina-based Harvard Developments, which has owned 201 Portage, the Portage and Main office tower, since 2014.

On Wednesday afternoon, the company held a splashy event in the lobby, the site of most of the $25 million it has invested in the building over the past three years.

Featuring imported marble flooring from Italy, a new glassed-in second floor office space (still available to be leased) that looks over the lobby and its newest tenant — a 6,000-square-foot BMO flagship branch.

By next spring, the lobby will also feature a 57-seat restaurant called 529 Uptown — a sister restaurant to the swanky 529 Wellington — as well as a 529 coffee shop.

Roseanne Blaisdell Hill, the CEO of Harvard, said the 529 partnership was three years in the making with Wow Hospitality’s Doug Stephen.

“We are so excited about that,’ she said.

She acknowledged that the 33-storey building was due for some sprucing up and the timing could not be better.

”Like a lot of other downtowns where we do business in, Winnipeg’s is having a hard time,” she said. “We take a long-term view of the cities we’re in. Our philosophy and our principles guide us toward making sure we are investing and supporting the community in a really significant way. Yes. The investment in this building and investment in and around the building is critically important. It makes the city a better place.”

In addition to the upgraded lobby — which included pushing it out and rebuilding the main entrance way — the company has rebuilt the outdoor plaza that now features a public seating area, artificial turf, and a community stage that will host events and performances throughout the year.

The old skylight — which adds natural light to the underground concourse — has been replaced with an architectural glass walkway creating more public space and 529 Uptown will have an enclosed outdoor patio space in the plaza as well.

The makeover will create the kind of space that the modern class-A office tower tenants demand.

“People who come to work here need the full experience,” she said. “It is a big part of their day when they come to work. People want all the amenities – we have a beautiful conference centre in the concourse — they want to comfort and in this (post-pandemic) environment, this is critically more important.”

The more welcoming plaza, including 17 trees and more than 100 shrubs is a perfect way to let people know that downtown is back in business.

Kate Fenske, the CEO of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, said this kind of investment shows that the downtown comeback is on.

“Every dollar invested in every single event in downtown Winnipeg contributes not only to recovery but helps move downtown forward,” she said. “It also shows that people like Harvard Developments are optimistic. They see value in investing in our downtown.”

“People who come to work here need the full experience… It is a big part of their day when they come to work.”– Roseanne Blaisdell Hill

Anchoring the northwest corner of the iconic Portage and Main intersection, it sits across the road from significant development taking place at 360 Main and the 40-storey apartment building at 300 Main. Kitty-corner to 201 Portage is the old Bank of Montreal building where the Manitoba Métis Federation is building the Métis Nation Heritage Centre. On the northeast corner, the exterior of the Richardson Building features a growing portfolio of public art.

Blaisdell Hill said the addition of large new BMO branch in the lobby required reconfiguring an exterior pedestrian walkway that has been transformed into a curved office space.

Kristen Kennedy, BMO’s regional vice-president for the Winnipeg Market, said, “BMO’s new flagship branch in the innovative space at 201 Portage Avenue represents the exciting future of this historic site.”

Adding to the building’s tenant portfolio that includes the likes of Wellington Altus, Parrish and Heimbecker, and Taylor McCaffrey is a new 7,000-square-foot fitness centre on the seventh floor (replacing the departed GoodLife Fitness) and New Media Manitoba is building an extended reality studio in the concourse level.

“That will bring an amazing new vibrancy to the whole area,” said Blaisdell Hill.

It’s the kind of activity that will enhance the activity downtown as people start to come back.

While Blaisdell Hill said the building still has some leasing to do, she said the occupancy percentage among existing tenants is “really quite strong.”

That’s music to the ears of everyone involved in revving up the economic engine of the city.

Fenske said their most recent data shows that in October there has been a 41 per cent increase in downtown visitation compared to October 2021. That number does not include people who work downtown.

“That is really good news,” Fenske said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Martin Cash
Reporter

Martin Cash has been writing a column and business news at the Free Press since 1989. Over those years he’s written through a number of business cycles and the rise and fall (and rise) in fortunes of many local businesses.

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