True North Real Estate Development and the Southern Chiefs’ Organization plan to work together on their respective efforts to redevelop large structures in downtown Winnipeg, multiple sources have told CBC News.
The real-estate arm of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets and the organization representing 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations in southern Manitoba plan to sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday about co-ordinating their downtown Winnipeg revitalization efforts, the sources say.
True North is conducting due diligence on a proposed $550-million redevelopment of Portage Place mall that would turn it into a downtown campus with a health-care tower, residential housing and community centres.
The SCO is in the midst of transforming the former Bay building into Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn — “It is visible” in Anishinaabemowin — a mixed-use project that also includes health-care and residential components. The SCO initially pegged the cost of the project at $130 million.
The two parties have been hinting at working together since spring, when True North went public with its plans to purchase Portage Place, the land below the mall and the rights to build towers above it.
“I think that could be a great space for downtown and create more vibrancy, and I think that the community downtown needs more investment, and I think it’s going to be a good thing,” SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said during an interview in April.
At the time, Daniels did not say the two entities would work together. That relationship has since evolved, True North Real Estate president Jim Ludlow said in November, after his company asked for six more months to conduct its due diligence on the mall purchase.
“I think both projects are catalysts for the other. We’ve spent more time since May analyzing and looking at Portage Place, and I think
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