The freshly-started redevelopment of Portage Place is so much more than bricks and mortar; it’s an opportunity to transform downtown Winnipeg into a better, more inclusive and safer neighbourhood for everyone.
The long-underperforming mall was purchased last year by True North Real Estate Development (TNRED), but the Winnipeg-based division of True North Sports + Entertainment never had any interest in maintaining the status quo.
The 1.2-million-square-foot property will maintain a retail component, but two major additions give it the potential to become truly transformative. They are: a 265,000-square-foot Healthcare Centre of Excellence, featuring primary care with integrated mental health services, surgery, diagnostics and renal dialysis, which will also become the new home for expanded Pan Am Clinic programs; and a 19-storey residential tower with more than 200 units, up to 40 per cent of which will be rented at “affordable” rates, well below the market rents for the area.
The tower is being developed as part of a historic not-for-profit partnership between TNRED and Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), named TN-SCO Housing 92 Inc., with future profits reinvested back into housing.
There’s already a walkway link between SCO’s former Hudson’s Bay department store and Portage Place, which is in the middle of its own reimagining, a multi-use project called Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn.
“We’re physically linked so it only makes sense that our developments are linked,” says Kevin Sim, TNRED’s Vice-President of Housing and Advisory Services.
“We’re quite fortunate to work together and collaborate on how our developments can talk to one another. SCO is interested in revitalizing downtown as an organization and doing things for their communities but also for Winnipeg” he says.
Sim is quick to note the housing tower will be complementary with SCO’s own housing component at Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn.
“It’s adding 207 suites to SCO’s 373 planned suites, so nearly 600 new multi-family living units, with more than 40 per cent of them being deeply affordable units,” he says.
The combined investment in the two properties is in excess of $1 billion.
Jerry Daniels, Grand Chief of SCO, says its partnership with TNRED is a “generational opportunity” to reshape the involvement of Indigenous groups in urban development. He says TNRED has acted with integrity and he appreciates the steps it has taken to understand SCO’s perspectives.
“SCO is not just at the table, we are co-developers and future co-owners. That distinction matters. It ensures that First Nations people have influence, equity, and a direct stake in the future of this project. We’re working closely with True North to design a development that reflects our communities’ needs,” he says.
“We saw an opportunity to do something unprecedented—to incorporate First Nations leadership, ownership and vision in a major urban redevelopment. It is a first-of-its-kind partnership between a First Nations organization and a private sector developer that is grounded in mutual respect, trust and a long-term commitment to economic reconciliation.”
“Their willingness to walk this path with us is setting a new benchmark for how industry can be an active part of reconciliation in Canada through structure, equity and action and not just through words. What sets this project apart is that it’s about creating lasting, structural change.”
One of the crucial elements for downtown livability is a sizeable grocery store that can service the community, something that has been largely absent for many years.
“A key component for us is having access to food and food security. We want to make it easy and livable,” Sim says.
In the centre core of the building TNRED is advancing plans and programming to add neighborhood retail and community services, public green spaces including childcare, wrap around health and large format grocery with the design goal of opening up the monolith that has separated North and South downtown for decades – connecting communities and letting both sides off the neighborhood breathe together again.
These improvements will leverage inertia from the new health and residential towers and the Bay development re energizing a love for our downtown neighbourhood that deserves to flourish.
Fixing everything that ails downtown Winnipeg can’t be done with a single silver bullet. Sim says collaboration is needed with all levels of government as well as the community.
“It’s a collective challenge; it’s not for one organization to solve on its own. We’re in this together with SCO; with the City of Winnipeg, with the province on the healthcare component and with the federal government, as well. We need to figure out how we all work together to keep downtown as a place where people will want to come and visit and create a place where others can see the efforts being made to improve livability and safety,” he says.
The TNRED and SCO partnership is also a significant step towards economic reconciliation. Sim says a significant part of the plan is to work with SCO to incorporate First Nations businesses and labour in the construction of the new tower.
“If we have enough hands working on the buildings we work in and live in, there will be a greater sense of pride in taking care of what we’ve built together. Perhaps now is as good a time as ever to start working closely with our Indigenous neighbours and relatives on how we can continue to grow that,” he says.
SCO has programs already built into the Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn redevelopment project that are giving its community members practical work skills and training.
“The more opportunities we have for people to work and participate in building what we want to build downtown, there will be an economic upside for them to live downtown and give back.” Sim says.
TNRED is aware change can be disruptive, but the company is determined to keep the centre block of Portage Place open and vibrant during construction.
It has also taken great lengths to communicate changes in the building – to both patrons and downtown stakeholders.
“When we’re dealing with that kind of change, we’re looking at how it will impact the neighbours and how it’s going to be a bit of an inconvenience for a bit of time,” he says.
The combination of great partners, a carefully thought-out plan and a future that includes hundreds of new residents, workers and visitors is something TNRED believes reinforces its message to “Love Your Downtown.”
Portage Place by the numbers
● The redevelopment is estimated to cost between $650 million and $700 million.
● The plan is for it to be completed in multiple phases over the next three to four years.
● Highlights include a 265,000-square-foot Healthcare Centre of Excellence and a 15-storey residential tower, featuring more than 200 units, up to 40 per cent of which will be at “affordable” rents.
● Construction of the housing tower is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026, with completion by mid-2028. The healthcare component is expected to finish up a few months later.
● The mall is spread out over 6.4 acres of downtown land with about 930 feet of frontage along Portage Avenue.
● Conceptual planning has begun on the central core of the mall but there is no definitive timeline on it. One of the goals during construction, however, is to maintain visibility to businesses such as Prairie Theatre Exchange and Shoppers Drug Mart and accommodate them for their commitment to downtown.
