Old arena site ready to rumble

April 4, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Bartley Kives and Murray McNeill

Commercial activity to go into high gear in next four years

The redevelopment of the old Winnipeg Arena site is revving up at the same time as David Asper lines up tenants to replace Canad Inns Stadium, sending a flurry of commercial activity into the heart of congested Polo Park over the next four years.

Late this year, as much as 750,000 square feet of shopping and office space will begin to rise on land where the Winnipeg Jets and Blue Bombers played for decades, raising questions about whether Polo Park can handle the additional traffic -- and how many new retailers Winnipeg can support.

After several false starts over the last two years, Toronto property developer Cadillac Fairview and Winnipeg's Shindico hope to begin this fall on the Polo North project, which will see as much as 187,000 square feet of retail and office space replace the former arena site and the vacant CTV properties next door.

When that winds up next year, Asper's Creswin Properties plans to demolish Canad Inns Stadium and begin a commercial project of its own on land it intends to buy from the city as part of its $135 -million deal to build a new football stadium at the University of Manitoba.

Although their developments are across the street from each other, both Shindico and Creswin say they're operating independently and are not competing for tenants with each other, never mind the 1.5-million-square-foot IKEA project five kilometres down Kenaston Boulevard.

Originally, Cadillac Fairview and Shindico planned to demolish the former CTV offices and build a big-box retail development that would also include some office space.

Now, they're considering a different approach for their Polo North development that would retain the CTV building and build a new structure on the former arena site.

"This is a more sustainable, green approach involving a creative re-use of an existing asset," Shindico president Sandy Shindleman said in reference to the CTV building. "We're quite excited about the possibilities there."

But a senior official with Cadillac Fairview insisted all options are still on the table.

"We're getting closer, but we're just not there yet," said Farley McEwan, Cadillac Fairview's vice-president of development.

Whichever way the developers go, Shindleman said Polo North is not concerned about the large Creswin retail development going up across Milt Stegall Drive.

"Polo North welcomes the stadium retail and nothing changes. Our project is approximately one quarter of the size" he said, adding it calls for five to nine retail tenants, including two restaurants "with patio opportunities."

Asper, meanwhile, has been tight-lipped about the tenants he hopes to land for the stadium site, other than to say Creswin is already pursuing prospects.

"I don't want to get into what we're planning specifically," he told reporters on Thursday, citing a highly competitive Winnipeg retail market. The level of competition is crucial, given that revenue from the Creswin development will determine the success or failure of the company's football-stadium plan.

To deal with the two Polo Park developments, the city has commissioned a traffic study of the neighbourhood, said Winnipeg deputy chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl.

Pending council approval, the city will likely spend some money from the sale of Canad Inns Stadium on traffic improvements in Polo Park, Sheegl said. Creswin and the arena redevelopers will also be responsible for some of the tab, he added.

"I'm sure those two parties have talked," Sheegl said. "They would be crazy not to."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca