The overhaul of the former Portage Place mall will see a new, long-awaited grocery store in downtown Winnipeg, according to True North Real Estate Development Limited, the developer behind the massive project.
At the future Red River Co-op location, downtown residents and workers will be able to grab fresh food, pharmaceuticals and other household essentials when it opens in 2029. The news comes days after Manitoba’s Minister of Finance Adrien Sala discussed measures to keep grocery prices down – including the potential to bring a grocer to Winnipeg’s core.
“This is a very big deal. A full-service grocery store downtown has been talked about for years as one of the missing pieces in the puzzle of downtown,” said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, who brought his Co-op key tag to show the audience.
“More and more we need to see our downtown as a series of neighbourhoods where people work and play, but (also) where people increasingly are living. Really, that’s the future that we’re working towards.”
Gillingham said he’s been hearing calls to build a grocery store downtown from local residents for years and that he believes the addition will improve the livability of downtown.
Redevelopment work is already underway at the mall, with plans for a health-care centre and a 15-storey multi-family housing complex. Forty per cent of those units will be affordable, according to a 2024 news release from the City of Winnipeg.
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The revived centre is also expected to incorporate greenspace and bring new shops downtown, the developer said.
“This redevelopment represents a major transformation of the site and the surrounding area downtown. Transforming an old, inward-facing shopping mall into an open community campus with active storefronts along Portage Avenue,” said Jim Ludlow, president of True North Real Estate Development.
He said Portage Place will be transformed “from (a) mall to community campus. From unsafe to safe. From vacant to vibrant.”
A long-term lease between the developer and Red River Co-op was signed earlier this week, Ludlow added.
“This is the right time. This is the right development. It’s not only grocery — it’s pharmacy, it’s health care, it’s community services. It is the right investment at the right time,” Craig Glipin, CEO of Red River Co-op, told reporters.
The Southern Chiefs’ Organization is also working in the area to bring affordable downtown housing for Indigenous people. The organization’s Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn home will replace the former Hudson’s Bay building nearby.
“Housing cannot stand alone. If we want people and families to thrive downtown, we need some things that every neighbourhood requires,” the organization’s Grand Chief Jerry Daniel said at Wednesday’s news conference.
“They need strong foundations (and) strong organizations that will bring things like fresh food, health care and pharmacy services and community spaces (to) create a more safer downtown and walkable connections.”
The struggling mall in downtown Winnipeg has been subject to several rejuvenation efforts in recent years. Manitoba’s government approved a $50 million redevelopment project for Portage Place in 2024.
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