Annual Report
North Portage
Mission –
North Portage - Shall be a centre of commerce, culture and living, integrated to form a diverse downtown community through a mixture of public uses including: residential, commercial and institutional, recreational, educational, and entertainment facilities.
As the Manitoba Hydro building nears completion on Portage Avenue, we continue to work towards creating a mixed-use community where people work, live and play. The area is a work in progress, and we thank Hydro’s board and management for their level of commitment to the downtown.
Late last year, we took over the management of our parking operation at the North Portage and Forks sites, creating FNP Parking. Parking is a major revenue source and we saw an opportunity to improve our bottom line with in-house management. We control 2500 parking spaces with 1500 on the North Portage site. New state-of-the-art parking equipment is currently being installed in Portage Place that should virtually eliminate lineups to exit.
The IMAX® Theatre at Portage Place underwent phase two of its planned upgrades. To complement the theatre’s conversion to IMAX® 3D last year, all of the seats have been replaced and a refurbished lobby with bright colours and clean lines now welcomes visitors. A steady audience of nearly 145,000 per year has emerged for both 2D and 3D films, and programming continues to focus on a blend of educational content and the 3D format. Overall attendance is not meeting our projections but IMAX® continues to perform well in the area of educational programming, with over 40,000 students visiting in the last school year.
Throughout the year, we have continued to work with a variety of partners to facilitate the creation of affordable, interesting housing projects in our downtown.
We thank Manitoba Housing Renewal Corporation (MHRC) for the $500,000 grant for the creation of an innovative housing project in the inner city. Our intent is to assist in turning the Canada Building, a historic office building, into a mixed use housing project. We are currently finalizing the predevelopment details for the project.
In the last year we have also seen increased interest in developing one of the pad sites atop Portage Place. We continue to explore those possibilities.
Working in partnership with Hostelling International, NPDC acquired the Downtowner Hotel on Ellice. Renovations are almost complete on the 75 bed property and the hostel is targetting 18,000 room nights with students, backpackers and travelers from around the world.
In the previous year, we worked with the Institute of Urban Studies (IUS), The City of Winnipeg and Downtown BIZ to create the Downtown View, a snapshot of our downtown as it exists today. Intended as a quantitative view of our downtown, the report will be used as a benchmark for future reports, identifying trends, opportunities and obstacles.
We have continued to work closely with the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation, chaired by Dr. Lloyd Axworthy by participating on the Board and Development Committee, and providing feasibility analysis, financial management, and bookkeeping services.
NPDC also continues to partner with CentreVenture in identifying joint efforts. We support the Downtown BIZ to market our downtown and keep it clean through new programs like the Downtown Spirit rebrand and the In/Out for Lunch Concert series.
Looking to the future, NPDC has completed a refinancing of its North Portage assets. This will assist in further investment and redevelopment opportunities.