Searching for Portage saviour
CentreVenture hopeful landmark will be saved
Mon Dec 4 2006
By Aldo Santin
BELEAGUERED downtown development agency CentreVenture has moved in a new direction by buying a dilapidated Portage Avenue building that it's betting can be redeveloped by the private sector into a prestige project.
John Hodgert, the interim president of CentreVenture's urban development bank, confirmed the agency has bought the four-storey Avenue Building, on the north side of Portage Avenue between Smith and Garry streets.
Hodgert said CentreVenture will invite private firms to make proposals on how the building or the site should be developed, adding those proposals will be judged on the impact they create, the reputation and track record of the firms making the proposals, and their cost.
Hodgert said CentreVenture has also taken out an option to purchase the vacant building next door, the Hemphill Building, as part of the redevelopment proposal.
"We're trying to make a bold statement," said Hodgert, who along with hotel owner Ida Albo was brought to CentreVenture in the summer to reinvigorate the agency.
"We've done our analysis, which shows this would be a viable investment in a number of different ways," Hodgert said.
Plan is new direction for development agency
CENTREVENTURE was created in 1999 by then-mayor Glen Murray to revitalize the downtown. It offered grants and heritage tax credits to spur development.
Its biggest project involved selling city-owned riverfront land along the west bank of the Red River to a group of developers who are now building the condominium projects along Waterfront Drive.
In addition to the Waterfront condos, the agency was key to the Mountain Equipment Co-Op store on Portage Avenue and Giant Tiger on Ellice, as well as several warehouse conversion projects in the west Exchange area.
Despite those successes, the agency came under fire in early November from a review conducted by the city auditor, which found it had been floundering for several years, with no direction, no planning and no proper budgets. The former management structure was changed during the summer with the endorsement of Mayor Sam Katz and his executive policy committee.
The position of president and CEO was eliminated and replaced by two new positions: president of urban development bank, now held by John Hodgert, a venture capital financier; and president of public destination, held by Ida Albo, co-owner of the Fort Garry Hotel.
The strategic plan Hodgert is developing will see CentreVenture do more deals like the Avenue Building, buying up private property that its owners have allowed to languish and attracting developers who can imagine a fresh use for the sites.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Hodgert said the project could become the first of many by CentreVenture, as the agency hones its new strategic plan of targeting Portage Avenue and Main Street for significant redevelopment projects that will trigger similar private-sector developments around them.
"We'll look at significant pieces of property which, once redeveloped, will make a big, visual impact," Hodgert said. "We're still refining our strategic plan and it will be presented to our board for approval soon."
Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Improvement Zone, said he was pleased with CentreVenture's new approach and also its first project.
"It's pretty common for downtown development agencies to do that," Grande said.
"This kind of approach is fundamental to downtown redevelopment."
The Avenue Building sits between two major office buildings: the Kensington Building to the west, and the Paris Building to the east. The Avenue Building used to be a bustling block that contained Dunn Jewellers and Dominion News on the main floor and professional offices above, but it's sat vacant for almost a decade after the jewelry shop moved to Pembina Highway and the news shop moved across the street.
Major blight The U of M once considered it as a possible downtown campus for its architecture faculty but balked when it realized how dilapidated it had become. Along with the Hemphill Building, formerly home to another jewelry store, that stretch is considered one of the two major blights on downtown Portage.
Hodgert said the Avenue Building has several excellent architectural features -- including seven-foot-tall windows, 11-foot ceilings and an expansive skylight.
CentreVenture has had an engineering and architecture firm study the building, information that Hodgert said would be provided to interested developers.
Hodgert said the architects are producing drawings picturing a couple of different proposed uses for the building, including upscale New York City-style condos. But he said those ideas are only a starting point, repeating that CentreVenture will not steer developers onto any specific concept.
its not a 4 story building its actualy 6
the pink building
0
is the STADIUM!!!
i can't wait to see what comes out 
