St. Vital Centre Purchased for $160 Million

St. Vital Centre was built in 1979 for about $40 million just when a flurry of other malls were going up in including Kildonan Place, Winnipeg Square, Eaton Centre and Unicity. That was a lot of malls all at once and some of them did not survive or have been drastically changed over the years. Most of the malls were owned by real estate companies in the beginning but many including Primaris and Cadillac Fairview are now owned all or in part by the Maple 8, Canadians top government pension funds. For the last numbers of years St. Vital Centre has been owned by the Ontario Pension Board.

In recent years some private players have been making inroads as owners. It is unclear who their shareholders might be. In many cases their financing still comes from pension funds as in the case of Brookfield Asset Management. The fact that a pension fund sells a property doesn't mean they are not part of shareholding or or financing the deal to enhance their balance sheets. 

In the case of the sale of St. Vital Centre to Leyad, a Quebec-based real estate company, it appears the sale was financed by six credit unions in a syndicate. Since Leyad is a private company, it doesn't have to disclose its financial structure except to the banks and paying taxes. 

This is not the first foray into real estate in Winnipeg by Leyad. They have purchased Garden City Square, Johnston Terminal, CDI College and the Canada Goose Distribution Centre over the years for a pretty significant footprint in the city. Next to Montreal, it might be the biggest holdings right in the company. 

For many years St. Vital Centre has been firmly entrenched as the second largest mall in the city. Due to the location, it is hard for it to expand much beyond what it is now unless they build up. However, they still have to fill the empty Bay store location. This is an issue for Polo Park as well. Since the other large story closures led to knew tenants, it is expect that by year end announcements will be made on new uses for the space. And Leyad seems well suited to investing in their properties but that remains to be seen. The Johnston Terminal took a while to get going again after Covid but seems better now.

There is no record of what the purchase price of the mall when it was taken over by the Ontario Pension Board. However, with the original price being $40 million and the sale price being $160.5 million that is a very healthy price for a mall still producing income. The powerful Canadian pensions probably can't quit malls completely. They are too big and growing to not buy real estate. The U.S. could be less attractive if their economy tanks but who knows? That could be the perfect time to invest. Just ask the people who bought dirt cheap after the last crash in Florida and Arizona.

As mentioned, there have been some malls across Canada that have closed. In Winnipeg, that would be Portage Place, Unicity and a few strip malls. However, Canada never really overbuilt the way the U.S. has and done. In Grand Forks, North Dakota, you could call Columbia Mall a failed mall. It is embarrassing to see.

The purchase by Leyad is probably an attempt by St. Vital Centre to remain the second largest mall in the province ahead of Outlet Collection Mall and the rest of the Seasons development. This may be a losing battle because the Seasons development had been going strong for 13 years. There has never been a stop in building on the site although it is possible this year might see the last few spots filled up in the surrounding mall spaces.

St. Vital's hosting of the Children's Hospital Book Sale at least two to three time a year also fills the place with people from all over the city and beyond. For those who don't remember, it used to be Polo Park that hosted this. The destination malls usually have things over seasonal times to attract shoppers. The more unique, the better. For many decades it was mini-concerts and fashion shows.

It seems Leyad's purchase of St. Vital Centre will be followed up with a multimillion investment in the former Bay location soonest. There are few if any big retailers out there that could take the full space over. Some are still hankering for a Simons department store but it might be wishful thinking as the company takes a long time to expand their private company. Others believe there might be a new grocery coming courtesy of rule changes that block competitor from opening in the same mall. Many places have agreements that are paid for to keep other grocery and pharmacy out. This has been ruled as anti-competitive. Those that continue to practice may face penalties and fines.

It used to be that malls had long lists of retailers wanting to move in but the need to expand the hours and reasons to go to the mall have had to increase. It can't be all fashion stores that don't last a season. Expect to see more moved development in the near future.

 

Kildonan Place Food Court

It seems Kildonan Place has been under construction for a decade. And to some extent it has. The loss of Sears and The Bay along with other stores meant the mall seemed to be perpetually replacing stores like Dominion, Sears, Bay, Zellers and Target. The addition of Save-on-Foods and a new and expanded movie theatre has helped bring stability to that end of the mall.

The goal of a mall is to extend how long each day people are there as well as try to get repeat business. A grocery store usually brings people to the mall at least once a week as do any pharmacies in the mall. A movie theatre can attract a younger crowd and help the restaurants and food court on a weekly basis and longer into the evening and weekends.

Polo Park and St. Vital Centre have also gone through substantial changes but Kildonan Place has been hit by the changes in retailing harder than most. It seems to have solved the issue of retailers as well as anchor entertainment but the long stalled upgrade to food court just didn't happen until now.

A good food court or all can add all sorts of life to a mall. The St. Vital food court expansion cemented it's spot as the most attractive of the courts with soaring ceilings, faux stone surroundings and fireplaces. Most food courts try to have a variety of ethnic choices albeit in fast food options. Polo Park's second floor food court is not nearly as attractive but it is large and has variety. It is possible that we see Polo Park do something different but I tend to believe if they had wanted to move, they would have used the space on the first floor of the Sears building. Still, I would not rule out a third floor being added to the mall in the next five years and the food court moving up. This would likely only happen if there is a new focus on hotel, housing and entertainment in the mall.

However, back to Kildonan, their food court has been in need of an upgrade for ten or more years. The food court they have sufficed with is cozy but the mall is bigger and the amount of people living nearby greater. The move and expansion of Dollarama as well as Cineplex Junxion set up opportunity for an upgrade. This was an 8000 square foot space to create a new food court.

The old movie theatre will be demolished and a newly re-designed entrance will go. Guest Services will move and re-open in April. As far as the food court goes, it will go from 8 vendors to 10 vendors and 325 seats to 550 seats. Although some things are expanding, the actual leasable space will be reduced by 30,000 square feet.

None of the work comes cheap and it will take till 2027 for work to be totally complete. By that time perhaps the next huge change happens to Kildonan. The ups and downs have hit this mall more than most but according to the landlord, it is still a profitable mall.

Some local retailers will displaced in this which is sad because clearly the mall depended on them when large national and international stores shut down. There is some evidence that some of these stores are finding other leasing space for themselves. 

Oakwood Cafe on South Osborne to Permanently Close

The Oakwood has been an institution along south Osborne since the 1980s. From a brief time it was Samantha's but has been the Oakwood ever since. It hasn't always been perfect. In 40 years, sometimes the minimum wage increases have put the restaurant in a pinch and they have publicly said so. 

It is a very tough business but the restaurant has benefitted from a stellar location. It is across from the Safeway, leisure center and library in a neighbourhood that has had a real uptick in the last ten years. But alas, as restaurant owners get older, the desire to pass on the place grows and sometimes there is just no one to take over. 

I have no idea if there was an attempt to sell the restaurant. It may be the landlord already had someone in mind for the spot as well. This happens more often than people realize. Various landlords in Winnipeg are shuffling tenants. Retail shopping areas including St. Vital Shopping Centre are being bought and sold. In some cases tenants are finding they are not renewed.

Even for restaurateurs who own the land they are on sometimes find it better to close and the land re-purposed under new owners. Examples abound this last few years. Whatever the reason, a number of people are mourning the loss of the family restaurant they went for breakfasts and family get togethers. A number of people remembered their favourite dining options.

Family restaurants are often the glue in terms of gathering spots in a community. Not everyone wants a fast food choice or pizza chain. Sometimes you want a table for several and diverse meal choices. The closing of the Oakwood Cafe is the end of an era.

Manitoba Hydro Building Unsafe

I recently wrote that restaurants inside the recently converted Marcello's at Manitoba Hydro should feel more secure than some of their old locations in downtown Winnipeg. I said the issue for Manitoba Hydro might be security outdoors. I was wrong. A knife attack inside the building overwhelmed security who are not equipped to deal with violence. I had thought the mere presence of security and a lot of people, 2000 when full staff are present, would be sufficient for safety. I was wrong. 

Businesses and residents of various places in the city, downtown in this case, are suffering from violence and theft. It isn't useful to downplay it since even very progressive voices, those who live downtown and support businesses there are finding it exasperating that their cars and personal safety are constantly under pressure. The Ashdown Market cited crime as a big issue of why they are shutting down this week. 

The police are responding to arson and bus assaults and they have made some progress. However, some of this has come after a number of convenience stores and restaurants have been burned to the ground. Former hotels have been burned to the ground so that there is no possibility they could be turned into transitional housing. The empty spaces left could be there decades.

The fact that higher levels of security are needed inside buildings with camera and security people in them is scary. It isn't an obstacle for those who don't fear consequences at any time. Calling the police is already too late for those who attack first and have the knife out. The Hydro case is all too common where a subject has a knife and a response can't nearly be fast enough. Or the security that is present is ill equipped for an actual attacker.

People can't feel they will be randomly assaulted any time they are out in the city. Make no mistake people are well aware of where assaults take place and are talking about it.  Manitoba Hydro has no choice to respond or employees and customer will not want to come downtown. In fact, some are questioning the move from Taylor. Others have said they should move the HQ right out of Winnipeg, some joking it should be right out of the province. 

Given the efforts to make the arena area even more a recreation hotspot and supporting existing and incoming business developments, it is in very much a priority to improve safety and security. This isn't just superficial appearances. If businesses and people can't feel they won't be burned down, assaulted or suffer constant threats, you might as well demolish everything downtown. Would be that be the solution. It simply would move the problems even more so across the city.

It would appear that new security will be present this week who can restrain and detain those set out to do harm. And it can't seem like a revolving door. It is staggering that the person arrested for burning down places was re-arrested for more crimes a day later. It just makes people feel there is no hope because there are no consequences for hurting people. It was a huge deal arresting a suspect in the arsons case and just as huge a failure when he was released to do it again. 

Looking at the Manitoba Hydro building by itself though is a distraction. Even if the inside is made safe, it doesn't necessarily mean a worker doesn't get attacked outside the doors. And it isn't limited to the Hydro building. The new Pan Am Clinic is coming to Portage Place and if people are attacked with knives in and around the building, they will hold all level of governments accountable.

Canada is going through a pretty profound addictions, homelessness and violence spike. Truly, overall crime might be down in the country but people won't feel like safe and secure when they hear of random attacks in schools and workplaces. It isn't alarmist if nurses grey list their workplaces. It is a cry for help for real problems. A detachment of police at Health Sciences Centre is probably only the beginning of a full safety audit. Health professionals are going to court to get Shared Health to comply with security measures in the workplace.

It certainly feels like an escalation where we worry about security inside the workplaces and schools. As the awful shooting in B.C. demonstrates, our sense of security hangs by a thread. The trauma of assault and violence doesn't just go away. Communities across Canada are hurting from fear of repeating offences against them. We can't feel unsafe in our homes, our schools and work as well.

It is now up to both public and private sectors to restore not just actual security but a sense of security as well. That could mean continuous assessment of safety which might mean keycode passes to various areas of schools and workplaces. It might mean security that involves more security capable of intervening and not seemingly observing your assault. Cameras are mostly responsive after something has happened. Certainly we need a surge of resources. This is not a time of a committee doing a report that will be available a few years from now. Nurse are already making decisions about where to work now. They won't wait years to protect them from being assaulted. They will leave en masse.

This has to be high priority and will likely be a multi-pronged approach. It is clear though that people are not being overwrought and decisions about where people will live and work are being made about experiences they are having. There really is no more time to waste.

Peter Young Passes Away 2026

Peter Young was the sports guy who turned CKY into a powerhouse of local in 1974 when he came aboard as sports director from background in sports reporting in Thunder Bay. The job was part time and he attended school at University of Manitoba for a Master's program at the same time. The heavy competition between radio, TV and print to cover sports in Winnipeg became a big deal when the WHA Jets came on the scene in 1972. Very few games were televised back then so it relied on radio, TV and print to cover the games in reporting form.

There have been a few reports on his passing. Take note of Marty Gold's story in the Winnipeg Sun. He does a far better job than CTV news with their 47 second story about the death of the person who helped the station take number one and keep it all these decades. His interview two years ago with Peter Young shows there is still important stories to tell on people in the city that can't come from generative AI. The sooner the owners of AI pay creators of content rather than just scraping the Internet of material they don't own, the better.

Peter Young was responsible for a lot of the sports and entertainment hires in Winnipeg. Don Percy and Rod Black both came to the city either with job offers or referrals. In one funny story related on Marty Gold's story, he helped a Blue Bomber player get a job in another city when his time ran out here. I expect the memorial service will bring out all the stories and hope some get to be made.

Peter Young was not content to do just a re-cap of a few professional sports, he set out to cover local amateur sports in a major way. It really forced other media to increase coverage. Now, most newscasts in Winnipeg don't mention much about sports at all, even professional ones. But it wasn't always that way.

My recollection of Peter Young is the multiple sports he covered including three Olympics and the Wide World of Sports where he was prolific. School athletes were always given priority and reporting on coaching and teams with player highlights was not just a tiny spot on the one hour broadcast. It was a focus of that was superior to the public broadcaster for local sports.

Sports coverage is evolving for sure. However, one thing can be said about the new digital coverage. None of it focuses on local sports. It is generally all professional sports. Peter Young showed that it was possible to do it. He gave many reporters both men and women their first chance at broadcasting. He covered so many different sports that he was indispensable in telling the story to Winnipeg and throughout Canada. 

His kind of reporting will be missed.

Harper Nostalgia from Conservatives

The Conservatives have been have been all mushy nostalgic for Stephen Harper this past week during the Calgary convention to affirm Pierre Poilievre as party leader. It is the Conservative convention so they can mush all the want. However, the Conservatives certainly leave out a lot of stuff when they talk about Harper, not the least of which is how he got thumped by Justin Trudeau for a terrible campaign and based on his record. And thereafter, Trudeau beat the new two Conservative leaders. It was the Liberals themselves who replaced Trudeau and thereafter Carney beat yet another Conservative leader in Pierre Poilievre.

The last time the Conservatives held power was back when Harper was Prime Minister. The National Post are been particularly strong in singing the praises of Harper the past weekend crediting him with a golden era in Canadian governance. They are very strong in condemnation of Trudeau. There is plenty to criticize Trudeau about but on things like military spending, Trudeau's government easily surpassed Harper who had .08% GDP spending even while we were in Afghanistan. Trudeau was at 1.3% and Carney is to bring it to 2% by March and head past that to 5%. Somehow the way the conservative media frames it, Harper was superior. He wasn't but they seek to downplay that. 

In terms of deficits, Harper media supporters say it was the result of the 2008 stock and economy crash. They credit Harper for managing the crisis while saying that Carney had nothing to do with it. I expect if Carney didn't help, Harper would not have offered him the job of Finance minister or be so effusive in praise of his job as Bank of Canada governor. It is all such nonsense. Such obvious digs sound just like they are: blindly partisan.

The seeds of most leaders demise show themselves early. The electorate initially appreciates or tolerates it in the early going. Most voters are are not extremists. They tend to vote for their own reasons. Having said that, the seeds of Harper's demise came from the social conservative side and his desire to end collection of data in some quarters. The cancelling the long form census and gagging government departments from reporting stuff not approved by his office was very concerning. The focus on immigrants and what they wore turned off a number of people as well as associating with the extremist side with the cultural barbaric practices hotline. Holy ICE in Canada! For Trudeau, it was the performative side of things. He went to India and was annoying in his costume and family holiday. Serious trade and security issues needed to be talked about and they were outshone by superficial stuff. Eventually, with high cost of living, the charismatic Trudeau looked destined for a thorough defeat.

Usually the leader are blind to their own weakness. And why would they think that anything other than victory was possible. Both Harper and Trudeau clobbered opposition. Liberals are not nostalgic for Trudeau insofar that they want him back. I personally believed that some of his personal foibles would have resulted in loss of position by almost every other Liberal MP if they had committed them. Still, I approved in general the change in cannabis law, the handling of the pandemic and the free trade agreement in Trump's first term. As for the cost of living and handling the crime and drug addictions, I was like many people not very happy.

It has been interesting to note in recent days that Harper and Chretien were on stage together talking about national unity. It is hard to imagine this in the U.S. right now. In fact, both men mentioned the issue of Donald Trump and how the country should come together. It was fairly funny to but it also emphasizes Poilievre's problem. While he can embrace nostalgia for Harper, he is having a hard time being critical because there are so many Trump supporters in his party, some who even welcome being the 51st state.

Based on the way the Conservatives are acting, it is clear they don't want to pull the trigger on an election right away. If the act with bravado and block things, Carney might be compelled to call a snap election and call their bluff. Minorities don't have long. If no more floor crossers join the Liberals, the election could be in 2026. Poilievre is meeting Carney to discuss the session. It doesn't seem likely he would do that if he was going to vote non-confidence in the next month.

In the mean time, conservative media will continue to say what a grand time a Harper conservative government was and say nothing bad ever happened. The relationship between Canada, the U.S. and China was never as good as some on the right have said. Harper never did get a pipeline in Canada or the U.S. either. Trudeau got the one in Canada completed. Harper kept the worst instincts of the party down until he didn't. 

Carney and Chretien were present this week when Stephen Harper had his portrait unveiled in Ottawa on 20th anniversary since he was in office. Peter McKay was present too. But no Poilievre. It was probably not a thing he wanted to show a non-partisanship appearance at. A missed opportunity to grow his base. However, his base in furious and angry. About everything. They want to control the courts and judges. They want to end bilingualism. Go to zero immigration. They will go to extremism if they see the Conservatives give on these issues.

It is hard to believe that the Harper nostalgia doesn't teach anything new to present day Conservatives. They certainly don't seem to be listening to Harper now.

Push For More Housing in 2026

I have spoken about housing on many an occasion in this blog. For many years we have seen next to nothing built in multi-unit housing. It is only in the last several years that apartment housing has really accelerated in Winnipeg. However, there are numerous examples of housing being blocked and some developments take well over a decade to get approved. It isn't very timely and for the apartments that do get approved, it doesn't come close to meeting demand.

Winnipeg continues to grow despite whatever thoughts there are to the contrary. According to the latest statistics, Winnipeg is fifth in Canada in growing municipalities. In the last years it has meant tens of thousands of new people looking for places to live. The result has been a very low vacancy rate even as apartments come on stream. 

This isn't just a Winnipeg or a Manitoba thing. It has been happening all over Canada. Or it was. The federal government putting heavy restrictions on international students and has been having a dramatic impact on prices and housing availability in parts of the country. Apartments, condos and houses themselves are coming down in price and more capacity is being built. In markets like Toronto and Vancouver, it could have an effect on what is being built by the private sector.

As for Winnipeg, we haven't seen a real change in price or vacancy rate as yet. It is probably because we are barely recovering from the superheated economy when it comes to housing. The new and pre-owned housing market is still steady in Winnipeg. Meanwhile apartments that were approved and financing arranged for over time are now being built. 

One such apartment is being built on Pembina Highway on an old motel site that eventually fell on hard times. The Capri was one of many motels that lined Pembina Highway from the 1960s till recent years. It is the type of hotel that had no hallways where you pulled up and your door was directly into the room. Only a handful exist today. The Capri had several police related visits due to crime and fire and was demolished in recent years. Now, it will be 10 storey mixed used apartment building with an enclosed parkade. Altogether, it will be 240 units. 

Pembina Highway has very slowly gained height. It has for decades been lined with one and two storey commercial and retail units with some of the taller conglomerations dating back more than 40 years ago. Not surprisingly, they have been popular with people starting out on their own or downsizing as seniors. Some of the apartments have courted seniors and have services for them such as busy to take them shopping and to medical appointments.

As mentioned many times here, the Baby Boom generation will be increasingly downsizing from larger houses and many would like to stay close to their neighbourhoods. In several neighbourhoods this is impossible. I'm talking to you River Heights. Some places are strictly single family homes and even on commercial streets like Corydon, there are fights about anything over two floors.

There are several other taller apartments under construction up and down Pembina Highway from Jubilee to the Perimeter. It seems right after the pandemic, a whole bunch of projects were approved in the last three years. Some are strictly private while others have taken advantage of civic, provincial and federal programming supports. From 1993, the federal government exited the housing market aside from mortgage assistance and rules from CMHC. They gave transfers to the provinces who largely used money for other things including tax cuts. 

The 1990s were a tough time in Winnipeg. The recession dragged on and housing prices actually went down and nothing was being built. It really took till 2000 when prices began to climb out of the basement. The commitment to getting our house in order paid off because in the stock market crash of 2008, Manitoba was doing fairly well with deficits ending and housing prices up and building going up. It took a lot longer in the United States for recovery and even other parts of Canada. in 2009, Manitoba led the Canadian economy.

The problem is that the pent up demand was for detached housing and apartments that were one and two bedrooms at market rates which were not as affordable as older places in Wolseley, Osborne Village and elsewhere. More concerning was that older places and houses that had been affordable were falling apart and coming down to be replaced by units unaffordable. This includes the various hotels along Main Street used by people with low income. There is a direct correlation to their loss and to people living on the streets.

The federal accelerator fund administered by the municipalities faced cancellation if the Conservatives were elected in 2025. It was popular even with Conservative MPs and has now had two or three tranches of approved projects that are shovel ready. A few are in the Exchange District. The previous ones are in various stages of progress. The area around Waterfront Drive started around 1999 and now has 25 years going. It attests to fact that areas along the river can attract private investment although Waterfront has required various public support with a mix of old and new buildings as well as building a road that had been gravel right to the 1990s.

Prior to Waterfront though, building in the Exchange for housing was patchwork, Condos built at the Ashdown, co-op built a street over and undeclared housing used by artists scattered through the area. Even until the 1980s there was a significant garment sector in the warehouses. The first location of the Spaghetti Factory was in the Exchange from 1970 on. And now it will see housing built on its site with 114 units. It is unclear how many floors but the building at one time had four floors before fire reduced it to one.

The latest tranche of partially funded housing is 1000 plus units with 3/4 of them affordable or geared to income. Many are in the Exchange District in properties like the St. Charles Hotel that has had development drag on 20 years. The federal money seems to have helped a lot of projects get off the ground. In two years, nearly 10,000 units have been approved with many under construction. This is almost at the goal Winnipeg has set for itself.

It hasn't been easy getting projects off the ground. It will never be a case of one and done. Places like Vienna have made a commitment to building housing for over 100 years and it has helped keep the city affordable. We relied all to heavily on low inflation, low interest rates and a number of downturns in the economy to keep housing within reach. Even so, places like Toronto and B.C. got pricey.

There are some trying to make out in nostalgia that everything was so much better back in the Chretien days or the Harper days. The seeds of our hosing problems literally go back to the Mulroney days when all federal housing was sold off and federal money only went out as transfers. In the Chretien years transfers were cut and provincial housing dried up. In the 2000s housing was boosted under Martin and Harper as inflation and interest rates declined but no housing was built that was aimed at affordability. 

There has been 25 years of prices rises which has been good for home owners who bought low but is terrible for anyone getting in the market. Now, with prices going down, it is a buyers market. It will be important that the government not prop up the real estate market by cutting supply but it might be painful for some who bought high expecting it would only go up in value. In the end though, it is better for good Canada for a decline in prices that often went up month by month.

It is going to take a while yet to catch up with how many affordable houses disappear to demolition before new places go up. And because we have so many traumatized people from being on the streets, not working and using drugs, we are going to have to have support workers. More importantly, it is better to keep people in housing because once out, it is hard to find options for them if we keep going sideways.