Southern Chiefs' Organization to adjust cost, scope of downtown Winnipeg Bay redevelopment
First update planned for Wehwehneh Bahgahkinagohn since senior SCO officials left
The Southern Chiefs' Organization is slated to adjust the cost and scope of its planned redevelopment of the former Bay building in downtown Winnipeg in what will be the first update about the project since the departure of senior officials in the organization.
The SCO has called a news conference for Wednesday morning to brief reporters about its ongoing conversion of the former department store into a mixed-use project called Wehwehneh Bahgahkinagohn.
The project was originally slated to cost $130 milllion in 2022, when the Hudson's Bay Company announced the transfer of the six-storey, 655,000-square-foot building at the corner of Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard to the SCO, which represents 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota Nations in southern Manitoba.
That projected cost was raised to $200 million in 2023.
The federal government has pledged $96 million in cash and loans to help pay for the project. The province has promised $35 million, while the City of Winnipeg has offered $10 million worth of tax breaks over the next 25 years.
SCO has not issued any updates about Wehwehneh since May 2024, when the federal Liberal government increased its funding commitment to the project.
Since then, the SCO has weathered turmoil at the executive level.
In December, Grand Chief Jerry Daniels took a one-month leave from his position after he was hospitalized as a result of an early-morning altercation in Ottawa.
After Daniels returned to work, the SCO placed chief executive officer Joy Cramer and chief operating officer Jennifer Rattray on leave and named Ryan Bear as CEO, according to a memo distributed to all SCO staff on Jan. 24.
Representatives with the city, province, federal government and True North Real Estate Development — which plans to build a residential tower above the west pad of Portage Place mall in conjunction with the SCO — said they remained committed to Wehwehneh.
Redevelopment cost rises
A source familiar with the project said Tuesday the cost of the redevelopment has risen and so has the scope.
The last publicly stated iteration of the project called for an atrium at the centre of the building, a museum and gallery, a rooftop garden, a monument to residential and day-school survivors, two restaurants, a child-care centre, a health and healing centre, a governance facility for southern Manitoba First Nations and at least 350 residential units, including assisted living units for First Nations elders.
The source familiar with the project said there are now 373 housing units planned for the project but did not say what elements have been removed from the plans.
Work on the project has proceeded from the removal of materials inside the building to the erection of a crane now visible at the construction site.
The source familiar with the project said approximately three quarters of the Wehwehneh construction workforce — 1,042 of 1,360 workers — are Indigenous.
The update for the former downtown Bay company comes as the Hudson's Bay Company sits in creditor protection. The two remaining Bay stores in Winnipeg, in Polo Park and St. Vital mall, now face potential closure.