The real estate wing of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets is asking for another extension before it decides whether to proceed with a $650-million proposal to purchase and redevelop downtown Winnipeg’s Portage Place mall.
True North Real Estate Development has asked the city for three more months to conduct due diligence on its option to purchase the beleaguered mall and embark on a multi-year redevelopment that would see a 12-storey medical tower rise above the east side of Portage Place and a 15-storey residential tower above the west.
“This is a remarkably complex undertaking that continues to be approached with the greatest of diligence and thought prior to closing,” True North Real Estate Development president Jim Ludlow said in a statement Tuesday.
“The process, documentation and planning for the purchase of the land, the building and the redevelopment is in an advanced stage of completion and this time period will be well used to finalize agreements, complete reviews and obtain the necessary approvals.”
In addition to the construction of two towers, True North’s redevelopment plan for Portage Place also calls for the glass-enclosed atrium at Edmonton Street to be dismantled, while the middle of the mall would be converted into community centres, offices for community organizations and a small amount of retail space and food services.
True North announced in March 2023 it had signed a purchase option that required the company to make a decision on the project by Dec. 31 of that year. In November, the company asked for six more months to complete the transaction.
According to a report that will come before a special meeting of city council’s executive policy committee on Wednesday, True North is asking the city to extend that due diligence period to Sept. 28.
True North needs the additional time “to finalize the terms” of its agreement to purchase the mall, Winnipeg economic development manager Matt Dryburgh said in a report to the committee.
The city, the province and the federal government must approve the extension, because all three levels of government are stakeholders in the non-profit Forks North Portage Partnership, which owns the parkade below the mall and the air rights to build towers above it.
True North’s option calls for the purchase of these assets for no less than $34.5 million. The company has a separate deal to purchase the mall itself from Vancouver’s Peterson Group for an undisclosed price.
“The scale of this project includes design, engineering and construction, legal, financing and complex health planning, as well as multi-government participation and community consultation,” Ludlow said.
“We remain confident in our abilities and those of our public partners to successfully [complete] the final package of materials within this timeline.”
Mayor Scott Gillingham said Tuesday in a statement he will vote for the extension. A spokesperson for Premier Wab Kinew said he supports the extension as well.
Liberal MP Dan Vandal, a federal cabinet minister, said in a statement he is reviewing the request for an extension.
In April, Kinew said he signed a letter of intent that would see the province lease space within the health-care tower. That will serve as the province’s main contribution toward the project.
Ludlow said at the time True North plans to ask the city and province for property tax breaks to assist the project. Ludlow also said True North will ask the city to assist with streetscaping at the development.
True North is also expected to ask the federal government for assistance with the housing component and public spaces. Federal cabinet minister Dan Vandal said in April that Ottawa is amenable to some form of support.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
