Latest news with #JerryDaniels
Winnipeg Free Press
16-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
SCO grand chief updates business leaders on Bay building transformation
The leader of the First Nations redeveloping the former Hudson's Bay building downtown told Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce members Friday that the project is a 'huge win for everyone who wants to see this city thrive.' Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels told a lunchtime crowd of about 400 people that Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn ('it is visible') is a transformational space in the heart of Winnipeg, 'It's bringing new investment, new energy and new foot traffic to downtown,' Daniels said. The former department store opened in 1926 and closed in 2020. The highly-visible worksite at Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard is a training, mentorship and incubator hub for First Nations businesses and social enterprises, Daniels said. 'We are prioritizing First Nation workers and businesses from Day 1,' he said. The workforce transforming the six-storey, 655,000-square-foot building into 373 housing units, a child-care centre, rooftop park and various other spaces is 77 per cent Indigenous, he said. 'We are talking about jobs that are going to create real lives, that are going to impact real-life training, employment, business opportunities for First Nations — not just the construction jobs but, later, the economic opportunities,' he said. 'This project is about empowerment, plain and simple.' It answers many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action, including economic reconciliation, child welfare, housing, language revitalization and education. 'Real reconciliation must include economic power.' The cost of the project in 2022 when Hudson's Bay Co. transferred ownership of the building to the Southern Chiefs Organization was originally pegged at $130 million. In March, Daniels called a news conference to provide an update on the project, explaining the cost had more than doubled to $310 million, with completion in 2028. An evolving design with additional housing units (373, up from 350), price increases, supply-chain pressures, inflation and tariff threats, plus heritage-designation building upgrades, structural reinforcements and modern energy-efficiency standards led to the revised cost estimate, he said. 'We've moved from the early conceptual stage to a very costed-out plan and what the real cost is going to be,' he told the chamber crowd. Chamber president and CEO Loren Remillard said it was an opportunity for the grand chief to update business leadership in the city about the transformation. 'I'm confident that this project will open and that it will be a success… not just for truth and reconciliation, but downtown recovery,' Remillard said. 'We have the most tangible and the largest project advancing truth and reconciliation. How can we support this project? What can we learn from it? What lessons have we taken from it that we can apply to future projects both large and small?' The federal government, province and city are all contributing to the massive undertaking. Ottawa has committed $96 million. The city said it would provide $10 million in tax incentives, while waiving $350,000 in planning and permitting fees and $257,000 for tipping fees. It also directed $10 million of federal cash Winnipeg received through the Housing Accelerator Fund to the initiative. In a statement Friday, the province said it's 'proud to fund this important project.' It has provided $35 million 'and will continue to support this significant initiative. We have been kept apprised of the developments and look forward to seeing this project come to fruition.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cost of redeveloping former Bay building in Winnipeg now $310M, Southern Chiefs says
The cost of redeveloping the former Bay building in downtown Winnipeg has risen more than 50 per cent and some of the amenities that were planned have been scaled back or removed altogether. The Southern Chiefs' Organization announced Wednesday it will cost $310 million to transform the Hudson's Bay Company's 99-year-old Winnipeg flagship into a mixed-use development called Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn. The project was originally slated to cost $130 million 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. The projected cost was raised to $200 million in 2023. SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said the cost increase is due to more accurate budgeting and a more detailed design for a complex, adaptive reuse of a heritage building. Construction inflation and the cost pressures from the Canada-U.S. trade war also played a role in the higher cost, he said. "The impact is going to be on the materials that we have to buy. So that's going to change and fluctuate prices," Daniels said following a news conference on the main floor of the former department store, where the walls and ceilings have been stripped down to their basic components. Three levels of government have pledged a combined $141 million in cash, loans and tax relief to support the $310-million Wehwehneh project. Daniels said the SCO plans to raise the remainder of the funding for the project. "We will get there, and I guarantee that our team is well-prepared for that," he said. Federal cabinet Minister Terry Duguid, the Liberal MP for Winnipeg South, said his government has not been asked to contribute more funding. The federal government has promised $96 million in cash and loans for the project. The provincial government, which promised $35 million in loans, did not send a representative to the SCO news conference and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any further funding request. The City of Winnipeg, which is providing $10 million in property-tax incentives for Wehwehneh, also has not been asked to contribute more to the project, said a spokesperson for Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. Some previously announced amenities planned for the project have also been deleted or scaled back because of cost pressures, Daniels said. The project will no longer include assisted living units for First Nations elders, a governance seat for the SCO nor a museum and gallery, the grand chief said. A monument for survivors of residential schools and day schools has been scaled back, while the SCO is "not firm" on whether Wehwehneh will still include a health and healing centre. Daniels said the SCO has not changed plans for Wehwehneh to include 373 housing units, a child-care centre, two restaurants, rooftop gardens, office space for the SCO and a central atrium. In order to build that atrium, a crane erected along Memorial Boulevard will soon start removing part of the roof of the building, he said. The project is now slated to be completed in 2028, two years later than initially planned. Daniels said the SCO still plans to hold some form of ceremony in 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of the original department store. Financial trouble at the Hudson's Bay Co., which is under creditor protection, does not jeopardize any aspect of the Wehwehneh project, Daniels said. With Bay stores elsewhere in Canada facing potential closure, Daniels said the SCO is prepared to advise First Nations interested in acquiring department store real estate of their own. 1st Daniels comments since leave Daniels' appearance at the Wednesday announcement was his first since he took a month-long leave of absence after he was hospitalized following an early-morning altercation in Ottawa in December. Daniels described what happened to him in Ottawa as an "unfortunate incident" and said he is grateful to remain grand chief. "I'm absolutely thankful that I've been able to get the support of the communities and get the support of the chiefs," he said. He also thanked staff at Aurora Recovery Centre for helping him with what he described as personal issues. The announcement about Wehwehneh was also the first for SCO since it replaced chief executive officer Joy Cramer with Ryan Bear. "We're here to make a message that this project is well on its way to completion," Daniels said. The cost of redeveloping the former Bay building in downtown Winnipeg is now $310 million. Three levels of government have pledged $141 million in cash, loans and tax relief to help the Southern Chiefs' Organization complete the project. (Trevor Lyons/CBC)
CBC
19-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Cost of redeveloping former Bay building in Winnipeg now $310M, Southern Chiefs says
Social Sharing The cost of redeveloping the former Bay building in downtown Winnipeg has risen more than 50 per cent and some of the amenities that were planned have been scaled back or removed altogether. The Southern Chiefs' Organization announced Wednesday it will cost $310 million to transform the Hudson's Bay Company's 99-year-old Winnipeg flagship into a mixed-use development called Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn. The project was originally slated to cost $130 million 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. The projected cost was raised to $200 million in 2023. SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said the cost increase is due to more accurate budgeting and a more detailed design for a complex, adaptive reuse of a heritage building. Construction inflation and the cost pressures from the Canada-U.S. trade war also played a role in the higher cost, he said. "The impact is going to be on the materials that we have to buy. So that's going to change and fluctuate prices," Daniels said following a news conference on the main floor of the former department store, where the walls and ceilings have been stripped down to their basic components. Three levels of government have pledged a combined $141 million in cash, loans and tax relief to support the $310-million Wehwehneh project. Daniels said the SCO plans to raise the remainder of the funding for the project. "We will get there, and I guarantee that our team is well-prepared for that," he said. Federal cabinet Minister Terry Duguid, the Liberal MP for Winnipeg South, said his government has not been asked to contribute more funding. The federal government has promised $96 million in cash and loans for the project. The provincial government, which promised $35 million in loans, did not send a representative to the SCO news conference and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any further funding request. The City of Winnipeg, which is providing $10 million in property-tax incentives for Wehwehneh, also has not been asked to contribute more to the project, said a spokesperson for Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. Some previously announced amenities planned for the project have also been deleted or scaled back because of cost pressures, Daniels said. The project will no longer include assisted living units for First Nations elders, a governance seat for the SCO nor a museum and gallery, the grand chief said. A monument for survivors of residential schools and day schools has been scaled back, while the SCO is "not firm" on whether Wehwehneh will still include a health and healing centre. Daniels said the SCO has not changed plans for Wehwehneh to include 373 housing units, a child-care centre, two restaurants, rooftop gardens, office space for the SCO and a central atrium. In order to build that atrium, a crane erected along Memorial Boulevard will soon start removing part of the roof of the building, he said. The project is now slated to be completed in 2028, two years later than initially planned. Daniels said the SCO still plans to hold some form of ceremony in 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of the original department store. Financial trouble at the Hudson's Bay Co., which is under creditor protection, does not jeopardize any aspect of the Wehwehneh project, Daniels said. With Bay stores elsewhere in Canada facing potential closure, Daniels said the SCO is prepared to advise First Nations interested in acquiring department store real estate of their own. 1st Daniels comments since leave Daniels' appearance at the Wednesday announcement was his first since he took a month-long leave of absence after he was hospitalized following an early-morning altercation in Ottawa in December. Daniels described what happened to him in Ottawa as an "unfortunate incident" and said he is grateful to remain grand chief. "I'm absolutely thankful that I've been able to get the support of the communities and get the support of the chiefs," he said. He also thanked staff at Aurora Recovery Centre for helping him with what he described as personal issues. The announcement about Wehwehneh was also the first for SCO since it replaced chief executive officer Joy Cramer with Ryan Bear. "We're here to make a message that this project is well on its way to completion," Daniels said.
CBC
19-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Southern Chiefs' Organization to adjust cost, scope of downtown Winnipeg Bay redevelopment
Social Sharing 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 depatment 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.
CBC
30-01-2025
- Business
- CBC
Manitoba grand chief accused of scrapping $20M land deal over alleged personal mortgage default
Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels threatened to kill a $20-million land deal over demands that he make payments on a personal mortgage, a numbered company alleges in court documents. The allegation is made by lawyers for 7475323 Manitoba Ltd. in court documents associated with a legal battle between the private company and the Southern Chiefs' Economic Development Corporation. "On numerous occasions, Daniels advised that he could influence the progress of the transaction agreed on if the defendant … did not desist in its' demands [to make mortgage payments]," one of the court filings says. "Ultimately, Daniels … advised that this property transaction would not proceed further, which action [the company] asserts was motivated by the personal transaction matters." Daniels heads the Southern Chiefs' Organization, which represents 33 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations in southern Manitoba with more than 87,000 citizens, its website says. The SCO owns the former Hudson's Bay Co. building in downtown Winnipeg, which is the focus of a $200-million redevelopment project, and is working with True North Real Estate Development on a residential tower proposed as part of the $650-million redevelopment of Portage Place, across from the old Bay building. The legal dispute that contains the allegations against Daniels was launched when the Southern Chiefs' Economic Development Corporation filed a lawsuit against the numbered company in November 2023, seeking a $100,000 deposit it made to the company in May 2019 for the possible acquisition of five parcels of land on Dugald Road in Winnipeg. The Southern Chiefs' corporation said in its statement of claim that the terms of its contract with the company included that, while the two parties would try to negotiate a $20-million deal for the land, neither of them "had any binding obligation" to make a deal. The contract also said "in the event that the parties did not close the purchase and sale agreement, any deposits would be returned," the statement of claim said. But in a statement of defence and counterclaim filed in May, the numbered company asked that the Southern Chiefs' Organization Economic Development Corporation be made to forfeit its $100,000 deposit and pay damages, including upwards of $765,000 in expenses incurred by the company as it worked to advance the land deal, alleging the Southern Chiefs' group "negligently misrepresented" its commitment to the deal. In that document, the company alleges that shortly after a letter of intent for the deal was executed around December 2018, Daniels approached the company to ask for a mortgage for a condo in Winnipeg — which the company said it provided through an associated corporation. The company alleges Daniels then "went into default under the payment terms several times," resulting in the company "putting Daniels on notice of the default, demanding payment, and advising of its intent to pursue its remedies," the statement of defence and counterclaim says. In a reply and defence to the counterclaim filed in August 2024, the Southern Chiefs' group denied the company's allegations, calling them "meritless, scandalous, vexatious [and] irrelevant." It also said Daniels was the one who was approached about taking out the mortgage — not the other way around — and that he did not default on it. The Southern Chiefs' group also denies the company's allegations of misrepresentation, saying the company "knew or ought to have known" the deal wasn't guaranteed to close, noting it had not secured the financing it needed to buy the land. The Southern Chiefs' Economic Development Corporation, established in 2018, was recently disbanded by the Manitoba Companies Office after it appears to have failed to file its annual returns for several years, provincial records show. Daniels was first elected as grand chief of the Southern Chiefs' Organization in 2017. He was acclaimed for a second term in 2020 and re-elected this past June. He recently returned to his position after going on leave following an altercation in Ottawa last month that left him hospitalized. Ottawa police later said the investigation into the incident was closed with no charges laid. Daniels later issued an apology via Facebook, saying he was seeking help for alcohol use after what he described as "a wake-up call." While Daniels was initially scheduled to return to his position Jan. 6, his leave was extended after eight First Nations that belong to the Southern Chiefs' Organization said they would withdraw from the organization unless a summit of its chiefs was held before a decision was made on its leader's return to office.
