Portage Place turns 35: how downtown advocates want community to lead mall redevelopment

September 17, 1987. Opening day for Portage Place shopping centre.

Nine men cut a ribbon, a catchy theme song blasts from the public address system, and thousands of Winnipeggers descend on the downtown mall and its nearly 150 new stores to see what all the excitement was about.  

The $80 million complex was built to revitalize Winnipeg's then-declining downtown, and confidence in its ability to do so was high at the time. Manitoba's prominent politicians and developers sealed a time capsule filled with '80s memorabilia under the Edmonton Court clock. The capsule was to be opened in 75 years, the length of the lease agreement between mall owners Cadillac Fairview and all three levels of government, which jointly own the land the mall sits on.

But it became apparent early on that Portage Place wasn't working as intended. A 1994 presentation by the North Portage Development Corporation to the provincial Standing Committee on Municipal Affairs says just seven years in, the mall was already in financial trouble.

"Portage Place is one of the projects that is in so-called negative cash flow. It is one of about 12 projects. The reason it is in negative cash flow is that there is not enough money that is being generated out of Portage Place to pay the debt service costs. There is a debt of $56 million on the project," said the session hansard.

Business at Portage Place has continued to decline, and nearly half of its projected lifespan later, the mall is a shell of its former self. Only 30 retail stores and 13 food court restaurants remain in its mostly-empty hallways, filled with vacant retail spaces.