Winnipeg Jets owner True North considering purchase of Portage Place mall, multiple sources say

The real estate division of True North Sports and Entertainment is considering a purchase of downtown Winnipeg's beleaguered Portage Place mall, according to multiple city, provincial and non-governmental sources.

City council is poised to publish on Monday a report about a proposed sale of Portage Place that would give True North Real Estate Development, a division of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets, an option to purchase the 36-year-old property, according to the sources.

The purchase option would only be exercised after a months-long due diligence period as well as community consultations, said several sources familiar with plan.

CBC News has not viewed the report. True North Sports and Entertainment acknowledged a request for comment but did not issue a statement.

Sources familiar with the report said they were not aware what plans True North may have for the mall.

Over the past two decades, True North has made hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment into downtown Winnipeg through the construction of the Canada Life Centre, the Centrepoint development to the north of the hockey arena and the True North Square development to the west.

As well, True North executive chairman Mark Chipman has on several occasions expressed a desire to alleviate homelessness and addictions in downtown Winnipeg.

In 2019, Chipman said he supported a 24/7 addictions drop-in centre in downtown Winnipeg to alleviate what he described as "the most heartbreaking of circumstances."

Two years later, he suggested social conditions in Winnipeg's core had only worsened during the pandemic.

"It's gone long past just being heartbreaking: it's become, in my humble opinion, a humanitarian crisis," Chipman said in 2021 at a downtown safety partnership event.

Chipman also attended a provincial social housing announcement last week. He did not confirm or deny True North's interest in Portage Place, a mall built as one of many downtown Winnipeg revitalization projects.

Portage Place was built in 1987 by the North Portage Development Corporation, a predecessor of today's Forks North Portage Partnership. Entire blocks of downtown were razed to make room for the 440,000-square-foot mall, the centrepiece of an $80-million project funded by all three levels of government.

The mall opened amid hopes the shopping centre would bring more foot traffic downtown. Within a year, some of the mall's tenants departed amid complaints about low sales.

Over the next three decades, most of the original tenants departed, while major amenities closed, including an IMAX theatre and a movie multiplex.