Mayor Sam Katz's dream of using public funds to build a private water park may soon come to fruition in the form of a $75-million hotel, water park and parkade complex northwest of The Forks.
On Friday, council's downtown and riverbank committee will consider an offer by Drumheller, Alta., hotel chain Canalta to purchase the gravel surface lot known as Parcel Four from the city for $6 million. Working with Calgary water-park designer Waterfun Products and an undisclosed group of investors, Canalta wants to build a 250-room hotel, a 450-stall parkade and a 50,000-square-foot, stand-alone water park with a wave pool, slides and a lazy river, among other amenities.
The plan also calls for Winnipeg to provide Canalta with a $7-million grant, contingent upon the completion of a community-access agreement that would provide the city with $700,000 worth of admission credits every year for the next 25 years.
"In return for the grant, the proponent will have to abide by a public-access agreement. Kids, wherever they come from, will have access to this investment," Mayor Sam Katz said Wednesday, stating he believes there is "overwhelming support" from the public for a water park.
The Canalta proposal is the third water-park plan to be presented to city council since 2008, when Katz championed a plan to replace a $9-million Kildonan Park pool project with a more modest $2.8-million job, as well as the $7-million water-park plan.
This grant was originally awarded to the Canad Inns hotel chain but withdrawn when negotiations between the city and the Winnipeg hotelier faltered. A new search for a private partner in 2009 led to a response from Winnipeg's Shindico Realty, which was acting as an agent for a water park and hotel developer, according to a report by city real estate manager John Zabudney.
That plan initially involved a luxury hotel but later evolved into the Canalta proposal, Zabudney writes. Shindico continues to act as agent but is not the developer, city property director Barry Thorgrimson said.
Pending council approval on April 25, the first phase of the project -- 125 hotel rooms and the water park -- could open as early as 2013, said Thorgrimson. Canalta operates most of its hotels in small towns and is "excited to come to the big city," he said.
An official with Canalta declined to comment.
The second phase of the complex would involve another 125 hotel rooms and a 450-stall parkade, which could be used by Shaw Park, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and The Forks, Thorgrimson said.
The land in question was originally set aside for parking for the human rights museum and The Forks. The museum has yet to assess the impact of the water park on its operations, said spokeswoman Angela Cassie.
The Forks plans to work with Canalta to ensure the water park fits with pre-existing plans to develop more parking as well as housing near the CN rail line, said Jim August, CEO of The Forks-North Portage Partnership.
"This is a somewhat complicated site," he said.
Katz's plan is likely to win the support of a majority of council members, but there is some opposition. Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said she's disappointed the Canalta water park will be 10,000 square feet smaller than the facility Canad Inns proposed.
Gerbasi also said she's concerned the city has yet to work out details of the public-access agreement, which would see the city's community services department dole out admission credits through social-service agencies.
"We don't have control over the facility and I don't know if this is the best use of our funds," Gerbasi said.
The city would be better-served spending $7 million on fixing roads, added Colin Craig, the Manitoba director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who said the spending weakens the city's case for more infrastructure funding.
"This is like buying a big-screen TV for your living room and (putting it) under a leaky roof. At some point, you have to fix the roof," Craig said.
Katz, however, said there is no contradiction between offering a grant to a private water park while community centres, pools and hockey rinks are hard up for cash. Creating a water park with public access fulfils the city's recreation mandate, he said.
"Downtown is changing and this will keep things going, in my opinion," Katz said. "Plus, I think this will be a great tourist attraction in the future."
(http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...147121145.html)
So, to me, it sounds like if they go ahead with this project, not only will there be another tourist attraction to promote visitors to choose Winnipeg as their destination, there will also be mixed use residential still planned for that area, which what everyone's been complaining about.
There's another HUGE surface lot just south of York that would fit the mixed use development. A parkade will be built to accommodate parking needed to replace the surface stalls. It will congest the area, but why do you think area such as Corydon and Osborne are destinations?, cause they're congested, filled with people at all times/months of the year, which in turn makes people feel safer roaming the areas.
Parcel 4 land is a visible eyesore that can be seen from 25 kilometers up from the sky in our downtown. (check Google Earth if you don't believe me) Green space isn't being taken away.
I agree, it would have to be something classy to attract people, but there's no use speculating till we all see the proposal. A classy, world class, one-of-a-kind water park will benefit Winnipeg. Anything less should be protested.
For up to the date posts of the 311 At Centre Point Winnipeg, PLEASE visit my form here at -----> http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=197745
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