Cost of demolishing old police HQ, parkade on the rise again

The cost of demolishing Winnipeg's old police headquarters and the Civic Centre Parkade has risen to $12.1 million and the city is poised to borrow money to make it happen.

City property managers want permission to set aside money in next year's budget to remove hazardous materials from the Public Safety Building on Princess Streetand the adjoining parkade, demolish both structures and prepare them for redevelopment and sale.

In a report to council's property committee, city building managers are requesting a $12.1-million budget for the project, up from a $10.7 million projection this year. The city would borrow $10.5 million to make this happen, as the Winnipeg Parking Authority does not have enough money set aside for the job.

• Public Safety Building to be demolished, no date yet
• Winnipeg Parking Authority to spend $1.8M to demolish derelict Civic Centre Parkade
• Cost of demolishing old police HQ and parkade 6 times more than previously disclosed

The city plans to redevelop the entire site, which downtown development agency CentreVenture has rebranded as the "Market Lands."

CentreVenturehas expressed a preference to see the site house a mixed-use development of some form. The southern portion of the site must have some form of public use, thanks to a caveat placed on the land when it was donated to the city in 1875.

• Mixed-use development touted for Public Safety Building, Civic Centre Parkade site

The Public Safety Building closed in 2016 after the Winnipeg Police Service moved into its new$214-million headquarters on Graham Avenue. The construction of that project remains under RCMP investigation.

• CBC Investigates: Former Winnipeg CAO got $200K 'secret commission' for helping contractor, RCMP alleged

Council approved the demolition of the PSBafter a city-commissioned report concluded it would be too expensive to redevelop the six-storey building, originally built as part of amodernist ensemble of civic centre campus structures.

The Civic Centre Parkade, to the immediate north, was shuttered in 2012 because ofstructural issues and nearly a decade of deferred maintenance.