Concrete is being poured and a tower crane is in place at Winnipeg’s former Portage Place mall, where True North Real Estate Development is building a $300M health-care tower backed by a 35-year provincial lease.

The 12-storey, 300,000-SF healthcare centre is rising at 375 Portage Ave. on the mall’s east block, marking the first major vertical construction in True North’s $650M redevelopment of the downtown property.

The building is designed as a downtown health-care campus rather than a conventional medical office tower. It will bring together primary care, mental-health and addictions services, surgery, diagnostics and dialysis, while providing a significantly expanded downtown home for Pan Am Clinic.

The site is being developed by True North, which acquired the 6.4-acre Portage Place property in November 2024. True North paid $34.5M for the land, parking facilities and air rights, while the price paid for the mall itself was not disclosed. Connect reported at the time that the transaction cleared the way for redevelopment of the 1.2M-SF total complex.

Central to the deal is Manitoba’s commitment to lease the health-care centre for 35 years. The long-term government tenancy provides the redevelopment with an institutional anchor as True North converts the former enclosed mall into a mixed-use property.

True North is also adding needs-based retail to the tenant mix. Red River Co-op committed this summer to about 29,000 SF for a grocery store and pharmacy under a long-term lease, including a tenant improvement allowance from the developer. Co-op expects to take possession in 2028 and invest more than $10M in the location.

The broader redevelopment also calls for housing, neighbourhood services and new public space.