Gillingham says Portage and Main underground should stay open

Scott Gillingham said he hopes to keep the circular concourse beneath Portage Avenue and Main Street open, if he’s re-elected mayor next week.

“I would like to find a way for it to stay,” said Gillingham during the mayoral debate hosted by CJOB Wednesday.

The downtown intersection reopened to pedestrians at street level in June 2025.

When he first supported that hotly debated reopening in 2024, Gillingham called for the underground mall to be closed. At the time, the city estimated it would take $73 million and up to five years of traffic-snarling construction to repair the leaking membrane under the street that protects the properties below.

However, the city opted to complete a cost-benefit analysis of those changes and consultations with building owners on the site’s future instead. The staff analysis is expected in January 2027.

In an interview Wednesday, Gillingham said the cost to repair the underground may have changed since 2024, partly because portions of the membrane were repaired when the surface barricades were removed during the project to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians.

“We’ve asked our staff now for a greater look, a deeper look into what options are available to address the issues at the underground concourse. If possible, I would like to find a way to keep it open. I know that’s important to the property owners on the corners of Portage and Main,” said Gillingham.

“If there’s a way to maintain the underground concourse, repair the membrane and to do it with less cost, with less traffic disruption, I’ve always been open to that,” he added.

As one of three candidates included in the radio debate, Gillingham faced criticism about his handling of the intersection.

Mayoral contender Mike Vogiatzakis said Gillingham was dishonest about the issue. In a 2018 plebiscite, 65 per cent of Winnipeggers who participated voted “no” to reopening the intersection to pedestrians. In his 2022 election campaign, Gillingham promised to respect that result.

“Scott Gillingham, the mayor of Winnipeg, lied to the citizens. They went to the polls, they voted, they wanted Portage and Main closed. It opened. He said that the infrastructure was falling apart. The infrastructure is still open, people are there, it’s business as usual,” said Vogiatzakis.

Gillingham responded that his stance changed after the city received much more information about the intersection’s condition. Vogiatzakis then accused him of ignoring the will of the public.

“When citizens vote on something, that’s their voice. You took their voice and you threw it in the garbage can,” said Vogiatzakis.

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein said the city rushed to open up Portage and Main at the surface level, noting winter construction raised the price to do so. The city budgeted $21 million for the reopening.

“Now my fear is, is that if we spend $73 million on the concourse, we have to rip up Portage and Main again (at street level) to replace the membrane, because that’s where the leaks come from, and the membrane has to be replaced. So, it’s almost like we’re doubling up on the work that we did,” said Klein.

After the debate, Gillingham said he’d like to know whether the remaining underground repairs could be completed from within the concourse to help avoid that issue.

The Building Owners and Managers Association, which represents owners and managers of commercial and institutional buildings, including three of the four corner properties at the intersection, said it can’t bank on Gillingham’s statement.

“I don’t know if I can comment on whether it’s anything more than a campaign promise, but I can tell you that Mayor Gillingham, prior to the last mayoral election, promised that he wasn’t going to open the Portage and Main intersection,” executive director Tom Thiessen said.

“So, we don’t put a ton of stock in campaign promises. Having said that, it is heartening to see someone potentially do a 180 on a topic that we have been pretty serious about from the beginning.”

In a statement, the organization said its owners have “pumped millions” into renewing their portions of the underground concourse and “ the City of Winnipeg should commit to doing the same.”

It explained that in 2017, the owners of the downtown office towers sent a conditional letter of support to open up the crossing to pedestrains. One of the conditions, however, was that the mayor and council promise to “improving and modernizing the assets in the below-grade within and leading into the concourse to standards commensurate with private investment in adjacent spaces.”

So far, that investment has not yet occurred,” the statement noted.

Thiessen said if the conversation around keeping the concourse open moves forward, with a plan attached, his group would embrace it.

“It’s a critical piece of city infrastructure and we think it needs to stay open,” Thiessen said.

“We know there will be new councillors in place after the election — some of the incumbents are no longer running, there’s going to be a turnover in council. There may be a new mayor, but there may not be,” he said. “Regardless, we want to see elected officials make a serious commitment to a piece of city infrastructure that we think is very important.”

Gillingham stressed feedback about reopening the intersection to pedestrians has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Portage and Main closed to pedestrians in 1979, as part of a commercial development deal.

Election Day is Oct. 28.

joyanne.pursaga@winnipegfreepress.com

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