‘Change coming’ as U of W ponders long-term plan to revitalize campus

The University of Winnipeg wants to revitalize its downtown properties, including its original campus that dates back to the late 1800s.

The institution, which wants to develop a 15-year plan for its central buildings and the public spaces that surround them, is in the process of hiring a consulting firm to study its presence downtown, in the inner city and West End.

“Sparling Hall sits in the middle of campus as a derelict building,” said Peter Miller, president of the U of W faculty association, referring to the structure built as an addition to Wesley Hall in the 1910s. “It hasn’t been accessible the entire time I’ve been here, so at least 10 years.”

U of W recently approved a $180.7-million budget for next year that includes a two per cent increase in operating expenses. Senior administration is raising tuition — four per cent for domestic students and 6.5 per cent for their international peers — and phasing out low-rate course fees to stay out of the red.

Interim president Jino Distasio said yet-to-be-finalized capital plan expenses will be “really reasonable” and help the university community rethink where its energy and resources should be spent.

“We’re at a new point. There’s change coming to the campus,” Distasio said.

The urban geography professor, a self-described “urban president,” indicated the exercise will involve contemplating the footprint and identifying potential infill projects.

Shortly before Distasio was tapped for his role in the fall, academics, administrators and representatives from U of W’s community renewal corporation released a strategic plan for 2025-30, which includes campus revitalization as one of its five pillars.

The university’s last ground-breaking event was for Leatherdale Hall, a roughly $5-million expansion to Wesley Hall and the U of W Collegiate that opened in 2017.

Citing recent budget pressures and development projects — including a major makeover to its library and more recently, a campus space audit — that have been stalled, Miller said he has mixed feelings about the undertaking.

“What funding is there to actually enact a plan?” the classics professor said.

At the same time, he said it’s worthwhile to consider how the Portage Place and former Bay building redevelopment projects, among others, will impact U of W.

“If I’m being optimistic, maybe a master plan makes sense rather than a piecemeal approach,” Miller said.

U of W is made up of roughly 20 buildings that span more than 1.6-million square feet in downtown. Distasio said he anticipates the new plan to be “a little more pragmatic, a little more inward-facing” than its predecessor, which was developed under former president Lloyd Axworthy.

“No one can fill those shoes, but I was certainly inspired by his boldness.”

The plan is anticipated to be complete before the end of 2026-27.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca