Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 30, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba winnipeg.ca/4Rdepot Space provided through a partnership between industry and Manitoba communities to support waste diversion programs. It’s free! You can drop off yard waste, used oil, electronics and household hazardous waste at any 4R Winnipeg Depot. 429 Panet Road1120 Pacific Avenue 1825 Brady Road YEARS-long plans to turn a vacant lot into one of the tallest new buildings out- side of the downtown in decades will remain on the drawing board. The plan to build a 21-storey, mixed- use apartment building at 634 Portage Ave. has ended with the lot — once the site of a car dealership — up for sale at a $6.5-million asking price. P3, or Private Pension Partners Real- ty, said it was not commenting on the sale listing or why its development plan was no longer going forward. Jino Distasio, an urban planning professor at the University of Win- nipeg, said he is disappointed the de- velopment is not going ahead, but not surprised. “I don’t know why this happened, but it is not uncommon to see changes,” Distasio said Wednesday. “I would like to see this lot filled in with the right type of housing for West Broadway. “It is a big beautiful lot on Portage Avenue which needs to be more than a vacant lot.” If it had gone ahead, the project would have been the city’s tallest struc- ture to be built outside of the downtown since the 26-storey 11 Evergreen Pl., was constructed in 1984. The developer applied to rezone the Portage Avenue and Furby Street prop- erty in 2021. The current real estate advertise- ment describes the property as a “prime, mixed-use development oppor- tunity. “P3 Realty is pleased to present a rare, shovel-ready opportunity to de- liver a landmark mixed-use rental de- velopment in the heart of Winnipeg.” The ad says the site has already been fully rezoned, all variances needed are in place and it is approved for an apart- ment building anywhere from 21 to 30 storeys in height. It added the proposed design would have seen 374 units, more than 6,000 square feet of commercial space on the main floor and a 75-stall parkade. Darryl Harrison, stakeholder en- gagement director with the Winni- peg Construction Association, said he couldn’t comment on the decision, but added the cost of construction materi- als has shot up in the last few years. “The pandemic definitely created a significant increase in construction costs which has since created a new normal,” he said. “It settled down in 2022-2023, but it has been going up annually since then.” Harrison said this year alone Winni- peg has seen “inflationary pressure on construction materials” of 3.69 per cent in the first quarter and 3.8 per cent in the second. At the same time, over the last couple of years, he said the number of building permits taken out has tumbled about four per cent while multi-unit residen- tial housing has dropped by six per cent. But Harrison said there is good news on the horizon. “There is projected to be very large public infrastructure to be built in the next five years,” he said, noting the areas will be in defence, housing and health. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca A MAN has been sentenced as an adult to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least sev- en years for killing three strangers in random attacks that took place within an hour. The man, now 19, pleaded guilty earli- er this year to two counts of second-de- gree murder for the Aug. 22, 2022, at- tacks on Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, 36, and Marvin William Felix, 54. He also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of Troy Baguley, 51. He was 15 at the time of the killings. The offender “has participated in three serious homicides… and the max- imum available youth sentence would not be sufficient to hold him account- able,” Court of King’s Bench Justice Gerald Chartier said in court Wednes- day. “These offences were all serious and extremely violent physical attacks on random strangers carried out in three separate instances in quick suc- cession.” The maximum youth sentence for second-degree murder is seven years, at least three of which would be served in the community under conditional supervision. “Such a sentence is not long enough, given the offences and (the offender’s) involvement in them,” Chartier said. Ballantyne, a mother of four, was beaten to death. Separate attacks on Felix, an amputee who used a wheel- chair, and Baguley, a man with schizo- phrenia and other mental illnesses, left them with severe injuries. Both later died. The man apologized while addressing the court in July, as family and support- ers of the victims sat in the gallery. “I’m here to take full responsibil- ity for the pain and suffering that I’ve caused,” he said at the time. “I know that an apology cannot erase the past, but I hope that in time… I can show that I’m working to become a better person, one who acknowledges their wrongs and takes responsibility… I’m not ask- ing for forgiveness, but I do ask for a chance to prove that I’m not the same person that committed these acts.” Details of the killings were laid out at the July hearing, during which law- yers for the Crown and defence argued whether the teen should be sentenced as an adult or a youth. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youths are considered to be of “diminished moral blameworthiness,” compared to adults. To persuade a court to impose an adult sentence, pros- ecutors must successfully “rebut” that presumption and satisfy a judge that a youth sentence isn’t long enough to hold an offender accountable. Court heard the offender and a co-ac- cused, who was 15 at the time, had absconded from their group home in Wolseley early Aug. 22 when they came across Baguley on Main Street, just south of Jarvis Avenue. Security video captured the teens kicking, punching and stomping on the man, pulling down his pants and exposing his genitals and dragging him from the road into a park- ing lot. A then-13-year-old boy and Tristan Moose, now 24, came across the scene and kicked the victim in the body. The 13-year-old later told police they were told by the attackers that Baguley was a “skinner,” which is street slang for a sex criminal. SUPPLIED Marvin William Felix was thrown out of his wheelchair and beaten. He died in hospital. ERIK PINDERA FESTIVAL du Voyageur has denied it can be held legally responsible for the losses of a catering company, after the collapse of a platform at Fort Gibraltar temporarily shuttered the firm’s busi- ness. Gibraltar Dining Corp. alleged in a lawsuit filed in Court of King’s Bench that the city and festival are respon- sible for its lost revenue because it was unable to host events in the space it leases in the fort for months after the collapse on May 31, 2023. The catering company operates in a space within the replica fort leased from Festival du Voyageur. Festival du Voyageur, which operates the fort on land leased from the city, argues it’s not responsible for Gibraltar Dining’s losses. “Festival respectfully submits that the statement of claim as against it be dismissed, with solicitor and own client costs,” reads its statement of defence, filed last week. The elevated walkway along the in- side walls of the fort at the St. Boniface historic site collapsed while Grade 5 students from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School were on a field trip. Twenty-eight people tumbled to the ground from a height of between four and six metres. Seventeen children and one teacher were taken to the Health Sciences Centre for treatment. In its statement of defence, Festival du Voyageur says it and the catering company had discussions about tem- porarily suspending the lease and other payments after the fort was ordered temporarily closed to the public by gov- ernment officials. The parties came to an agreement to suspend the lease in July 2023. In December that year, the festival and the company began negotiating a new agreement to resume regular oper- ations, while “recognizing the impacts to Festival and the plaintiff” during the time the fort was closed to the pub- lic, the festival’s statement of defence claims. The two parties inked a new agree- ment in January 2024. “The 2024 agreement was intended to, and did, resolve all matters between the plaintiff and Festival relating to amounts, if any, payable between the parties arising from the orders prohib- iting public access from May 31, 2023 to Jan. 29, 2024,” reads the festival’s de- fence filing. DEAN PRITCHARD MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS The vacant lot at 634 Portage Ave., once the proposed site of a 21-storey, mixed-use apartment building, is now for sale. KEVIN ROLLASON THURSDAY OCTOBER 30, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS Adult sentence for teen who killed three strangers Youth sentence ‘not long enough’ for random attacks: judge Portage and Furby lot put up for sale for $6.5M Developer scuttles plan to build apartment tower Make everything old new again: councillor A COUNCILLOR wants the city to encourage developers to use old residential buildings instead of demolishing them. Coun. Brian Mayes, who is chair of the civic climate action and resilience committee, said the city repeatedly says “the greenest building is the one that is already standing,” but that doesn’t discourage developers from tearing them down. “We’re trying to keep stuff out of our landfill,” said Mayes, who represents St. Vital, on Wednesday. Mayes said he doesn’t believe zoning policies do enough to promote new uses for buildings. As well, he said recent zoning changes — made so the city could access the federal housing accelerator fund — encourage new development at the expense of older structures. The changes allow property owners to build up to four units, as well as structures up to four storeys, within 800 metres of frequent transit, on all of the city’s housing lots. There is no need for a public hearing. He said it’s why he wants the city to pro- mote “adaptive reuse of existing buildings as an alternative to demolition and disposition in the city landfill.” As well, Mayes said he wants the city to study whether land-use incentives would en- courage the preservation of existing buildings. The motion, which was passed by the Riel community committee Wednesday, will be considered by the property and development committee. — Kevin Rollason Festival denies responsibility for caterer’s losses after fort platform collapse in 2023 SUPPLIED Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, a mother of four, was beaten to death on Aug. 22, 2023. ● SENTENCE, CONTINUED ON B2 ● COLLAPSE, CONTINUED ON B3 ;