Southwood Circle, located on a former golf course and country club, will sit adjacent to the University of Manitoba and it will be the first urban community development of its kind in Winnipeg.UM Properties/Supplied
A parcel of land brimming with potential lies along part of the 885-kilometre Red River, steps away from the University of Manitoba’s bustling campus. Once a golf and country club, this picturesque site lined with old-growth trees is set to become the new home of Southwood Circle, an urban community development that’s the first of its kind in Winnipeg.
Southwood Circle could bring up to 65,000 people to an area that currently feels isolated from the rest of the city. Despite being Winnipeg’s most-commuted-to destination – drawing around 30,000 students and 9,000 staff daily – the University of Manitoba campus has just 1,650 students living in residence. The area becomes a ghost town when school is not in session, exacerbated by a lack of housing and walkable amenities needed to sustain a thriving community year-round.
Southwood Circle could solve these issues by transforming an area spanning 112 acres into a vibrant neighbourhood complete with a new commercial strip, increased housing and office space, bike and cross-country ski trails, better transit and more than 20 acres of parkland.
Land development for revenue
Developments on university-owned lands increase revenue through tenant leases – a model of increasing interest to institutions, says Hazel Borys, City of Winnipeg’s director of planning, property and development. Universities worldwide, especially those in North America, are seeing enrolment shrink as the larger millennial generation gets older.
“Then we have the extra impact of the international students being constrained because of the lack of affordable housing … so universities in North America are absolutely getting into the land development game,” Ms. Borys says.
The University of Manitoba is embracing this trend with the development of Southwood Circle, a project located on land that the university acquired in 2011. The project’s vision is modeled after similar university-owned developments such as Wesbrook Village by the University of British Columbia, and University District by the University of Calgary.
The University of Manitoba has also launched UM Properties, the developer behind Southwood Circle, as a limited partnership with its own board of directors – the majority of whom must be independent of the institution.
Sustainability plans
Southwood Circle will be Winnipeg’s largest and most-sustainable infill project. In urban planning, infill refers to the redevelopment of open land for new construction within an already-developed area.
“We used existing infrastructure,” says Greg Rogers, chief executive officer of UM Properties. “The intention was that this becomes a community where you don’t need a car. We’re approved for over 11,000 multi-family units, and we’re only adding less than two kilometres of road.”
Sustainability is a core focus, with initiatives aimed at improving transit links to campus and the area’s walkability to reduce car usage and greenhouse gas emissions. The developers are also maintaining more than 5,000 old-growth trees, planting more than 700 new trees and preserving the area’s natural animal habitats.
Mr. Rogers, born in Winnipeg but whose work has taken him all over the world, relished the chance to give back to his hometown and alma mater. “The uniqueness of our natural conditions in a dense urban environment creates a very unique opportunity for people to engage more with Mother Nature,” he says. “We’re really emphasizing that with the health of the forest.”
Mr. Rogers says UM Properties is working with Native Plant Solutions, a division of Ducks Unlimited Canada, which is a non-profit dedicated to preserving wetlands and water habitats, to add native plants to the site’s storm pond to help clean the water.
Indigenous design principles
When it’s complete, Southwood Circle will add a new commercial strip, increased housing and office space, bike and cross-country ski trails, better transit, and more than 20 acres of parkland to a currently isolated area of Winnipeg.UM Properties/Supplied
Rogers and UM Properties brought in Toronto-based architect DIALOG, a firm that also designed the University of Calgary’s master development. Led by partner and chair Antonio Gomez-Palacio, DIALOG listened to the city, university stakeholders, students, staff, Indigenous leaders and local community members to understand their desires for the property.
“We really wanted to bring sensitivity into the process when it came to Indigenous voices,” says Mr. Gomez-Palacio. “Then, during the conversations, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was looking for a location for its archive, and so that also became a significant anchor [and helped] inform the design principles.”
Set to open in 2029, the National Centre of Truth and Reconciliation will be located within Southwood Circle.
While DIALOG created the master plan for Southwood Circle, the firm is no longer involved with the overall design, which is now being led by Anishinaabe architect Ryan Gorrie, principal at BrookMcIlroy in Winnipeg and lead of its Indigenous Design Studio. “For Southwood, design inspirations started with the natural world, what was existing and what we wanted to amplify,” Mr. Gorrie says.
“Conversations with elders in particular helped to focus on it as an opportunity to weave Indigenous knowledges into spaces and infrastructure at a variety of scales, paying special attention to the areas where human interface with the natural environment could signal respect, responsibility and deeper understanding of those beings which support human life.”
Phase one welcomes retail, office tenants
Mr. Rogers says UM Properties will be ready to welcome retail and office tenants in phase one this month. “The servicing of our first phase is done – that’s 3,500 units worth of density, which represents about 28 of the 112 acres in total,” he says. “Our first phase is our most dense and urban phase that’s most adjacent to the university. That creates the nucleus, the highest density urban core of this community.”
Mr. Rogers also says he’s been acting as a “matchmaker” as he curates leases and pairs businesses together. “We’ve been in discussions with grocery stores, pharmacies, banks … we’re looking for places that have a coolness to it,” he says.
While the return on investment for this type of urban community takes longer than for suburban developments, the rewards are longer-lasting, Ms. Borys says.
“You are investing in civic spaces, trees and trails, and really well-done streets. The long-term return on investment is many times over what those faster architecture types of formats are,” she says.
“Southwood Circle is so vital and exciting for Winnipeg on a variety of levels.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the entity UM Properties is working with as Ducks Unlimited. The company is working with Native Plant Solutions, a division of Ducks Unlimited Canada. This version has been updated.