The City of Winnipeg is exploring converting a decommissioned hockey arena into a year-round farmer’s market to support local producers and address food insecurity.
A feasibility study on repurposing the Roland Michener Arena, at 1121 Wabasha St. in Transcona, will be discussed by the city’s property and development committee at its meeting on Friday.
The city report says transforming the arena “may be a valuable addition to the neighbourhood,” but structural, electrical and mechanical upgrades would be required, based on the age of the building.
Rezoning would also be required, and creating parking would displace one of two existing baseball diamonds in the area, says the report, which city staff recommend be received as information.
It would cost $5.4 million to $7.9 million to complete the upgrades, the report says.
Coun. Russ Wyatt put forward a motion from the Transcona community committee in June 2023 to transform the arena into a market, saying “Winnipeg needs to position itself as a food supply leader and lessen its dependence on international trade routes” following global supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, more than 60 seasonal farmers’ markets operated throughout the province with 13 operating in Winnipeg, the report says.
Winnipeg doesn’t have a year-round, low-barrier market that allows local producers to sell their goods, says the report. It makes no reference to the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market in south Winnipeg, which operates year-round.
The city closed the Roland Michener Arena in March 2015 and put it up for sale but never found a buyer.
Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Sherri Rollins said Wyatt’s idea to convert the arena is an “interesting project” focusing on food security with an adaptive use of a community space, but it’s not on her list of priorities with respect to capital costs in Winnipeg.
Rollins, who chairs the property and development committee, suspects they’ll simply receive the report as information, but said she’d like to know more about Wyatt’s proposal.
“I expect that Coun. Wyatt would be happy [with the report], because it does provide him the food for thought, so to speak — no pun intended,” Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Sherri Rollins said.