Centre La Vérendrye
Entreprises Riel has always maintained its long-term objective to reduce its reliance on government funding for its operations. In order to do that, we purchased, redeveloped and leased commercial real estate and developed other means of generating revenue. One such property is located at 614, rue Des Meurons and known as the Centre La Vérendrye Center. This facility features 32,000 square feet of leasable commercial space as well as a 16 lane 10-pin bowling center in the basement and a surface parking lot with 167 parking stalls. When we purchased and redeveloped the building in 2001, we had secured a lease for the first Tri-Level Bilingual Services Centre in Canada. The Bilingual Services Centre and the WRHA have now regrettably relocated to the new St-Boniface Access Centre on Goulet Street.
This move was made with a public commitment by the provincial government to backfill the space with the Court of Queen’s Bench bilingual courts. Upon the request of the government, we proceeded to assemble a development team, prepared plans and developed budgets which were submitted to government as requested. Unfortunately back in October 2017, we were advised that the province was no longer honoring their commitment to backfill the space. This has left Entreprises Riel in a very precarious position with 12 000 square feet of space to fill. We have been marketing the property since then but have yet to secure a tenant.
This has had significant impact on our finances and will continue to do so until the space is filled.