John Bloomberg sports complex tenant – Winnipeg Free Press

The City of Winnipeg is hoping to find a new tenant for the John Blumberg Complex after Softball Manitoba left the facility last year.

The city said it is seeking proposals to take over the “management, operation and maintenance” of the baseball and soccer complex at 4540 Portage Ave., excluding the parking lot.

Softball Manitoba reneged on a lease it had held for more than 30 years after the city asked the organization to pay $3.2 million for upgrades.

According to executive director Don Klim, a prospective tenant needs to know what expenses they'll incur before signing on the dotted line.

“I definitely put the word 'maintenance' in parentheses because it could be anywhere from one dollar to $3.2 million,” Klim said Wednesday. “When it opened in 1988, it was the best facility in Canada, if not North America. I thought this would solve all our problems and concerns.

“It's sad to see it go this way.”

According to Klim, only six of the seven diamonds have lights and need to be upgraded to LEDs, which is a huge expense. Other areas of the facility in need of repair include the stands and the irrigation system.

“It's more than maintenance,” he said.

“The fields require a lot of work; Gophers have taken over the fields since (the pandemic).”

A city spokeswoman said some improvements have been made to the site since last year.

“This includes replacing the furnace in the main building and upgrading the irrigation system in the playgrounds,” the spokesperson said. “The City typically leases its facilities 'as is' and requires tenants/lessees to undertake any repairs, maintenance or capital works.

“Tenants have opportunities to apply for grant funding for improvements through city grant programs or other public funding.”

Muriel St. John, an Open City Recreation volunteer who helped save the nearby golf course from being sold to developers in 2022, said she's glad the city is looking for a group to lease the site so it can remain a green space. .

“Our mandate is to preserve green space,” St. John said. “Whatever is there, we need to preserve it as a green space.

“We don't want it to be sold and lose that location.”

Number. Evan Duncan, chairman of the city's Community Services Committee, said he was assured there was no threat.

“It's not on the table,” Duncan said.

“We want to preserve as much green space as possible. People want green space.”

Duncan said it's sad how badly the facility has deteriorated.

“This object is very special. It should be a real mainstream thing in the baseball community,” he said.

“For some reason, the capital was not returned to him. It's no secret that I'm a true champion of recreation and leisure. I'm not in favor of taking it off the table (one day) to avoid capitalizing on it.”

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Kevin Rollason
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Kevin Rollason is one of the most versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether covering city hall, the courts, or general reporting, you can count on Rollason to not only answer the 5 Ws—who, what, when, where, and why—but to do so in an engaging and accessible way for readers. .

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