Forks housing development breaking ground this summer

Community Connection: Revitalizing Downtown Sara Stasiuk with The Forks North Portage shares about Railside development set to be announced at Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The possibility of living at The Forks is now on the horizon.

The Winnipeg attraction will break ground this summer on Railside at The Forks, a housing development that will allow people to live at the historic site two years from now.

“The Forks has been revitalizing for about 35 years, and we're at this stage now where we're really excited to be welcoming the opportunity for people to live at The Forks,” said Sara Stasiuk, CEO of the Forks North Portage Partnership, which owns and manages the site.

The development will take up a portion of The Forks parking lot, with the first phase seeing 10 buildings constructed.

“They'll be four to six storeys in height and mostly residential, mostly rental,” Stasiuk said. “And then the exciting part, I think, for people is that the main floor will be tons of public space, more of The Forks that we're used to.”

Stasiuk said developing Railside at The Forks is special , and will help revitalize the nearby area.

“The Forks sees about 4 million people a year and that kind of pedestrian activity is really vibrant,” she said. “It makes people really excited. It's a magnet and attracts more people. It attracts businesses, which is jobs, and community wealth. And I think the one missing piece at The Forks is the residential and that'll allow our streets and our plazas to be busy 24/7.”

Watch the full interview with Stasiuk above for more details on the development.

-with files from CTV’s Katherine Dow