New Winnipeg library could be built at shopping mall: proposal

A stack of library books at Winnipeg’s Millennium Library in May 2023. (Charles Lefebvre/CTV News Winnipeg)

A proposal to build a new library at a Winnipeg mall could be moving ahead.

The city’s property and development committee will consider a report recommending they move ahead with a library on the grounds of the Garden City Shopping Centre and enter into a lease agreement with the mall’s owners.

According to the proposal, the library would take over 14,490 square feet of the McPhillips Street mall.

The project stems from a priority in the city’s 2024 budget which called for a new library to be built in Winnipeg’s northwest to serve the area’s growing population. The city set aside $4.7 million for the initiative.

According to the report, there were no city-owned buildings in the Old Kildonan or Mynarski wards that met requirements to build a library in a “high-visibility and readily acceptable location.”

The city then solicited proposals from private partners for a space, with the Garden City Shopping Centre proposal meeting the standards.

If approved, the space would be renovated with the goal of opening the library by fall 2026.

The recommendation will be discussed when the committee meets on May 8.