New sport facility's groundbreaking stumbles on parking lot dispute

Dignitaries broke ground Friday morning for Winnipeg's new Sport For Life Centre.

• Sports training centre to be built in Winnipeg's Exchange District

But the facility faces a challenge from the city before construction work begins.

City planners don't like some of the design for the 200,000 square foot addition to the Pacific Avenue centre in the Exchange District. 

They have concerns about a surface parking lot in the plan and the building's 'connectivity' to the street.

Mayor Brian Bowman attended the groundbreaking event but was reluctant to wade into the issue saying it was a matter before the city's property and planning committee.

Sport Manitoba president Jeff Hnatiuk said he looks forward to making a case for the centre's design when he appears before the committee next week.

"The city have been great supporters of this facility to date and we're very confident that we can work through this and come to a situation that will allow us to move forward with construction on schedule," he said. 

The Sport for Life Centre opened in 2010 in a renovated 100-year-old heritage building on Pacific Avenue.

A 120,000-square-foot addition will go up, housing a training centre which is to be a venue for 2017 Canada Games,