The office tower connected to the new police headquarters will need a huge injection of cash to make it marketable.

The city's finance committee heard from staff Thursday that a study has been started to determine what exactly is needed to upgrade the building and at what cost.

Currently 110,000 of a total of 150,000 square feet of the building is empty. Canada Post is renting a floor of the building and has some space on the main floor. There are also some restaurants operating in the building.

Staff said the city is losing approximately $200,000 a month in lost revenue while the space in the 11 storey building goes un-leased.

The shortcomings of the building didn't become apparent until tenants moved out and city staff got a closer look at the problems, they said.

Costs are also once again rising on Winnipeg's new police headquarters.

Staff said they've gone up by a dollar per square foot.

They said the shared systems between the police headquarters building and the office tower are also making it tough for city to sell.

Chair of the finance committee, Marty Morantz, said the extra costs come at a time when the city's general budget shortfalls are an "enormous, enormous problem" for the city of Winnipeg.