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This article was published 4/2/2015 (2054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman has made good on his promise to review the operations and mandate of the city’s downtown development agency.

Three members of Bowman’s executive policy committee were appointed to a working group Wednesday to review CentreVenture.

Bowman said the working group – Couns. John Orlikow, Janice Lukes and Brian Mayes – will make its first report in 120 days.

The creation of the working group was the result of Bowman’ very public disappointment with CentreVenture’s involvement with a proposed hotel project at 220 Carlton St.

Bowman accused CentreVenture officials of meddling in a convention centre deal for the same site, and said agency officials withheld information from him and other members of council.

CentreVenture’s new CEO Angela Mathieson said she is doing her own review of the agency’s mandate, structure and operations and she welcomes the working group’s review.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES CentreVenture’s new CEO Angela Mathieson said she is doing her own review of the agency’s mandate, structure and operations and she welcomes the working group’s review.

Council directed CentreVenture to conduct a public expression of interest (EOI) for the 220 Carlton Street property – even though the agency has a signed an exclusive deal with True North for development of the site, as part of it’s $100-million project adjacent to the MTS Centre.

Mathieson later told reporters that even though council ordered the EOI to be done immediately, CentreVenture needs clarification on when it’s supposed to take place.

Mathieson would not say what impact an EOI would have on the agency’s deal with True North.

Mathieson provided Bowman and his executive committee with a brief summary of the agency’s 15-year history, stressing that it’s goal is community development and not making real estate deals.

Mathieson told reporters she believes there is still a need for CentreVenture’s involvement in securing private sector investment downtown and helping to spur residential development.

Among the agency’s success stories, Mathieson cited the revival of The Metropolitan Theatre, the conversion of the derelict Avenue Building into a residential building; the Bell Hotel, and the relocation of the United Way into a new building on Main Street north of city hall.

Mathieson said CentreVenture was able to lure $700 million in private sector development to the downtown, increasing the area’s assessed value by $500 million.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca