A couple of updates on some Winnipeg projects...



$80-M Nygard project to revitalize Exchange


Fri Apr 15 2005

By Aldo Santin



CLOTHING manufacturer Peter Nygard is partnering with developer Arni Thorsteinson on an $80-million project that will transform a large section of the East Exchange District with covered shopping malls, new office space and hundreds of residential units.
Nygard said the project, dubbed Nygard Village, will likely take several years to complete. "We'll do it one building at a time," Nygard said in an interview from his island compound in the Bahamas.

The first phase in the project is next Friday's opening of Nygard's new retail concept: a 10,000-square-foot Nygard Fashion World, in the former Athlete's Wear location on Market Avenue.

Subsequent components will include a two-block-long covered atrium along the laneway between James Avenue and Market Avenue from Lily Street to Waterfront Drive, which will include shops and restaurants. The project will likely be concluded with the construction of a covered atrium over Market Avenue from Lily Street to Waterfront Drive.

"This is a very exciting development," Thorsteinson said.

Thorsteinson said he credited the decision by former mayor Glen Murray to stage an international design competition for the East Exchange several years ago. He said that inspired developers and designers to consider how the area could be developed.



"Those were just ideas," Thorsteinson said. "This is possible now because of the substantial investment that (Peter) Nygard is making in their property. Now, we'll be working together."

Thorsteinson said that along with Nygard and a couple of other smaller property owners, the group owns all the property east of Lily to Waterfront, between the south side of James to the south side of Market.

Thorsteinson said when completed, the entire project will represent a $70-million to $80-million investment by the development group. This bigger project began with a $10-million plan by Nygard two years ago to convert the former Athlete's Wear site on Market and an adjoining building on James into a mega-retail outlet that would include a fashion museum and some loft residential units. Since then, however, Nygard has been busy buying up five additional properties on the same block. The last piece was the Kern-Hill Furniture Co-op warehouse at James and Bertha Street.

Meanwhile, Thornsteinson had been working with two other area property owners in a bid to get city hall's approval for a major condominium/retail/office development along Waterfront. But when the Thornsteinson group was unsuccessful, they hooked up with Nygard.

Nygard said he's been quietly promoting residential development in the area during the last two years and believes there is a strong demand. He said most of the buildings he and Thorsteinson control are four- and five-storey structures. He said he sees a combination of retail and office space for the first and second floors and residential units for the remaining levels.

The attractiveness of the area, he said, including the heritage buildings, the river and park system, make a comprehensive development a natural progression.

"We want to make a place where people can work, live, shop and play," Nygard said.

Thorsteinson said although three other major condominium projects are under development nearby along Waterfront, those have yet to receive any planning approvals, while he and Nygard are ready to proceed.

"It's a question of when those others go ahead," Thorsteinson said. "Those others are still in the development process. They don't have approvals."

Nygard said one of the liabilities of the East Exchange is a lack of parking, but that will be corrected. Thorsteinson said he's completing plans for the construction of a 300- to 400-stall parking structure that will serve tenants of the new Nygard Village.

Nygard said the retail outlet on Market won't be completely finished when it opens at the end of next week. However, he said it will be completed by the end of the summer. Nygard said he'll be releasing more details on the Nygard Village proposal in four to six weeks.

Thorsteinson is owner and president of Shelter Canadian Properties Ltd., one of the country's largest apartment building management firms with 9,000 units in 40 buildings, in most of which the firm also has an ownership stake. Shelter is also owner or partner in three hotels and two more that are under construction. Thorsteinson also heads up two real-estate investment trusts.


http://winnipegsun.com/Apr15/15win.jpg

A super structure

Fashion mogul to create huge Exchange complex

By KATHLEEN MARTENS, BUSINESS REPORTER


Get ready for a slice of New York life in the heart of Winnipeg. A $70-million to $80-million investment by fashion mogul Peter Nygard and local property developer Arni Thorsteinson will transform the east Exchange District into a lifestyle complex.

"It's where you can live and work and shop all in one place," the architect of Nygard Village said yesterday from his compound in the Bahamas.

Food stalls

Nygard's community would not be out of place in downtown New York City. It includes unique lofts, a Nygard museum, fresh food stalls and a two-block covered retail atrium on what was Elgin Avenue.

There will also be apartment complexes, parking lots and office space built over the next four years between Market and James avenues from Lily to Bertha streets, said Thorsteinson.

"It'll be a substantial investment of $70-million to $80-million," he said.

The first phase -- a clothing store and studio for Nygard Fashion Network -- opens next week in the former Athlete's Wear building on Market.

Nygard, who started his career and ladies fashion empire in Winnipeg, said the seven heritage buildings he has bought offer more than enough raw material to make his vision a reality.

Because architecture is one of his passions, the textile magnate has been advising on all aspects of the project.

"This will be a total cultural centre," he said of the new life the development will breathe into the theatre and museum district. "You could be strolling home, pick up fresh veggies and take a walk in the (waterfront Stephen Juba) park."

The Nygard Museum will tell the rags-to-riches story of Nygard, a Finnish immigrant whose first Canadian home was a small coal shed in the southwestern Manitoba town of Deloraine. The store will showcase the latest designs offered by the global ladies' wear maker.

The work the city has done to build Waterfront Drive and create a climate for revitalization are key elements of the project, said Nygard, noting his plan has expanded in scope since first being revealed last year.

Construction is also taking longer than originally expected. Nygard said the challenge of bringing older structures up to modern standards has contributed to the delay.

But he promised the end result would be worth it.

"There won't be anything like (these lofts) in the city. The brick, the wood ... these structures are being restored to their original beauty."

The cost and sizes of the lofts was not yet available.

Other developers have also expressed interest in getting involved in the development plans, Nygard said.





New face for city
High-tech design wins competition$100M for rights museum

Fri Apr 15 2005

By Paul Samyn and David O'Brien



OTTAWA -- The federal government will announce today it is now prepared to contribute $100 million for the capital costs of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Free Press has learned.

The federal funding, which is key to making the dream of Winnipeg's Asper family a reality, will also come with an announcement that New Mexico architect Antoine Predock has won the international design competition for the signature structure to be built at The Forks.

Predock's design is a complicated architectural and engineering marvel that features a tower rising 100 metres into the sky, nearly as tall as the highrises at Portage and Main.

Some people have had a hard time understanding his unusual design, which is actually carved into the earth before rising on a stone base and dissolving into an abstract array of glass, topped by a soaring spire.

Predock has called it "a symbolic apparition of ice, clouds and stone." The full design will be unveiled today at 10:30 a.m. in a gala announcement at the Centennial Concert Hall before an estimated 1,000 people. The public is welcome to attend.

Senior federal sources say the offer of a further $70 million in federal funding -- which comes on top of $30 million Ottawa has already pledged -- will be tied to the project meeting certain fundraising targets.

"Ottawa is getting closer to the capital (required) with strings attached to make this work," said one source.

Among those strings will be certain conditions regarding the governance model for the museum.


"There is lots of fundraising still required by everyone including the private sector." The new museum would be part of a downtown renaissance that includes an $80-million project detailed yesterday by clothing manufacturer Peter Nygard and developer Arni Thorsteinson. They plan to transform a large section of the East Exchange District with covered shopping malls, new office space and hundreds of residential units.

A host of recent projects are fuelling a rebirth in the city's core. These include the MTS Centre, expansions by Red River College and the University of Winnipeg, a new Manitoba Hydro office tower, construction of the new Millennium Library, and a $25-million office building for the Credit Union Central of Manitoba.

Family patriarch Israel Asper's vision of a human-rights museum comes with a price tag now nearing $300 million, which initially called for Ottawa to provide some $12 million in annual operating funding.

The demand for ongoing operating funding was always a non-starter for the federal government. However, as the Free Press reported last month, Ottawa believes it has found a possible solution by having the Aspers broaden the mandate of the museum to become what is envisaged as an international think-tank on human rights consistent with Prime Minister Paul Martin's ambition of having Canada play a bigger role on the world stage.

Another senior political source said by broadening the mandate, the museum will be able to draw on federal programming dollars from other departments to help cover its bottom line.

Today's announcement, to be made by Treasury Board President Reg Alcock, caps a remarkable year of twists and turns as Asper's family waged a campaign both publicly and privately to lever an additional $70 million from the Martin Liberals.

Project champion

There was no shortage of harsh words back and forth as project champion Gail Asper accused the Liberals of breaking a promise first made by Jean Chrétien as prime minister that Ottawa's $30 million would be an initial down payment on a federal commitment to fund 50 per cent of the project's total costs.

The funding announcement is also another big political win for Alcock (Winnipeg South) and comes just a year after he fought to bring the headquarters of Canada's new Public Health Agency to Winnipeg's federal disease lab. To date, Ottawa has committed $27 million in capital funding plus $2.3 million for developmental costs. Ottawa also paid $700,000 for a feasibility study. Both the province and city hall have each pledged $20 million.

Meanwhile, if all the funding falls into place and assuming an election doesn't throw a wrench into the Aspers' plans, the project could be finished in about five years, according to Gail Asper, chairwoman of the group building the museum.

Predock has developed an international reputation for the wide range of museums, universities, performing arts centres, hotels, libraries and science centres he has built around the world.

One magazine article referred to him as a "desert rat" because the dry, barren expanse and big sky of New Mexico and its aboriginal heritage have had a decisive influence on his work over the years.

"Lessons learned in the American southwest apply anywhere in the world," Predock says on his website, predock.com. "My 'regionalism' is portable."

His design for Winnipeg seems to have incorporated some of those elements, while respecting that the city is a land of ice and snow for a good part of the year.

The concepts of earth, sky, nature, water, light and aboriginal themes are all incorporated.

Visitors will enter the building between symbolic roots of protective stone arms. Those roots, Predock said in an earlier presentation, will also create a framework for ceremonial outdoor events.

The upper portion of the museum is encased in a complicated and abstract array of glass. In Predock's poetic language, the glass is described as "the ephemeral wings of a white dove (embracing) a mythic stone mountain... in the creation of a unifying and timeless landmark for all nations and cultures of the world."

Smith Carter Architects and Engineers of Winnipeg won a secondary competition to work with Predock on the design.

Great news for ol'Peg!!
Beautiful city with some great archeitecture that it has keep't in tacked {unlike Vancouver}. Nice to see the city on the come-back trail.

New face for city
High-tech design wins competition$100M for rights museum

Fri Apr 15 2005

By Paul Samyn and David O'Brien



OTTAWA -- The federal government will announce today it is now prepared to contribute $100 million for the capital costs of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Free Press has learned.

The federal funding, which is key to making the dream of Winnipeg's Asper family a reality, will also come with an announcement that New Mexico architect Antoine Predock has won the international design competition for the signature structure to be built at The Forks.

Predock's design is a complicated architectural and engineering marvel that features a tower rising 100 metres into the sky, nearly as tall as the highrises at Portage and Main.

Some people have had a hard time understanding his unusual design, which is actually carved into the earth before rising on a stone base and dissolving into an abstract array of glass, topped by a soaring spire.

Predock has called it "a symbolic apparition of ice, clouds and stone." The full design will be unveiled today at 10:30 a.m. in a gala announcement at the Centennial Concert Hall before an estimated 1,000 people. The public is welcome to attend.

Senior federal sources say the offer of a further $70 million in federal funding -- which comes on top of $30 million Ottawa has already pledged -- will be tied to the project meeting certain fundraising targets.

"Ottawa is getting closer to the capital (required) with strings attached to make this work," said one source.

Among those strings will be certain conditions regarding the governance model for the museum.


"There is lots of fundraising still required by everyone including the private sector." The new museum would be part of a downtown renaissance that includes an $80-million project detailed yesterday by clothing manufacturer Peter Nygard and developer Arni Thorsteinson. They plan to transform a large section of the East Exchange District with covered shopping malls, new office space and hundreds of residential units.

A host of recent projects are fuelling a rebirth in the city's core. These include the MTS Centre, expansions by Red River College and the University of Winnipeg, a new Manitoba Hydro office tower, construction of the new Millennium Library, and a $25-million office building for the Credit Union Central of Manitoba.

Family patriarch Israel Asper's vision of a human-rights museum comes with a price tag now nearing $300 million, which initially called for Ottawa to provide some $12 million in annual operating funding.

The demand for ongoing operating funding was always a non-starter for the federal government. However, as the Free Press reported last month, Ottawa believes it has found a possible solution by having the Aspers broaden the mandate of the museum to become what is envisaged as an international think-tank on human rights consistent with Prime Minister Paul Martin's ambition of having Canada play a bigger role on the world stage.

Another senior political source said by broadening the mandate, the museum will be able to draw on federal programming dollars from other departments to help cover its bottom line.

Today's announcement, to be made by Treasury Board President Reg Alcock, caps a remarkable year of twists and turns as Asper's family waged a campaign both publicly and privately to lever an additional $70 million from the Martin Liberals.

Project champion

There was no shortage of harsh words back and forth as project champion Gail Asper accused the Liberals of breaking a promise first made by Jean Chrétien as prime minister that Ottawa's $30 million would be an initial down payment on a federal commitment to fund 50 per cent of the project's total costs.

The funding announcement is also another big political win for Alcock (Winnipeg South) and comes just a year after he fought to bring the headquarters of Canada's new Public Health Agency to Winnipeg's federal disease lab. To date, Ottawa has committed $27 million in capital funding plus $2.3 million for developmental costs. Ottawa also paid $700,000 for a feasibility study. Both the province and city hall have each pledged $20 million.

Meanwhile, if all the funding falls into place and assuming an election doesn't throw a wrench into the Aspers' plans, the project could be finished in about five years, according to Gail Asper, chairwoman of the group building the museum.

Predock has developed an international reputation for the wide range of museums, universities, performing arts centres, hotels, libraries and science centres he has built around the world.

One magazine article referred to him as a "desert rat" because the dry, barren expanse and big sky of New Mexico and its aboriginal heritage have had a decisive influence on his work over the years.

"Lessons learned in the American southwest apply anywhere in the world," Predock says on his website, predock.com. "My 'regionalism' is portable."

His design for Winnipeg seems to have incorporated some of those elements, while respecting that the city is a land of ice and snow for a good part of the year.

The concepts of earth, sky, nature, water, light and aboriginal themes are all incorporated.

Visitors will enter the building between symbolic roots of protective stone arms. Those roots, Predock said in an earlier presentation, will also create a framework for ceremonial outdoor events.

The upper portion of the museum is encased in a complicated and abstract array of glass. In Predock's poetic language, the glass is described as "the ephemeral wings of a white dove (embracing) a mythic stone mountain... in the creation of a unifying and timeless landmark for all nations and cultures of the world."

Smith Carter Architects and Engineers of Winnipeg won a secondary competition to work with Predock on the design.
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It looks confusing, strange and ugly on the monitor, Hopefully the real one will turn out better.

Between the Raleigh Apartments on Vaugn/Ellice/Webb Place and the Booth College, construction has begun on a 19 unit industrial-style loft condo building. It looks pretty funky, and is a good step in helping revitalize the area!

I have to admit that today was a pretty good day for Winnipeg developments. Damned good to see though.

Its rare to here news like this in Winnipeg. We still have the Mb Hydro building, airport terminal and new stadium to look out for. Webb place is a great place to see developments to take place. Places of learning do seem to provide a boost in developments in their surrounding areas. (U of W and Booth College in this example). U Manitoba has its own building boom happening. (New engineering complex and the Richardson Centre for neutraceuticals). The exchange district is seeing its own activity. There is also the former Wise Guys building getting an addition. Anyone hear any news on the Union Bank tower lately. Wasn't there a developor who recently planned to convert it into office space-and add a new structure on the King St. side?

I remember hearing that the renos on the Union Bank building would begin in June. I have not heard anything more about the addition behind it though...

We just bought a house on Furby, and our real estate agent said that we should begin seeing many more infils being built in the Spence area/west end. This is great! I also want to see some mixed use structures go up around here (a la Webb Place condos, etc). Sargent and Ellice are so dreary for the most part, as there has not been an infusion of new-builds here.

The Human Rights Museum design is amazing and it will certainly be a prominent landmark. I am so happy that these great projects are happening despite the stupidity that is occuring right now at city hall. Maybe Winnipeg is past the tipping point.

Protest against Waverley West at 11:30 on Monday April 18th at the Legislature.

Whatever happened to the development that was supposed to go up on the west pad of Portage Place? Is it still a go or has it been shelved?

By the way Haber, why protest against Waverley West?

Excuse me, but why is Nygaard opening a mall in winnipeg?

Think of it more as a market than a mall...perhaps you have heard of the Forks in Winnipeg? It is similar to that except if will have residential. As for why...well, his business empire began in Winnipeg, and much of his company is located here, so essentially he is contributing to downtown revitalization. From his website:

The vision is to be the other end of (what is considered) the Forks area. We would like to be the anchor on this side of the river. We’ll call it the Nygård Market Place where we’ll have quaint shops and a marketplace with fresh fruits, meats, bakeries and a barber shop,” he said. “Bring it back to the good old days in the 50s and 60s. We want to give it a country culture and bring it back to the way life was back then. It’s a beautiful walk along the river from the Forks to here. There are all kinds of nice buildings, discotheques and restaurants here.”

Nygård Market Square will also feature a fashion museum showcasing different clothing from the past five decades, the evolution of sewing equipment and other fashion-related memorabilia.


Last night on Global News, reference was made to the Portage Place development, although no date. Shelter Canadian's website reveals next year (2006)....

http://www.scpl.com/news_releases/February%207%202005%20.pdf

What's Waverly West and why should people be demonstrating against it?

It is a massive subdivision being planned for southwest Winnipeg, just at the outskirts of the city. Well, on one hand, developers are bitching because the city is running out of lots, but on the other, there are many lots spread across the city--just not in one area where developers make the most money!

What's Waverly West and why should people be demonstrating against it?
A huge development planned for southwest Winnipeg. At full build-out it will have about 13,000 homes and 50,000 people.

Currently the south end of Winnipeg is the fastest growing area and the south-west in particular. The problem is that we are almost out of building lots in that section. Apparently we have about a year's supply if not less. Winnipeg started growing again and nobody actually thought we'd need this by now so we're in a pickle.
Some people argue that there are lots all across the city that should be developed. That's fine except that people aren't going to choose another area of the city to build their lot if they can't get what they want...they'll go elsewhere. In Winnipeg's case, elsewhere is outside the city boundaries. Ergo, neighbouring municipalities will grow and we in the city will lose out on the tax revenue we so desperately need.

Other people argue that this is just more urban sprawl. Well, it's not exactly. The densities planned for this development are greater than the current city average so as these things go, it certainly isn't sprawl the way we have come to think of it.
Lastly, this wouldn't even be an issue if the city had just approved the develoment piece-meal style instead of announcing this vast new suburb. In other words, if the city had simply approved one small development at a time (as opposed to announcing a giant master-planned extension of the city) nobody would have thought much about it IMO.

As it stands right now my only concern with this proposed suburb is that there will be legitimate concerns regarding traffic volumes.As it stands right now the area is already notorious in the city for it's horrendous traffic but some of the problem is being alleviated with an over-pass soon to be constructed over a busy section of railway.

New houses may push out Hells Angels
Neighbours hope development means biker clubhouse will go

Mon Apr 18 2005

By Bruce Owen



NEIGHBOURS hope that surrounding the Hells Angels gated compound with 245 new homes and a new school will accomplish what law enforcement hasn't -- make the bikers want to shut their clubhouse.
Developers plan to build on vacant lots around the clubhouse and Seven Oaks School Division is building a new high school to accommodate up to 800 students.

If everything is approved -- a public meeting is scheduled Wednesday -- the shovels should be in the ground in a year.

The new 72-acre development is called River Ridge. It will also see Scotia Avenue extended to Ridgecrest Avenue and a river-trail system built that links the neighbourhood to Kildonan Park.

What it means for the Hells Angels is a complete loss of privacy.

"We'd like to see them gone," Lombard North Group Ltd. spokesman David Palubeski said yesterday. "It'll make it easier for us to sell houses." The developers are Green View Homes of Calgary and Coral Reef Homes of Winnipeg.

Residents who live near the gated Hells Angels compound at 2679 Scotia Ave. said they're ecstatic with the developers' plans.

"We're delighted," one resident said. "It can't happen soon enough. We hope it encourages our 'neighbours' to leave."

The residents said they routinely complain to police about late-night noise generated by the Hells Angels, local driveways and lawns used as an overflow parking lot and the threat to their safety.

One resident said the bikers recently hired a front-end loader to remove snow from the street in the middle of the night, keeping everyone awake.

Seven Oaks School Division superintendent Brian O'Leary said the new 95,000-square-foot high school will be built just north of Kildonan Community Church at 2373 Main St. It will replace West Kildonan Collegiate, several blocks south. There is also a plan to build a new elementary school nearby.

O'Leary said the Hells Angels clubhouse just doesn't fit in with plans for the area.

"There will be 15 to 20 homes built with their decks overlooking their clubhouse," he said.

The new school and development, plus a new Red River Community Club across the street, will completely change the face of north Main Street, Palubeski said.

New retail space, and perhaps low-level apartment blocks, will be linked by pathways to the school and homes, he said.

"We want to balance the use of automobiles," he added. "We want people to get out and walk. We're trying to create a village."

Plans for River Ridge will be unveiled at a public open house Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Riverbend School Library, 123 Red River Blvd. West.

City of Winnipeg planner David Marsh said anyone can participate, including the Hells Angels.

"All landowners within the plan, we need to take into account their land," he said. The Hells Angels bought the property in mid-2001 and unveiled it as their clubhouse Dec. 15 that year. It's used for club meetings and to stage parties when gang members visit from out of province.

The Hells Angels have kept a low profile for the most part and have tried to get along with neighbours, but local residents say the threat they pose is too great.

"There are children who can't play on the front street anymore," another resident said.

The assessment for the nine-room, 2,865-square-foot custom bungalow jumped to $214,000 from $190,900 in the recent property re-evaluation.

The registered owner of the clubhouse -- he's not a Hells Angels member, but is described as a sympathizer -- was unavailable for comment.

Residents have complained that the value of their homes plummeted more than 20 per cent when the Hells Angels moved into the neighbourhood.

They said people are afraid to sell their homes because they'll lose money and also because the homes could be snapped up by other Hells Angels sympathizers, so the bikers can expand their compound.





Mon, April 18, 2005


Makeover madness?

Main Street hotel bans booze, focuses on healing

By ROCHELLE SQUIRES, STAFF REPORTER




It's been an extreme makeover for a notorious Main Street hotel. Young artists and musicians, elder spiritual guides and sundance chiefs are replacing the crack addicts and glue sniffers that used to loiter in the 115-year-old barroom at the New Occidental Hotel, said owner Richard Walls.

"We're really overstepping our bounds in what a hotel does," said Walls, who bought the hotel in November 2002 with a dream of turning it into a clean-living artists' village, a social club and spiritual healing centre.

"We're trying to heal the wounds of the past generations.

It will be a cultural learning experience -- a place where elders will give guidance, we'll have prayer ceremonies."

The new inn has been renamed The Red Road Lodge, which means drug and alcohol free in certain aboriginal cultures.

'MULTI-CULTURAL PLACE'

It will be completely booze-free by the end of the month, with the exception of a licence for special banquets, said Wall.

"We've done a series of dry runs while figuring out what to do with the space," said Walls, who is confident most patrons are ready for a complete booze ban.

The new owner wants people from all cultures, religions, races and ethnic backgrounds to feel welcome at the lodge.

"I want this to be a multi-cultural place and to get rid of the 'us versus them' stigma," he said.

The making of the new lodge has not been easy or cheap for Walls, who has invested more than $500,000 and nearly two years of time into the Main Street makeover.

"We're showing that there is an alternative to the street, but unfortunately it's not very profitable," he said.

"But somebody had to do it."

Walls said earning money on his investment with the Main Street hotel is not his primary concern.

"I'm a survivor, and money has never been that important to me. I don't get joy from looking at a stock certificate. But here, I have a real sense of satisfaction," said Walls, adding the opportunity to change someone's life is more important to him than making money.

Patrick Ross, a young artist who uses the multi-purpose room at the lodge to do his paintings, said the new lodge is having a positive impact on his life.

"It's a place to hang out where you don't have to worry about people doing drugs," said Ross.

But keeping the drug dealers away from the building continues to be a challenge for the resident gatekeeper.

"The crackheads come and spit at me, the loan sharks come in on welfare day looking for money from poor people," said Lee Holleron.

"They're not very happy when I ask me to leave."

So far, the lodge has received about $500,000 from the government under affordable housing initiatives to support the 50-plus suites, which offer short and long term housing for people.

Walls and Holleron both hope the transformation of a booze-filled watering hole to a place of healing and growth will continue to flourish.

"We're just getting started. There will be more announcements to come," said Walls.

Okay, so in terms of actual development happenings, what's going on?

Hydro Tower is for sure. Nygard is more or less in the bag. Waterfront drive buildings should start this summer. New museum is getting closer and appears to be on track. Airport terminal is a go. New residential in St. Boniface (two towers) are certain (one is already starting the site prep) Looks like some activity in Fort Rouge near the Village. Tons of re-development for the Exchange and picking up. There's bound to be more but that's all I can think of right now.

What I really want to know about though is what is coming down the pike. Any plans of larger scale projects (like the West Pad of Portage Place for instance) ? Seems like there have got to be a lot more people planning developments that haven't been disclosed to the public yet. Just wondering if anybody has any word on that sort of thing.

Concerning the proposed pedestrian village along Spence, I emailed Jennifer Ratray about it, and the last I heard was that they were going to apply to the city on Feb 28 for the restriction of traffic along Spence...if that was allowed, they were going to go back to the community and the campus with various designs for feedback, etc. I will email her again...

I also emailed the west end biz about the transformation of Sargent into the Portugese-style village, but I have not heard back....

Just heard from Jen Ratray--they are still waiting for city approval! I hope this happens!

It appears the Aspers have bought the rest of Canwest Global Tower and the adjoining properties that go with it. Apparently they say there is more to come and it's 'exciting'. Anyone know what they have planned?

City lab doubling disease fighters
$20-M expansion will house 300 new experts

Thu Apr 21 2005

By Paul Samyn



OTTAWA -- The federal government is preparing to add 300 scientists and support workers to Winnipeg's federal disease lab and house them in a $20-million, eight-storey expansion to be built next door.
The expansion will double the number of people working in public health at the Arlington Street lab and is seen as key to strengthening the command and control centre for the country's defence system against infectious diseases.

"What we want to do over time is increase the capacity there, not just in terms of infectious disease, but also in terms of broad public health and we will need space to do that," Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said in an interview yesterday.

"There is no question about the commitment to Winnipeg as the headquarters and the base for the chief medical officer and that capacity needs to increase," he said.

As the man in charge of creating Canada's public health agency, Butler-Jones has been readying a multi-year plan for the country's only Level 4 (highest protection) lab as well as identifying and freezing vacant staff positions within Health Canada that can then be used for hiring scientists, administrators and other experts in Winnipeg.

Beyond the new office space proposed as an eight-storey structure, there is also a plan for a fourth pod of Level 4 space at the downtown facility. The office expansion is far beyond the drawing board and has already passed several government hurdles as it moves through the capital approval process.

Terry Duguid, president of the International Centre for Infectious Diseases, said the new office building is critical to unlocking the city's economic future.

"This is a realization of the vision of CDC North as we are finally seeing bricks and mortar, which will make this a reality," said Duguid.

"This is a tangible demonstration of that commitment and it will kick-start BioMed City's development."

BioMed City is being planned for land between the National Microbiology Laboratories on Arlington Street and the Health Sciences Centre on William Avenue. As envisaged by its proponents, BioMed City would be a campus crammed with public and private investment, all geared to the research, development, commercialization and training needed for bio-medical industries.

The centrepiece of BioMed City is the International Centre for Infectious Diseases, which began in Winnipeg in the past year and is trying to drum up public and private investment in vaccine research and development, and commercialization. Duguid said the arrival of the additional scientific staff will create a "virtuous circle" that will result in further high-paying jobs landing in the city.

"This is going to bring talent to our city and knowledge workers that are going to help build the knowledge economy in Winnipeg," said Duguid.

"Not only will we be attracting people, we will also be retaining our young people so that those who are talented won't have to leave the province to get a high-paying job."

About 300 scientists and other staff are already employed in public health at the lab, which includes the Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Microbiology Laboratory. An additional 200 employees are part of Agriculture Canada's research facility at the site.

It was nearly one year ago that Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that Winnipeg had won the bidding war to become the Canadian version of the world-renowned Atlanta Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

However, there have long been concerns that senior bureaucrats in Health Canada and elsewhere within the federal government never fully bought into Martin's vision to have Winnipeg's disease lab serve as the command and control centre for the new agency.

The expansion plans Butler-Jones is successfully pushing through the system should put an end to any talk within Ottawa that Winnipeg won't be running the public health show.

The National Microbiology Laboratory earlier this month was credited with helping avert a flu pandemic by discovering that labs around the world were sent unlabelled samples of an influenza virus that could have sparked the next global health catastrophe.

In February, the lab officially unveiled its $3-million crisis room that will be the nerve centre that plots, plans and co-ordinates Canada's response to the next contagious-disease outbreak.

that museum has got to be one of the UGLIEST things i have ever seen..

The museum design is awesome. It's better than the shoeboxes and the other one is nothing special.
Also, the business about not enough lots in the city is ridiculous. The developers and homebuilders want it because they want to have continued business. They don't care if Winnipeg is growing. They would like it if we had a disposable home economy.

The museum design is awesome. It's better than the shoeboxes and the other one is nothing special.
Also, the business about not enough lots in the city is ridiculous. The developers and homebuilders want it because they want to have continued business. They don't care if Winnipeg is growing. They would like it if we had a disposable home economy.
No, you're right that there are lots in the city. But people don't want to buy them. That's the point of this development. People don't choose to live in Transcona if they can't build in Linden Woods...they build in Pritchard Farm Properties. If we in the city don't give them the areas to develop you can rest assured that Niverville or St. Adolph will. Don't blame the developers, they're out to make a buck alright but they also happen to be right.

The key is to keep our young people here, while attracting professionals who will, in turn, choose the urban lifestyle. Calgary, for instance, has lots of suburban developments, but lots of downtown developments as well. The two can co-exist, but, again, we need the influx of more people for demand...and I think we are on that road...

I can agree with that wholeheartedly. I'm just saying though that until attitudes have changed we have to go with the flow on this. If we limit peoples' options they aren't going to just shrug their shoulders and settle. They'll get what they want one way or another. Most people want to build in South West Winnipeg. Since that IS the case, we aren't doing ourselves any favours by trying to convince them that what they really want is a condo in the exchange or a bungalow in Amber Trails. It's wasted opportunity if we don't build Waverley West.

Condo project fits small space downtown


Sat Apr 23 2005

By David O'Brien



THEY said it couldn't be done.
Take a 50-foot-wide parking lot sandwiched between two buildings and construct seven condominium units that could be sold profitably for about $130,000 each.

Yesterday, work began on the loft-style condo development at 443 Webb Place, the first new housing construction in downtown Winnipeg in nearly 20 years.

The development is a "pioneer project" of the North Portage Development Corp., which wanted to demonstrate the potential in tiny downtown spaces, according to Steve Cohlmeyer, the project's architect.

"A lot of people looked at that site and didn't think it could be done. The space was too narrow, the location was wrong, all that kind of stuff. But we showed it could be done and for a profit," Cohlmeyer said.

(The North Portage Development Corp. is responsible for development on the north side of Portage and managed the development of Portage Place mall and the apartment towers behind it. The corporation is owned by the three levels of government.) The lot is just 50 feet wide and 130 feet deep, but a new driveway will be built between Webb Place and Ellice Avenue, leaving only 25 feet of frontage to build the new condo complex, to be called Webbsite.

"This will set a new trend for what kind of things can be built in tight spots," said Jim August, CEO of the development corporation.

August said the corporation was looking at similar downtown locations that could be developed, but added he hoped the private sector would be inspired to take the lead.

He said deposits have already been made on four units, leaving just three to sell. They should be ready for occupancy before the end of the year, he added.

The condos range in price from $129,000 to about $145,000, August said, noting the corporation will turn a profit at those prices.

The complex is located between the Salvation Army's Catherine Booth College and the Raleigh Apartments, across the street from the redeveloped Isbister School on Vaughan Street and the expanded National Research Council complex on Ellice. Each condo will be two storeys with individual ground-level entrances, and room for four parking stalls in front, with extra parking available in the parkade below Portage Place.

They range in size from 825 square feet to over 1,200 square feet, but the inventive design means buyers can purchase adjacent "flex space" for expanded living.

The spacious, open concept features ceilings that are 18 feet high, with 15-foot-tall windows. Each unit will have a porch or patio.

Cohlmeyer said there will even be a small park on land adjacent to the Raleigh Apartments.

"It will be a true little neighbourhood," he said.

The condos are being sold by Bruce Harvey of RE/MAX.

Some downtown buildings have been converted to condos, but Harvey said the Webb Place development is the first time condominiums have been built from the ground up.

A series of new condo developments is planned for Waterfront Drive, but work has not yet begun.

If you are going to expand sub-divisions, at least this is a good start....

The future was here
Qualico puts Old World Charm in modern subdivision

Sun Apr 24 2005

By Gloria Taylor



ONE of the city's largest builders is bringing a bit of old-world charm to a modern subdivision.
Qualico Homes decided to go retro when it planned Lyonsgate Cove in River Park South, a crescent-shaped 17-home cove in the south-Winnipeg.

"All the homes will have some stone or brick on them to bring back that old feeling, and all the houses will have shutters," said Ken Braun, of Qualico Homes, speaking about some of the architectural guidelines for the street and the houses that have been designed around an 'old world' or heritage theme.

Winnipeggers can get an early glimpse at the general style through touring the first show home that Qualico has opened on the cove -- a 1,906-square-foot two-storey at 67 Lyonsgate Cove.

Opened for daily viewing during the Parade of Homes which ended March 26, the display home is now open to the public on the weekends from noon to 5 p.m. and from Monday to Thursday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

"That whole street will be quite unique when it's completed," said Braun. Although the style will have unifying elements, buyers will be able to choose from a mix of two-storey styles and bungalows. Porches or peaked structures over the front entrance will define each of the houses, and each will feature siding rather than stucco, and shutters on the windows. "So, what you're doing is bringing a lot of colour to the street," says Braun. "Stucco over the past few years has been really strong, but we want to bring the colour back."

And while some of homes don't lend themselves to a full veranda, "they will still have a covered entryway," he adds. Others will feature a full veranda.

Braun said the company evoked the warmth and charm of an earlier era to appeal to today's buyers.

"Any articles you read since 9/11 show people are spending more time in their homes, and this is sort of maybe taking you back to years ago. They want that warmth and that secure feeling. . . once it's complete, I think we're going to be able to reproduce this feel in other areas." Streetscaping in the cove will include coach-style light standards as a unifying feature, while the lots start at $48,000.

On the main floor of the show home can be found the great room, dining room or den, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. The upper floor contains the master bedroom and en suite, two secondary bedrooms, a linen closet and a bathroom.

The house sells for a base price of $164,000 but the show home can be purchased for $259,092 including the lot. The plan features a covered entry, and inside, a decor that includes dramatic green tones and some yellow-toned walls. All are highlighted by white baseboards and doors. A built-in entertainment centre with deep shelves has been constructed around the gas fireplace in the great room providing a focal point for the room. The fireplace hearth and fireplace surround are constructed of stone.

The kitchen contains an island and is open to the dining room -- a space that is defined by pillars rather than walls. The company calls the room flex space, and it's an area that can be used for either a formal dining room, den or home office.

A walk in pantry, halogen track lighting and green toned counters are some of the other amenities found in the kitchen.

Hardwood floors flow throughout most of the main floor, while neutral carpeting can be found on the second level. The lower level has been insulated but not drywalled.

Meanwhile, a White-Rodgers 5-Day, 2-Day Single Stage Digital Thermostat will allow homeowners to custom program different temperatures for the week days and the weekends.

Braun said houses in the cove will start at $200,000 including the lot. The lots range from 38 feet to 40 feet wide and include some pie shaped lots. Braun said the location is ideal for families given the proximity to schools, community centres and shopping.

"In that area, every builder gives a donation to the Dakota Community Centre," he said, adding that the development is a short drive away from the St. Vital Shopping Centre.

Qualico is set to open the final phase of River Park South next year.

Qualico is set to open the final phase of River Park South next year.
Final phase? That must be a pretty big phase because it would bring the development all the the way up to the Perimeter from St. Mary's to St. Anne's.

Way to go Peg!!!!
Great city. It's nice to see Manitoba on the move again. According to StatsCan, Manitoba grew by 0.8% last year compared to BC's 0.9%, Ontario's 1.1%, and Alberta 1.4%. Alberta gets all the attention but Manitoba is right up there.
BTW, I thought it was the northern burbs that were growing the quickiest, ie West & East St.Paul?

^Nah, it's South Winnipeg that dominates. Outside of the city though, yeah, that's pretty much it like you said.

Don't ever confuse sprawl with progress. You don't need to sprawl in order to get population growth. Winnipeg needs to start growing up now and become more densely populated. The fact is while one quarter of Winnipeg has been sprawling the other three quarters has been decaying. Just look at the North End, St. James, the West End and Elmwood. Instead of sprawling, we should be renewing the inner city and downtown as well as redeveloping brownfield sites like Point Douglas and East St. Boniface.

^I agree %100 with what you say. In fact, if it were up to me we'd have high density zones spread throughout the city. But it's tough to get a high-rise built in Fort Rouge even now thanks to NIMBY's.

Part of the problem is a lack of vision. Just look at how long its taking to get shovels in the ground on Waterfront drive...it doesn't really make much sense to me. Not only are the units spoken for, they could build ten times the amount planned and still fill them up I figure. Any river front property could be a sold out residential highrise in this city if somebody would build it or the NIMBY's would allow it to get built. Look at the trouble we had with that 500 Tache lot for instance. Goulet would be a canyon now if plans had been allowed to go to fruition.

As far as Waverley West goes, it's simply the market. People aren't going to buy a home in Elmwood because they can't get one in Linden Woods. It's just not going to happen. And if we don't allow WW to go ahead then we can say ciao to the tax revenue because the buyer is going to build somewhere else (probably outside of the city) WW is already planned to have higher densities than the city average. I see no problem with this. There's no reason to kiss that revenue goodbye IMO. In fact, there's no reason we can't build WW and increase the density in this city at the same time. After all, we're talking about two different demographics here anyway.

Winnipeg will never have the highrise condos like Tor/Van or even Calgary. Why? Because much of the reason people live in them is due to cost.
A 450sq ft condo in downtown Vancouver is 150-200k. Its not that people like living in broom closets its just thats all they can afford.
Winnipeg could build downtown density with things like low-rises, rowhouses. Great infill and a lot less alienating that all the glass boxes and would fit inn more with Winnipeg's older architecture.

i think its an icredibly futuristic looking building i love it

Yes, I think so too. A beautiful and truly striking design...a real gem.

Winnipeg will never have the highrise condos like Tor/Van or even Calgary. Why? Because much of the reason people live in them is due to cost.
A 450sq ft condo in downtown Vancouver is 150-200k. Its not that people like living in broom closets its just thats all they can afford.
Winnipeg could build downtown density with things like low-rises, rowhouses. Great infill and a lot less alienating that all the glass boxes and would fit inn more with Winnipeg's older architecture.
No, I agree that the demand for those kinds of developments simply isn't there. But six to ten storey buildings are reasonable IMO. At least in certain areas.

I think that these Nimby attitudes towards high-rises can be changed. We need to make Winnipeg a desirable and exciting place to live. Nimby's can be avoided if their property rights are clear to them. I would love it if we had highrise development like in Vancouver. Certainly there is no Nimby excuse when redeveloping brownfield sites.

vancouver has a lot of highrises, problem is they all look the same, or atleast the new ones do. Also Vancouver has a habit of tearing down any building over 20 years old.
A city with little appreciation for its heritage.

After struggling to find the financing, the U of W has finally purchased the Holiday Inn Downtown, and will transform it into student residences! Hopefully this will kick off the area's revitalization...namely the Spence Street development!!!

After struggling to find the financing, the U of W has finally purchased the Holiday Inn Downtown, and will transform it into student residences! Hopefully this will kick off the area's revitalization...namely the Spence Street development!!!
Whoa! What's that? Which Holiday Inn are we talking about here? You mean the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza? That's great for a number of reasons (if that's the case) but more to the point....where is the Holiday Inn going to go?

Sorry, just wondering if you could provide some more details.

The "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza" has not existed for 10 years...the hotel you are thinking of, which used to be that, then "Crowne Plaza", is now the Delta on St. Mary Ave. The Holiday Inn is the former Travelodge at Portage and Colony. My partner works for the company that owns it, and the hotel is not performing, so they put it up for sale about half a year ago. The main contender was the U of W, as it wants/needs student residences; however, they were unable to get the financing, but they have secured it now, so they purchased it.



'Unique community' eyed for west side
One of few projects outside Perimeter

Wed Apr 27 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



CONSTRUCTION could start this fall on the first major housing project in the city's far west end in more than a decade and one of the few city projects to be built outside the Perimeter Highway.
Developers have amassed 90 acres of riverfront land located just across the TransCanada Highway from the Red River Ex grounds and the Pointe West Autopark.

They plan to build as many as 146 single-family homes while also preserving the land's rolling terrain, tree stands and wetlands.

"We're trying to make this a unique community, not just another residential subdivision," said Jeoff Chipman, president of Longboat Capital, the real estate division of Megill-Stephenson.

The city's west side has had a dearth of development over the last decade. St. Charles Coun. Peter De Smedt said the last time his ward saw a housing project of any size was in about 1993, when an old school was bulldozed to make way for about 40 new homes. Since then, most new building has been in south Winnipeg.


The Chipman development is also one of the first past the Perimeter, long considered the de facto limit of the city. Richmond Lakes in south St. Norbert is the only other city housing development outside the ring road.

Asked whether it makes sense to allow the city to sprawl past the Perimeter, De Smedt said there is scant land available for housing, especially in his ward.

And, he noted, the city's long-term planning blueprint has long listed the land as open for development.

The Chipmans, who run Birchwood Automotive, have owned part of the land for years and recently bought a chunk from the city and some from a nearby cemetery to assemble the current parcel.

One hitch might be road access into the neighbourhood, since federal highways officials are reluctant to let new streets be built off the TransCanada or the Perimeter Highway. That makes Camp Manitou Road, which belongs to the Rural Municipality of Headingley, the logical access into the neighbourhood. The developers are working with the RM, but Chipman said normally developers foot at least part of the bill for road improvements.

The neighbourhood is still in the concept phase, and a formal development application won't likely arrive at City Hall until the end of the month. That kicks off a process of rezoning hearings and land subdivision that will likely take most of the summer. Chipman said they hope to begin work on servicing the land with water and sewer pipes in the fall.

The neighbourhood might also be home to more than single-family homes. The developers are exploring the possibility of building some seniors' condos or bungalows.






More on hotel developments...this is great:

Facelift for the Viscount
$15-M addition, apartments coming at landmark hotel

Wed Apr 27 2005

By Martin Cash



THE Viscount Gort Hotel, a Portage Avenue institution that often seemed like a throwback to another era, will undergo a major facelift, adding meeting space, a sleek, modern look and eventually 72 rental apartments.
The 135-room hotel will start construction this year on a $15-million-plus addition that will give the property 15,000 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities as well as a large atrium and winter garden and a fitness facility and spa.

The hotel's owner, colourful Winnipeg entrepreneur Phil Kives, said that pending finalization of zoning and other details, the expansion will eventually also include 72 one- and two-bedroom furnished and unfurnished apartments on six floors. It is a feature that could set the property apart from the crowd even after some believed the Viscount Gort was at risk of being overtaken by the competition.

"The competition has competition, but I don't have competition," Kives said. "The hotel scene in Winnipeg may be a little over-built, but I have a good location across from Polo Park and good people running the property."

The 60,000-square-foot addition and renovations -- all 135 rooms will be getting a facelift beginning immediately -- will re-orient the hotel along Portage Avenue shifting the main entrance of the hotel to the east of where it is now. Traffic will be re-routed to the east side of the building where the new construction will take place.

The addition has been made possible because after 30 years of trying, Kives -- who still operates K-Tel Records as well as breeding race horses, 15 of which are currently at tracks in Winnipeg and Toronto -- finally succeeded in buying the one-storey retail building immediately to the east of the hotel that most recently was the site of a Norm'n Nate's Delicatessen. "I know I overpaid for the building, but what are you going to do," he said.

He also bought the abandoned CN tracks south of Portage Avenue and Jet Interior-Exterior Car Wash on St. James Street south. (Jet's former owner, Greg Vermeullen, will continue to operate that business.) He said the total package of land totalled about $2.5 million.

Without the land acquisition, the hotel was confined to the somewhat-awkward location up against Route 90. The newly acquired building will be demolished in the coming weeks and the hotel's new addition will be erected on that site.

"This is a comprehensive, dynamic new development," said the project's architect, Terry Cristall from Number 10 Architectural Group. "The change of orientation for the hotel will not be insignificant."

Jim Baker, executive director of the Manitoba Hotel Association, said that the last thing the city needs is more hotel rooms, but the process of redeveloping a property like the Viscount Gort can sometimes grow the pie.

"We're really pushing the limits in Winnipeg right now," Baker said. "Occupancy rates are not great and any more rooms would just make it more difficult. We don't need more hotel rooms, what we need are more people visiting Winnipeg." But he said hotel properties look at what they have to sell and the Viscount has a great location, loyal customers and a good base of business and a solid staff. However, it really needed more amenities to better service business needs.

"Phil is an entrepreneur and this is a very competitive business," Baker said. "Hotels may make $1 million per year and every eight years they have to invest another $10 million to upgrade them."

Baker said the rental apartment component is becoming a more popular part of hotel properties.

"There is a real need for that type of service," Baker said. "It provides the property with a lot more flexibility."

Transforming the Holiday Inn sounds like a great idea. U. of Winnipeg is a cute little school. They should try to expand it more in MHO because of it great location.
U. of Manitoba is in god's country.

2,000 new suites for city
B.C. developer cites construction cost, not eased rent controls

Fri Apr 29 2005

By Murray McNeill





A British Columbia developer plans to build another 2,000 apartment units in Winnipeg during the next five years, but it's not because the province is promising relief from rent controls, an official with the company said yesterday.
"It doesn't make any difference," Kris Mailman, owner and CEO of Broadstreet Properties Ltd., said of the provincial government's plans to give the owners of new rental units an additional five-year holiday from rent controls.

New units are currently exempt from rent controls for the first 15 years, but the government introduced legislation Wednesday that raises the exemption to 20 years in the hopes it will spur construction of more units.

However, Mailman said it's construction costs, not rent controls, that determine whether new rental units get built. Because Broadstreet does all its own construction and uses wood-frame construction rather than the more costly masonry construction, it's able to keep its costs low enough to make it economically feasible to build new rental units in Winnipeg, he explained.

The Campbell River-based firm has built 554 new one- and two-bedroom apartments in Winnipeg in the last two years and Mailman said the plan is to built another 400 or so per year for each of the next five years.

He said that with an overall vacancy rate of only 1.1 per cent in Winnipeg, the company has had no difficulty finding tenants for its new apartments. He said all 351 suites in its seven-building development on Leila Avenue are now leased, and all but 34 of the 203 units in its new four-building development on Quail Ridge Road are leased. Broadstreet has been far and away the most active developer in the residential rental market in Winnipeg in recent years.

According to the latest rental market survey by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., there were only 246 new rental units built in Winnipeg between 1996 and last spring.

Dianne Himbeault, CMHC's senior market analyst for Manitoba, said most of the new Broadstreet units would not have been included in that total, so clearly there hasn't been a lot of other new apartment construction going on in the city in the last 10 years.

Like Mailman, Himbeault said she doesn't think extending the rent-control holiday by another five years will, by itself, lead to a surge in new rental-unit construction.

"There are a lot of other factors besides rent controls that are hindering new construction," she said. "Certainly it would help the business decision, but it's just one piece of the puzzle."

She agreed construction costs are a big part of the decision-making process for most developers and investors. Return on investment is another, and the dearth of new rental-unit construction across Canada in recent years indicates many investors feel they are better off investing in something else besides new rental properties. Bob Shaer, president of A.S.H. Management Group Ltd. and a former president of the Professional Property Managers Association, said in an interview the main reason more new rental units aren't being built is because with the high cost of new construction it's difficult for developers and property managers to keep rental rates for new units low enough to compete with the artificially low rates being charged for most existing units.

Shaer said doing away with rent controls would allow rents on existing units to rise to more appropriate levels, making new units more price-competitive and, therefore, more feasible.

Finance Minister Greg Selinger said earlier this month the province won't abolish rent controls because seniors and other low-income earners can't afford to pay substantially higher rents.

Shaer agreed, but said one of the ways to address that problem is for governments to provide more financial assistance to low-income earners so they can afford higher rents. Another is to provide government grants to the private sector to rehabilitate more run-down rental properties.

I don't know if rent controls are a good or a bad thing in the big picture. Seems like both sides have a point but the solution is the one that was mentioned : Kill rent controls and have the province create or subsidize the people in need. The way it is now, the government gets to have it's cake and eat it too. It puts the financial burden on the property owners themselves to essentially subsidize apartments. From a short term perspective this seems like a good idea as far as renters are concerned. In the long term however it's obvious that the private owners become less and less able to earn a profit and you end up with what we've got right now : Not enough new construction and existing units in varying states of disrepair. Kill the rent controls and eventually the market will adjust itself accordingy. Sooner or later things will even out. More importantly IMO however is that the longer rent controls are in place the greater the disparity between the market value of a rental property and the actual rent of a given property. This is basically a lion that the government is riding and they will not be able to jump off of it if the time ever comes.

In other news:
Looks like there will be even more new housing going up in South Winnipeg. Qualico has been granted approval to build a new 3000 home subdivision in south-east Winnipeg. Along with that they have also moved forward in finishing Harbour View South in Transcona for a total of about 3500 hundred new lots. Along with Waverley West we're looking at some pretty massive developments here with a grand total from just these three at a minimum of 15,500 lots.

I guess Qualico figures they had better get going on this thing ASAP so they can cash in on the demand that the build-out of the south-west is going to create. It will be at around two years before the first developments in Waverley West are ready for sale and these other two could be up and running within a year. It's also important to note that Royal Wood is going to fill up pretty quickly along with River Park South now they have no more competition from across the Red. I recall someone mentioning that River Park South is planning to build the final phase of the development right away (which I kinda doubt since that would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of a thousand lots in one fell swoop ; I find that to be just a little too ambitious for a prudent developer in Winnipeg to consider seriously) so I suppose that even if they don't build the entire street network right away, they do plan on releasing a significant number of lots to take up the slack left by the built-out communities of the south-west. In fact, I think everybody is rather anxious to see every last lot in the south-west get snapped up so they can get in on their very enlarged piece of the new home pie. I'm rather anxious myself to see what other developments are planned thanks to this temporary but serious new lot shortage.

What gets me is that there is such a need for rentals in the Peg.
Housing and condos are sooooo cheap in the Peg that you think it would be a lot cheaper to buy than rent. You can still get a cheap house or condo for the price of an expensive car.
100k would buy you NOTHING in Vancouver not even a 400sq foot condo that 25 years old.

What gets me is that there is such a need for rentals in the Peg.
Housing and condos are sooooo cheap in the Peg that you think it would be a lot cheaper to buy than rent. You can still get a cheap house or condo for the price of an expensive car.
100k would buy you NOTHING in Vancouver not even a 400sq foot condo that 25 years old.
Believe it or not, it's still cheaper to buy a new house here and live that way than rent. That's assuming that you're new house is nothing special and that you aren't factoring in the other costs but you get the drift I'm sure. Crazy man, absolutely crazy.

Actually, something occured to me when all this talk of large-scale housing developments came up : What is the city's master plan as far as traffic is concerned ?
I've seen some of the plans for future expansions and upgrades but they seem to lack some basic planning principles. Namely, if you decide that you're going to build large sub-divisions you should specify that some land must be set aside for traffic corridors. Case in point would be this new announcement for the east side of Lagimodiere. Bishop Grandin doesn't extend along the top of the parcel as yet but there is no mention of it doing so either. Considering that Bishop Grandin is to become a fully limited access freeway some day as well as Lagimodiere (at least, that's what the design appears to indicate) when does the city actually plan to get around to building the interchanges ? As it stands, certain parts of BG could already use grade seperations due to traffic (St. Vital Center and the Kenaston/McGillivray areas stand out here) At what point is the city going to address the major traffic problems it's creating from the booming south end of the city ? On top of that, there are no immediate plans to finish the Chief Peguis Trail/Kildonan Corridor that I'm aware of. In fact, the city doesn't really seem to have any plan at all to deal with growing traffic concerns. Come to think of it, does the city even have someone actually thinking about this sort of thing? It appears they don't.

I can't see how you can find more sprawl exciting. Other cities have had sprawl for years, but those are not the things we talk about. The things that people get excited about are redevelopment projects like False Creek and the London Docklands not more homogeneous, mindless, unhuman suburbs where the cut trees and kill animals and then name the streets after them. Who are those developers fooling when they call their development "Royal Wood" or "Whyte Ridge"; Royal Wood is hardly 'royal' and I don't see any 'ridges' in Whyte Ridge.
If you guys still get excited about sprawl, why don't you try getting somewhere by walking in one. I saw a women with a stroller trying to make her way in the grass outside of Whyte Ridge, parallel to Route 90. It was depressing. Or why don't you think about what was destroyed to build it. Lindenwoods and Island Lakes were both built over marshes, destroying habitat and a source of water purification. If that doesn't change your mind consider that sprawl has been shown to increase obesity and health problems for those who live in them.
Sprawl is like cancer for cities; it is uncontrolled growth. The thing is if you think it is progress, when will it end? To the point where farmland and habitat are torn up all the way to Selkirk? Is that what you want?
If this doesn't phase you, then I give up. Winnipeg's screwed and doesn't have a prayer.

Did anyone read this article in the FP?:
Parking stall


Sun May 8 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ips_rich_content/863-08-Parking-costs-Joe.jpg

Joe Diner, president of JJ Barnicke commercial real estate, says the city's downtown parking lots are key to vibrant city.


JOHN McNairnay, the city's downtown planning boss, tells a story many Winnipeggers have heard dozens of times. His brother, who works for the federal government, spent some time recently in Winnipeg, staying at a downtown high-rise hotel.
"Looking out the window, he said it looked as though something was missing," said McNairnay, "As though downtown had seen some sort of disaster, like an earthquake, and had cleaned up the mess but hadn't yet rebuilt."

The culprit? The plethora of surface parking lots, plot after plot of vacant land that makes for unpleasant walks and a gap-toothed skyline, especially in the blocks between Portage Avenue and Broadway.

Tourists like McNairnay's brother who stay at the Hotel Fort Garry, for instance, must walk past no fewer than a dozen surface lots before they reach Portage Avenue -- more if they venture into the Exchange District, the city's tourist jewel.


That points to a serious development issue that often gets overshadowed by more mundane complaints about parking tickets and confusing parkades. There are roughly 200 large surface lots in Winnipeg's downtown and countless smaller ones. Some urban planners say the barren asphalt parking lots with the ramshackle fences are dead zones, the antithesis of the sidewalk cafés, boutiques and galleries that lure people downtown.

It's tough to make an accurate comparison, but it's generally agreed that Winnipeg's downtown has more surface lots than almost any other Canadian city. In Edmonton, whose downtown has recently recovered after years in the doldrums, several Impark lots are about to be gobbled up for condo highrises. In Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, land values are so high that there are very few surface lots. Instead, it makes economic sense to build parkades.

"I think certainly a sign of a real vibrant downtown is where land is at such a premium that it doesn't make sense to stick cars on the surface," said McNairnay.

Surface parking lots have long been seen as a symptom of Winnipeg's stagnant downtown. But prominent Winnipeg architect Steve Cohlmeyer has another, more ominous theory.

He argues that surface lots aren't a symptom, but one of the causes.

And he says the city is at a critical juncture. Unless it takes action against surface parking lots, the downtown's fragile renaissance will stall. "I think surface parking is destructive to the psyche of the city," said Cohlmeyer. "A good downtown tells the world who you are. It tells you who you are. The quality of the image we give the rest of the world is poor, and the single biggest villain is surface parking."

But downtown's surface lots are in limbo, says Cohlmeyer. Parking rates have gone up in the last few years, which has artificially inflated the value of the lots, making it unlikely the owners will turn the lots into buildings.

A stall in a surface lot now runs between $95 and $140 month. That is relatively high compared to other cities. In Edmonton and Saskatoon, the monthly rate rarely tops $100. In Vancouver's business district, an indoor parkade spot goes for not much more than $150.

That means that in Winnipeg, it is more lucrative to hang on to the lot rather than redevelop it, says Cohlmeyer. It's tough to make a compelling business case that favours building a condo complex or office tower on a surface parking lot that already reaps a decent profit.

Cohlmeyer has a client who made a very reasonable offer to buy a lot in the Exchange District. The offer was turned down because the owner knew he could make more from parking fees.

It could be years before market forces gobble up surface parking lots and spit out buildings. In the meantime, Cohlmeyer says, the city should take bold action by calculating the hidden cost of surface lots and taxing them accordingly.

If an owner sits on vacant land that is serviced by roads and water and sewer pipes, that costs the city money in lost taxes it would otherwise reap from a condo project or a six-storey office tower.

For instance, the surface lot at Hargrave Street and York Avenue pays only $8,209 in city property taxes, with another $12,276 going to the school board. Across the street, the Holiday Towers apartment building nets the city 13 times as much -- a whopping $106,203. It also pays about $124,000 in school taxes.

"We are subsidizing surface lots in an invisible way through lost revenues," said Cohlmeyer. There's another hidden cost -- developers who might have built downtown move to the suburbs instead, where land is cheaper but where the city must extend services -- repaving roads, building sewer and water lines, mowing grass, adding fire halls. Again, that costs the taxpayer money.

Say all that to Joe Diner, the colourful president of the commercial real estate firm JJ Barnicke, and get ready to duck.

"People who say there is too much parking downtown do not know their ass from a parking lot. You cannot have too much parking downtown," he said. "Am I understating this?"

Instead of trying to drag development onto existing surface lots, Diner recommends the radical reverse approach. He says a plethora of parking is the key to a vibrant downtown, and the city should even sacrifice some of the old, derelict buildings that are probably beyond redemption.

Preservationists will balk, but Diner said the best way to lure people away from the malls and into the downtown is to choose the vacant buildings that are really worth saving and turn the rest into parking lots, at least until it becomes economical to build something on the land.

"What's pretty isn't necessarily good, and what's old isn't necessarily good," said Diner. "Many things that are old are functionally and economically obsolete and do not merit salvaging."

Diner points to Galveston, Texas, now a thriving tourist town on the Gulf of Mexico that recovered from a downtown left derelict in the 1960s when the cotton trade moved to other ports.

"Some smart son-of-a-gun realized that if they selectively bulldozed high ratios of the downtown and turned it into surface parking lots, including many buildings along the waterfront, that would lay the foundation for the commercial success for the tenants in other buildings," said Diner.

They saved enough buildings to create a critical mass of cafes and shops, and made parking close-by and hassle-free, he said. Diner also disputes the notion that the downtown is swimming in parking. If there was a real surplus, you wouldn't have to pay $100 month for a stall. The bill would be more like $50 or $60.

Instead, he echoes the feeling of David Hill, the city's parking boss, when he says there is probably just the right amount of parking downtown right now.

But Diner sees a parking crunch looming, now that the downtown has begun to bloom. Four condo projects on Waterfront Drive will eat up a bunch of gravel lots in the East Exchange. The Manitoba Hydro building will bring another 2,000 commuters into the downtown, most scrambling for parking. And condos planned for the top of Portage Place could also put the squeeze on stalls.

"The guys who own parking are grinning like fools," said Diner.

Developer Arni Thorsteinson, president of Shelter Canadian Properties Ltd., owns about a dozen downtown Impark lots. He said it could be years before property prices reach that magic trigger point that prompts lot owners to build.

Rents in the downtown now run between $15 and $17 per square foot. Thorsteinson doesn't think it will make sense to build a parkade, condo tower or office building until rents reach about the $22 or $23 mark.

It costs about $2,000 per parking space to build a surface lot, which needs asphalt, signage, lighting and fencing. It's 10 times that price to build a parkade -- more the higher you build. In most cases, parking rates would have to top $200 per month to prompt a landowner to invest in a parkade.

Cohlmeyer says what he believes is the surfeit of surface lots can be traced to the 1960s, when city planners sought to encourage downtown development by altering zoning bylaws to allow taller buildings on many plots of land.

That boosted land values and spawned the development of many high-rises, such as the Sheraton Hotel and other buildings around the Convention Centre. The problem, Cohlmeyer says, is that city planners forgot to account for parking. More development requires more parking, and land was still cheap enough to merit tearing down a building for a surface lot, which is what happened.

There were few zoning rules to prohibit land-owners from creating surface lots -- no public hearings before councillors, no "conditional use" applications.

That changed last summer when the city rewrote its downtown zoning bylaw to strike a long-standing demand that most downtown developments include parking. That means if someone wants to build an office tower, one question the city won't ask is: "Do you have the required one parking stall per 2,150 square foot of floorspace?"

The new rules also make surface lots a "conditional use," meaning a public hearing is needed if a parcel is to become a lot.

Cohlmeyer called that "absolutely the right decision," perhaps the first step toward what he hopes will be a much more proactive battle against the acres and acres of underused land in the downtown.

I can't see how you can find more sprawl exciting. Other cities have had sprawl for years, but those are not the things we talk about. The things that people get excited about are redevelopment projects like False Creek and the London Docklands not more homogeneous, mindless, unhuman suburbs where the cut trees and kill animals and then name the streets after them. Who are those developers fooling when they call their development "Royal Wood" or "Whyte Ridge"; Royal Wood is hardly 'royal' and I don't see any 'ridges' in Whyte Ridge.
If you guys still get excited about sprawl, why don't you try getting somewhere by walking in one. I saw a women with a stroller trying to make her way in the grass outside of Whyte Ridge, parallel to Route 90. It was depressing. Or why don't you think about what was destroyed to build it. Lindenwoods and Island Lakes were both built over marshes, destroying habitat and a source of water purification. If that doesn't change your mind consider that sprawl has been shown to increase obesity and health problems for those who live in them.
Sprawl is like cancer for cities; it is uncontrolled growth. The thing is if you think it is progress, when will it end? To the point where farmland and habitat are torn up all the way to Selkirk? Is that what you want?
If this doesn't phase you, then I give up. Winnipeg's screwed and doesn't have a prayer.

Where is this coming from ?! I didn't say anything about sprawl being exciting at all. Man, get off the soap-box, I was just wondering if the city had any plans to finish what they started as far as the expressways in this city are concerned.

Anyone who views suburban development as positive needs electric shock therapy!

Condo complex on rise

$17-M Excelsior launch in Exchange just beginning

By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER




The east Exchange District's hoped-for residential boom was launched yesterday with the start of construction on a $17-million condominium complex.

And when The Excelsior's first tower sees residents enter in about a year, other nearby high-rises on Waterfront Drive are expected to be well underway.

"People thought things may never get off the ground here," Fausto Pereira, president of project leader Sherwood Developments Ltd., told The Sun as shovels hit the ground on Waterfront Drive yesterday.

"And so many of these will be started here in the next two years. We're talking about roughly 200 new condominium units, let alone whatever else is planned in the existing buildings in the Exchange."

WIDELY HELD VISION

The twin-tower, eight-level Excelsior will rise on the west side of the new $9-million Waterfront Drive near James Avenue -- a stone's throw north of the site of another eight-suite condo development to take shape within weeks.

The Excelsior -- part of a $52-million, four-project surge of condominiums to hit the road along the Red River -- is what Mayor Sam Katz called "a great first step" toward finally realizing a widely held vision for the Exchange.

Katz pointed to the nearby CanWest Global Park, which was little more than scrub property prior to 1997.

"The land where the ballpark was built was a snow dump not that long ago," the mayor said.

"You can see a diamond in the rough, but it takes special people to recognize it to make a significant investment. That's what you're seeing today."

Diane Bampton of the city's arm's-length CentreVenture Development Corp. hailed the "fantastic architecture" to mark Waterfront within the next couple of years, particularly once the Sky Waterfront and Strand complexes are constructed.

Topped by bi-level penthouse suites, The Excelsior's 48 future units have 11 sold and another dozen tentatively reserved. Its prices are pegged at $270,000 to $580,000 -- proof, proponents say, that the developments are market-driven.

A key to the attraction is offering amenities that make downtown living easy, Pereira said, noting retail space planned for his ground level.

"We're generating commercial space to allow people to be able to have their shops, convenience stores and cafes and the places that make a community," he said.

CentreVenture's jewel going up; what's next?

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ips_rich_content/855-11b1-xterior-ElevatiC0DDB.jpg

Wed May 11 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



HANDOUT ILLUSTRATION
The Excelsior is one of four condo developments planned for Waterfront Drive, representing a $52-million investment in the downtown area.


DEVELOPER Fausto Pereira, his hard hat perched precariously on his head, jumped into a backhoe yesterday to break ground on the first condo project on Waterfront Drive.
His project -- the eight-storey, twin-towered Excelsior -- is one of four condo developments planned for the drive. Pereira believes the four projects will turn "this previously forgotten neighbourhood into a bustling enclave of urban living."

When they're finished next year, the buildings will add 200 high-end condos to the downtown's slowly growing inventory of housing. About half of them are already sold. They'll have shops and cafes on their ground floors to attract foot traffic from the Exchange and The Forks. They'll represent a hefty $52-million private investment in the downtown.


And, they'll be the jewel in CentreVenture's crown.

But yesterday's groundbreaking also raised a question that has been percolating for the last several months. What's next for the downtown development agency?

CentreVenture, founded in 1999, has been the catalyst of a slow but steady downtown revival. Bankrolled by the city and province, it uses tax credits, loan guarantees and other financial incentives to prevail upon the private sector to redevelop vacant buildings.

It also acts as a liaison between the city and developers to finesse deals that would otherwise collapse.

Their success stories include the conversion of several Exchange District warehouses into funky loft condos and the construction of the Mountain Equipment Co-op store on Portage Avenue.

But CentreVenture has been leaderless for exactly a year. Its mandate is nearing its expiry date and many fear the agency is adrift.

"It's rudderless," said a developer, one of a half-dozen sources who believe CentreVenture has suffered without a dynamic chief executive officer and needs to regroup. Last year, Ron Margolis left after only five months as CentreVenture's CEO. No reason was given for his departure, and he has yet to be replaced.

Margolis succeeded Annitta Stenning, who nurtured the agency from its birth and set in motion many of the projects now coming to fruition. She left in the fall of 2003 to become the city's chief administrative officer. Since then, several sources say the agency hasn't been as high-profile and hasn't kickstarted as many projects.

"When Annitta left, CentreVenture left," said another source.

For the last two or three months, CentreVenture's volunteer board has been carefully vetting several shortlisted candidates. There is no timetable for a hiring decision, said Chuck Loewen, head of Online Business Systems and the chairman of CentreVenture's volunteer board.

Loewen said the search for a new CEO has taken a backseat to CentreVenture's top priority -- Waterfront Drive. But for the last year, Loewen said, the agency has been running smoothly under the care of general manager Diane Bampton. "We've been full steam ahead," he said.

CentreVenture's mandate as an arm's-length agency of city council expires in about a year, and some, including developer Hart Mallin, say now is a good time to rethink CentreVenture's priorities.

Some say CentreVenture should set its sights on Portage Avenue -- the downtown's signature street that is still pockmarked with boarded-up buildings and marginal shops.

Others argue the agency needs to be far more aggressive in building residential housing, especially for young, first-time buyers who can't afford the $268,000 price tag for a 1,255-square-foot condo in the Excelsior.

Mallin, one of the few downtown developers willing to speak on the record, said CentreVenture has been hamstrung by a mandate that allows it to do little more than flip property. Instead, he says, the agency needs a menu of creative ways to encourage development instead of simply acting as a caretaker for derelict city property.

In an interview Friday, Mayor Sam Katz said he plans to renew CentreVenture's mandate and is open to expanding it. He agreed a year is a long time to be without a CEO, but said CentreVenture is still doing good work.

They mention something in the article above that is absolutely mind-boggling when you think about it ; Is this the first time it has occured to somebody in city hall or CentreVenture that maybe it would be alot more practical to allow, you know, maybe some building that average people can afford? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the developments but to think that nobody has actually considered the posibility that some mid-priced units would lure alot more people to live downtown that a select few of high-income earners is staggering in it's ignorance. What did they think that Wellington Crescent was going to pick up and move to Waterfront Drive or that Winnipeg is just overflowing with millionaires ? You'd sort of hope that somebody had actually realized that we weren't going to get 10,000 millionaires to move into the area.

Gotta love short-sightedness.

This is the city of extremes ya know--weather being the obvious one--ha ha. What I mean, of course, is that for decades there was zero growth vis-a-vis residential developments; now there is plenty, but they are all targeting those with high incomes. From no growth to growth that is out of reach for a high percentage of the population. There needs to be units available at the $100 k range. There are many sites that could accommodate townhomes, not just condos to also attract that segment that wants at least a small yard and garage. One aspect of Ottawa I love is that many of its main streets heading in and out of the core are dense with housing. I look at Notre Dame, Ellice, William...all of these streets are ripe for residential development.

Kapyong redevelopment a step closer


Fri May 13 2005

By Paul Samyn



OTTAWA -- The federal government will formally approve the transfer of the abandoned Kapyong Barracks today to a development agency that it also owns, triggering a redevelopment of the Tuxedo-area property that could be worth up to $53 million.
It was long known that the Canada Lands Corp. would take ownership of the site, the former home of the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which has since moved to Shilo. Winnipeg South Centre MP Anita Neville will make the announcement, declaring the property surplus and handing it over to the CLC.

Federal sources say National Defence will be paid $8.6 million for the former army base, which includes 43 buildings such as barracks and warehouses.

"The Government of Canada is committed to ensure the best value for taxpayers through the transfer of the land at market value to CLC," states a draft of Neville's speech today.

"CLC will add value for the Crown and the community through the creation of development plans, rezoning and the revitalization of the property to benefit the entire population of Manitoba."

CLC officials had already said they would redevelop the 65-hectare site -- on the west side of Kenaston Boulevard between Corydon Avenue and Grant Avenue -- into a unique community that stresses people over cars, narrow streets, and garages behind houses instead of in front.

It's a direction in urban design that's also being touted for the Waverley West subdivision.

The Kapyong site could replicate another successful CLC development -- Garrison Woods in Calgary. There, the CLC took another abandoned military base and created a unique urban village that has become one of Calgary's most popular neighbourhoods.

CLC, formed in 1996, is an arm's-length Crown corporation that acquires surplus federal property at fair market value and then refurbishes or develops the properties for resale.

CLC officials have said they would hold extensive public consultations before developing a land-use plan. However, proposals being touted include a sports campus for elite athletes, recreational opportunities built around Lipsett Hall, commercial and retail space and extensive green space.

Sources say the residential development will take place over 12 years to avoid disrupting Winnipeg's normal pattern of housing construction. Human Resources Canada is also interested in using a portion of the property as part of the federal government's homelessness initiative.

The land transfer to CLC does not yet include the 375 single dwellings and duplexes which were used to house soldiers at the base. However, sources say those properties will likely eventually also become part of the redevelopment.

312-M transit vision unveiled
City's 20-year plan includes rapid bus transit, light rail

Sat May 14 2005

By Leah Janzen



A city task force is unveiling its vision of Winnipeg's transit future today -- a $312-million overhaul that includes a dozen bus rapid transit lines reaching deep into every city neighbourhood and a light-rail transit system for the downtown.
The recommendations by the task force come after months of public consultation, and are being touted as a "made-in-Winnipeg" solution to the city's transit woes, which include dwindling ridership and slow, awkward service.

The recommendations re-establish bus rapid transit as the future of Winnipeg's public transportation system after Mayor Sam Katz shot down the idea last year. Katz has said he favours light rail.

But critics fear the political uncertainty in Ottawa could mean the loss of federal funds for the project and derail the plan before it gets off the ground.

The three-phase project, stretching over 10 to 20 years, would see the development of bus rapid transit in all major areas of Winnipeg and, eventually, the construction of a light-rail transit system to connect the main attractions in the city's downtown area.

"We want to be able to attract new riders to the system and bring back some of the old riders to the system," said Winnipeg city councillor Russ Wyatt, who chaired the city's Rapid Transit Task Force. "We think this plan is a way to do that."

The plan, which will be unveiled to the public during an open house at the Winnipeg Convention Centre today and Monday, is meant to ease commuter gridlock and cure one of Winnipeg Transit's chief ills -- long, complicated rides from the edge of town into the city centre.

The plan, which will be unveiled to the public during an open house at the Winnipeg Convention Centre today and Monday, is meant to ease commuter gridlock and cure one of Winnipeg Transit's chief ills -- long, complicated rides from the edge of town into the city centre.

Wyatt said the task force will take input from the public at the open houses and present a final proposal to the city next month. The city is hoping to tap the provincial and federal governments for one-third shares of the cost.

During the first phase, BRT corridors would be developed along existing roadways, including Main Street, Henderson Highway, Portage Avenue, Pembina Highway and St. Mary's Road. Buses on these routes would have the ability to override traffic signals at intersections and use a jump queue lane to move ahead of traffic.

Coloured diamond lanes would be available for the exclusive use of buses and emergency vehicles during rush hour. Heated transit stops would be spaced farther apart to allow the BRT buses to move more quickly along their routes.

Real-time schedule signs would be installed to alert passengers to the exact time the next bus will arrive at their stop based on GPS technology installed in the buses.

Transit fares would be collected at kiosks at the stations to speed loading and allow passengers to get on the buses at the front and back doors.

During Phase 1, two busways would also be constructed on Nairn Avenue and in the Confusion Corner area of Pembina Highway and Osborne Street.

The busways would be closed to other traffic to address areas subject to chronic traffic snarls.

In Phase 2, the project would be expanded to include BRT corridors on Notre Dame Avenue, McPhillips Street, Regent Avenue and St. Anne's Road. Busways would be added on Higgins Avenue along the Louise Bridge and on Regent Avenue just east of Lagimodiere Boulevard.

Phase 3, which Wyatt admits is likely 10 to 20 years off, involves the creation of a busway along Pembina Highway from Wardlaw Avenue to Bison Drive, and BRT corridors on Archibald Street, Kenaston Boulevard, Marion Street, Broadway and Vaughn Street.

Phase 3 also includes the construction of a light-rail transit system to connect downtown attractions like the MTS Centre, The Forks, Waterfront Drive, Red River College Princess Street Campus, the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the new Manitoba Hydro office tower and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.

Throughout the process, recreational paths for biking, walking or in-line skating would be constructed alongside the busways, and integrated cycling lanes would be included on many BRT corridors. For years, former mayor Glen Murray promoted the idea of establishing a rapid transit corridor in the southern part of the city connecting the University of Winnipeg to the University of Manitoba. He looked at a variety of options, including the use of the diesel rail lines along Pembina Highway and a higher-tech system in which trains would be controlled by magnets.

This new system would rely heavily on the city's existing infrastructure -- with an emphasis on upgrading the network of diamond lanes for buses and adding bus-only busways like the one now in place on Graham Avenue.

Years of city studies have favoured BRT, and the city already had $34 million in federal and provincial funding to begin building the system's first phase. But that plan was scrapped last year when Katz announced he wanted to use the funds for recreation centre upgrades instead.

After receiving input from transit users during public meetings earlier this year, the task force developed a plan for improving the speed, reliability and frequency of transit service in Winnipeg.

Wyatt said the task force also considered cost, environmental safety, and the effects on downtown revitalization and economic growth in coming up with the proposal.

David Leibl, a member of Winnipeggers for Bus Rapid Transit, said he is pleased the idea of BRT is back on the city's radar.

He said countless studies have shown the system to be the best fit for Winnipeg's transit needs.

"Obviously I'll need to look at what the task force is proposing, but I feel like they're on the right track with this," said Leibl, who will review the plans himself at the open house today. "I believe the process has shown there is a consensus emerging that this is something we need to grow as a prosperous and sustainable city."

Leibl said he is not as enthused about the idea of light-rail transit in the downtown. He said many other jurisdictions are moving away from light rail as a mode of transport. The small loop of LRT will also be very costly and will take a significant amount of time to construct, he said. Leibl said he also hopes the plan will include a significant focus on developing bike and walkways for people wishing to use a more environmentally friendly way to get around. Yesterday, Coun. Donald Benham, a longtime supporter of BRT, said the looming election in Ottawa might result in Winnipeg losing any hope of federal funding for infrastructure.

"If we'd proceeded in the fall of 2004, all of that money would be in the ground right now," he said. "We'd have the beginnings of a new system. I'm concerned we might miss out on federal funding with the current situation in Ottawa."

Benham said he believes the task force did a good job of listening to the ideas and desires of Winnipeggers when it comes to new transit plans.

The challenge now, he said, will be to get city administration to sign on the dotted line and commit to fund it.

"The question is, are you going to fund this, and if so, where are you going to get the money from?" he said.

Wyatt said the plan calls for the costs to be shared equally among the three levels of government.

A timeline for how quickly the project could get started is contingent on those funding agreements being nailed down, he said.

It's rapid transit deja-vu

City eyeing a new plan

By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER




Just when they appeared to have crashed, Winnipeg's rapid transit hopes are back on the rails with a proposal for high-tech buses and downtown trains.

A circuit of dedicated roadways, articulated buses and a downtown light-rail route are about to be pitched for a "made-in-Winnipeg" rapid-transit system that could begin taking shape as soon as next year.

A task force created by Mayor Sam Katz is proposing the system -- to cost $90 million for the first of three phases -- in a set of reports and drawings to be displayed today and Monday at Winnipeg Convention Centre.

"This will allow us to increase ridership, reduce travel times and allow for a more reliable service," said Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona), head of the task force.

Similar in several ways to a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system proposed last year by then-mayor Glen Murray, the new plan suggests creating bus corridors on existing streets that would be used exclusively by the longer coaches -- each of which would cost up to $900,000.

The lanes would be painted red to distinguish them from public lanes.

Meanwhile, transit vehicles would be given their own routes through congested districts such as "Confusion Corner" and a stretch of Nairn and Regent avenues. These special busways would be built in Phase 1 at a cost of $49 million.

The existing transit system would largely remain in place to feed the expanded setup, with today's buses used during the transition.

BUS CORRIDORS

Pending approval by council and funding help from the province and Ottawa, the first phase would see bus corridors laid out on Portage Avenue, Henderson Highway, Pembina Highway and other major arteries.

Wyatt denied the plan is similar to Murray's BRT concept.

"The big difference is that this is citywide. And the old proposal was to cost $500 million for the entire city," he argued. "This goes citywide for less than $100 million. It creates a rapid system going to all major quadrants for a fraction of the cost."

The second and third phases would add to the series of busways and corridors, costing $70 million and $152 million receptively.

An LRT, with a cost pegged at $70 million, would make a loop through downtown within 10 to 20 years under Phase 3.

After public feedback, the task force will put together a final report to be tabled this summer.

So what they're really saying is that they've wasted $34 million in studies recently, aren't going to actually give us a dedicated system in terms of seperate corridors and all-day service, and aren't sure how they're going to pay for it since the money Katz rebuffed may not be on the table by the time things get going.
Well, gee, in that case, what the hell is going to cost us $100 million then ? A few gallons of red paint and some buses ? We could have done this years ago.

Yup, never doing anything right when you can do it half-assed for a fraction of the cost. Glad to see that things are going as usual down at city hall. :|

How many rapid transit studies and anouncement can one city have??

looks like work will get underway shortly for the conversion of the Williams-Cassidy warehouse at 230 Princess (at Pacific). There was an ad in the Real Estate section of today's Free Press. These are going to be more affordable than the Fairchild Lofts and the Lofts on Bannatyne.

Might be time for a Winnipeg visit since its been over ten years. Seems there's a lot on the go which is great to see. New Human Rights Museum looks cool too.

French Quarter welcomes families from France
Last Updated May 16 2005 08:24 AM CDT
CBC News
WINNIPEG – Manitoba's French community will get a boost from abroad this summer as six families from France settle in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg.

The Economic Development Council for Manitoba's Bilingual Municipalities put an advertisement in a French newspaper about two years ago encouraging people interested in thinking about starting a business in Canada to consider Winnipeg.

Council director Marie Mulaire admits most of the people interested in the ad probably saw themselves moving to Quebec. However, she says Winnipeg offers something more.

"There's lots of French restaurants and bakeries in Quebec. Here you will be different – you can be a big fish in a small pond," she says.

The pitch worked on Eric Journaux, a restaurant owner from Strasbourg, France. Journaux says his family was looking for a change, so they jumped at the chance to move abroad. They're coming to St. Boniface in June.

"The people are very friendly, and it's easier for the business, the taxes are not so high," he says of his new home.

Many of the new families are risking everything to be here. To smooth the transition, the council has helped the immigrants find everything from housing to schools – babysitters.

"We'll make sure that you succeeed personally, that your kids are in the right school, you live in an area that's great, you've had the best price for this or that, you know who are the suppliers," says Mulaire. "We are small enough that we can connect them to the people they need."

Mulaire says many immigrants are moving to Manitoba's English-speaking communities, and the French community's four to five per cent of the population will shrink if it's not proactive about growth.

Next year, the economic development council would like to see the number of immigrant families double.

I hope Shelter finds tenants soon...the addition to 140 Bannatyne will accentuate the area nicely. The area needs to be imbued with more glass...found this pic on the company's website.

http://www.scpl.com/property_images/140bannatyne_large.jpg

I agree. I haven't heard much from the Royal Bank/ Union tower development other than it is still a go. I just hope the empty lot behind it where that (Leland?) hotel used to be sees an annex built - and something like the glass RRC atrium and at approx. 6 storeys tall.

The thing I don't understand about development in this city is that we could be building condo towers left and right, have them fill up in no time flat, and do just what it is that the city needs downtown which is add density. Shelter can build office space if it wants but the market for it is flat right now. They'd be smarter to invest in more development/re-development concerning residential space. Forks/North Portage has the rights to build towers above the mall....well then why aren't they? Am I the only one who can see the obvious here ? The people are dying to come if somebody would bloody well build it . There's practically a line-up for some moderately priced residential downtown. I'd be building blocks left and right if I had the cash....looks like a pretty solid investment.

I am with you, Loose...if I had millions, I would be building 3-10 storey condos around the city centre, and perhaps a 30+ mixed use tower.








World-class skate park planned for The Forks


Thu May 26 2005

By Patti Edgar



THE Forks is planning a $1-million, world-class skateboard park that designers promise will draw board-toting tourists from across North America.
An anonymous donor is putting up all of the cash for the skate park, which could be open by October.

Meanwhile, Transcona will also get a major new sports and recreation development. Unrelated to The Forks skateboard park, Transcona's new regional park with 10 ball diamonds on 57 hectares will get $3 million of new government funding today.

At The Forks, designers promise the new skate park will blend in with the site, looking more like an urban plaza with skateboard-friendly benches and steps than a large, dull cement space.

"Skateboarding is a rather mature industry now," said Paul Jordan, chief operating officer of Forks Renewal Corp. "Kids that were 10 are now 30 and they still skateboard. They will travel all over the world to hit destination skateboard parks and this is going to be one."

The skate park will be west of the Scotiabank Stage, near Waterfront Drive. A Vancouver team that has built skateboard parks across Canada and the United States is designing the project -- van der Zalm + associates and Newline Skateparks.


They are working with Winnipeg landscape architects Scatliff, Miller and Murray to ensure it fits with the vision of The Forks.

From his office in Vancouver, Mark van der Zalm said only a third of the park will be a traditional cement bowl. The rest will be more like plazas, such as the one outside Winnipeg's City Hall, that are already attracting skateboarders, irking security guards and pedestrians.

"The whole idea is to create a world-class destination park," he said. "You can make it humongous so it just becomes world-class, which we can't do here because of constraints on real estate. But what we can do is offer unique terrain and unique materials that aren't typically seen in a skate park."

Van der Zalm promises that when Winnipeg's skate park opens, it will be the talk of Canada's skateboarders. "A lot of people are going to travel to come to this one. I go to towns across Ontario and people ask me what's up with this project. People are getting ready to come to Winnipeg to check this thing out."

In a few weeks, the designers will have the park's blueprints ready and The Forks will hold public consultations on the project. The size of the park is still under consideration.

Genico Aiello, owner of a Winnipeg skateboard shop called SK8, said The Forks park will be bigger and better than any of the existing or planned parks in the city, filling the void for Winnipeg's more experienced skaters, while still giving beginners space to learn new tricks.

"A million dollars can build a lot of skate park," he said. "There will be no comparison. This city has crap as far as skate parks go."

Dozens of young people already skateboard at The Forks on weekends -- in places like Market Plaza where they get in the way of walkers and shoppers. This will finally give them a home, said Jordan.

"The benefactor came to us, but it has always been in our design concept. We have a 10-year plan and in there it was always contemplated to have a skateboard facility of some kind, but we've never had the money to do it," he said.

"This is something they would like to leave as a legacy."

The City of Winnipeg is planning to put $1.8 million toward new skateboard parks and expansions of the existing parks in St. Vital, Transcona, St. James and Fort Garry. It is also putting $2.7 million toward the redevelopment of Sargent Park Pool into a recreation complex that will include a skateboard park.

Another skate park is planned for Charleswood in memory of Michael Komenda, who died in a tragic accident in 2002. His parents believe he was looking for a more challenging place to skateboard when he toppled about four storeys from behind the upper deck seating of the empty Canad Inns Stadium.




Loft-style condos added to Exchange


Thu May 26 2005

By Aldo Santin



THE Exchange District is getting another loft-style condominium project.
A development firm is moving forward on a plan to convert a four-storey building in the west Exchange into a condo building.

Stride Development Corp. will begin marketing 21 loft-style units in the former Williams-Cassidy's Restaurant Supply building at 230 Princess St., at Pacific Avenue.

Jay Lev, president of Stride Development, said purchasers will be given free rein on how each individual unit will be developed.

"We will put in new mechanical, windows and a stairwell and then we'll give the buyers a raw space," Lev said last night. "It will be a big open area with a roughed-in kitchen and bathroom. The buyer will decide what material to use for the walls and flooring and everything else."

The Exchange District is emerging as the trendy location for loft-style condominium units. In addition to Stride's Century Lofts, two other buildings on Princess have already been converted into loft-style condos -- 10 units at 123 Princess and 13 units at 87-89 Princess. Condos are being developed in the Travellers Building, above Decanters Restaurant. Three buildings at 104, 108 and 110 Princess are being marketed for condos. On the other side of Main Street, 170 high-end condominium units are under development at four sites along Waterfront Drive. Several hundred additional rental and condominium units will also be developed along Market Street in the $80-million Nygard Village project by clothing manufacturer Peter Nygard and developer Arni Thorsteinson.

The Lindsay Building, at 228 Notre Dame Ave., on the edge of the West Exchange, was converted into 45 rental units.

Lev said the area is ready for further residential development.

Lev said doing a raw development will ensure individual units can be sold at a reasonable price. The buyers can hire professionals to finish the units or do the work themselves.

Lev said the building was originally planned as student housing for Red River College's downtown campus, which is located two blocks to the south. But he said a deal couldn't be worked out with the college.

Individual units will range in size from 855 square feet to 1,232 square feet, Lev said, adding prices will range from $107,900 to $160,000. Lev said the main floor will be developed with commercial space.

Stride Development is moving into the Exchange District after having successfully marketed a 32-unit condominium building on the shores of Lake Winnipeg in Gimli, the Gimli Shores project.

Lev said his firm is developing a second condominium project in Gimli that could be launched next year.

more info (and pics) of the building here:

http://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/historic/pdf-consv/Princess%20230-long.pdf

I am with you, Loose...if I had millions, I would be building 3-10 storey condos around the city centre, and perhaps a 30+ mixed use tower.
In my Winnipeg plan the city would be something like this :
Keep on putting up the buildings in Fort Rouge. Might as well since the NIMBY's can't really complain about the traffic or shadows cast (well, not anymore they can't anyway)
High-density hubs (read apartment towers and townhouses, that sort of thing) around the major malls. The more life we can add to those areas after closing the better off they'll be. As a side benefit there are generally no NIMBYs in the areas I'm speaking of anyway since said areas are mostly just seas of parking anyway.
Exchange District keeps on doing exactly what it's doing. Finish out the development along Waterfront Drive with exactly the sort of thing that is going up there right now and then start moving west past Main Street. Lots of infill could go up there but the area still needs tweaking and an impetus to kick things off.

Downtown needs residential and the only way to go is up if they want to do it right. If it's less than four storeys it has no business being downtown IMO. Well, in truth I figure a ten storey minimum in particular parts of downtown but there are others that would accomodate four floors better for the sake of the neighbourhood aesthetic.

Lastly, develop those high density corridors to make rapid transit attractive. It doesn't have to be forests of res. towers but I figure we'd have to at least quadruple the city average for density to make these areas worthy of rapid transit service. Of course, that assumes that that moron Katz doesn't green light this craptastic "made in Winnipeg" joke they're trying to fob off as rapid transit. In that case, pack your bags and get out of town ASAP, there'll only be more of that sort of thinking in the future.

I would start off with less floors to fill up all the vacant lots/parking lots, then get bigger. Obviously this city cannot absorb so many tall condos.

^^^^ I agree, do infill then start the highrises.
One thing that inhibits tall condos in Winnipeg is that the condos are more than houses where in most cities its the opposite.

I would start off with less floors to fill up all the vacant lots/parking lots, then get bigger. Obviously this city cannot absorb so many tall condos.
Yes and no. I'm not necessarily pushing for all these areas to be made into highrise jungles. For the most part I'm only really advocating the bigger (ten and up) for the downtown areas between Portage and Broadway in the downtown.

Nevertheless, think of it this way : How many residential housing starts does the city get every year ? Two, three thousand or so right ? Well, even if only five percent of that was built downtown we're talking about 100 to 150 units annually downtown. That's easily a couple mid-sized buildings per year. I think that with a little promotion we could easily make that happen. However, Katz is a mayor completely lacking in vision and can't seem to think beyond numbers. In fact, the more I think about it the more I consider him a giant leap backwards for this city (unless you're over the age of 60 that is) With him even a goal as modest as mine is unattainable.

^^^^ I agree, do infill then start the highrises.
One thing that inhibits tall condos in Winnipeg is that the condos are more than houses where in most cities its the opposite.
The reason I'm against simply allowing small-scale development into the inner core of Winnipeg is because , while it's true that we could fill up that space very quickly (in the areas I'm focused on anyway, which by the way, I really didn't make my vision very clear about this. My apologies) once those houses and small condos are there we can't boot them out just because something bigger is now in the works. There are plenty of places to build that sort of thing so I figure that downtown is a NIMBY free zone when it comes to highrises and we should take advantage of that.

Downtown land is prime in Calgary, TO, Vancouver, etc, but is dirt cheap in our downtown; building small structures on prime lots in those cities is ludicrous, as one would want to make the most out of such valuable land, but in downtown Winnipeg, we would not have to worry about "something bigger" coming along. Basically, we need to fill up our many, many vacant lots with smaller infills, then (God willing) as land becomes more valuable, then we would need to look at taller ventures, especially if our population keeps growing.

^I just think of it as almost a step backwards. I suppose I'd be more than happy to settle for our current parking lots being filled up with six to eight storey buildings. But the idea of putting things like townhouses at York and Kennedy or something is ludicrous to me. Just seems so....small town.

Ottawa is a prime example of what proper urban planning involves: many of its main streets in and out of downtown are dense with condos and townhomes...nothing "small town" about it! Areas I could see townhomes, etc would be along Notre Dame west of Princess, along Cumberland, William, and of course, a massive redevelopment of Point Douglas (esp. Higgins).

As developers continue to see a demand for housing, and the number of people moving and staying here increasing...they will act and build. I always used to bitch about developers here not building, but when there was virtually no growth for 40 years, it is understandable.

Ottawa is a prime example of what proper urban planning involves: many of its main streets in and out of downtown are dense with condos and townhomes...nothing "small town" about it! Areas I could see townhomes, etc would be along Notre Dame west of Princess, along Cumberland, William, and of course, a massive redevelopment of Point Douglas (esp. Higgins).

As developers continue to see a demand for housing, and the number of people moving and staying here increasing...they will act and build. I always used to bitch about developers here not building, but when there was virtually no growth for 40 years, it is understandable.

I cannot agree more. Point Douglas has been neglected for far too long. In the process we have overlooked a beautiful part of the city which is prime land for redvelopment and ignored the poverty in that area. I also think that the St. Boniface Industrial Yards would be a great site for a new neighbourhood. Instead of building Waverly West, why don't we clean up an ugly and polluted area of the city and make it into a thriving neighbourhood.

Ottawa is a prime example of what proper urban planning involves: many of its main streets in and out of downtown are dense with condos and townhomes...nothing "small town" about it! Areas I could see townhomes, etc would be along Notre Dame west of Princess, along Cumberland, William, and of course, a massive redevelopment of Point Douglas (esp. Higgins).

As developers continue to see a demand for housing, and the number of people moving and staying here increasing...they will act and build. I always used to bitch about developers here not building, but when there was virtually no growth for 40 years, it is understandable.
Having lived in Ottawa for two years myself I consider it a great example of urban planning in Canada. However it was somewhat accidental. When the NCC was created along with the greenbelt the idea was to put a stop to ALL suburban growth. Well, instead it just jumped it and voila ! Kanata, Orleans, and now Barr Haven are big satelite cities. Nevertheless, for the most part, their strategy worked relative to other Canadian cities.

However, what you're talking about isn't the downtown. It's the Glebe, and areas just to the west of downtown in particular. Some around Lee and along the south-east transitway as well. There's that greenbelt again that ensures compact design. The downtown itself would never allow suburban type housing to be built. Whatever small scale housing that may exist in any major Canadian city's downtown today is only there because of special circumstance and it's certainly not new. Remember, I'm not talking about Point Douglas or West Broadway here, I'm talking about the area bounded by Main, Portage, Memorial, and Broadway. That square should never see another single-family house built.

I think you are confusing the Glebe with Centretown, the former being further from the core. The area you defined (Main, Portage, Memorial, and Broadway) is out of that I have in mind for development anyways...

I think you are confusing the Glebe with Centretown, the former being further from the core. The area you defined (Main, Portage, Memorial, and Broadway) is out of that I have in mind for development anyways...
lol...I think we are both confusing each other as to what we're referring to. :) :cheers:

Maybe you're right...Ha! Here is a good example of what Point Douglas needs...borrowed from Omaha:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y75/xraraavis/NorthDowntown.jpg

It, too, has a large area that needs to be redeveloped...sadly, it will probably happen long before Point Douglas sees rebirth...then again, whoever thought we would see Nygard step up and redevelop the Exchange right? Maybe some developers will get motivated enough to look at something like this for Higgins....

The Exchange District redevelopment has definitely picked up over the last couple of years. Waterfront Drive may well be the main reason for it so I think for once we can say that the fat brains at city hall got it right. Mind you, it was Glen Murray's baby (I don't care what anybody says, I wish we had him to kick around still) and he had a lot more vision than those before him and !!!!!!!after him!!!!!!!! (KATZ you bumbling fool!)(Had to get in my dig at him. It's becoming customary of me to associate his name with a bleak outlook)

Point Douglas is a long ways off from redevelopment unfortunately. It still hasn't hit bottom yet and gentrification isn't occuring. I think that once the Exchange is really reborn the shift might turn to Point Douglas but it's not on anybody's radar as near as I can gauge. In fact, about the only cure for it is to raze the whole area and rebuild it from scratch IMO since its location ensures no encroachment of wealth. In other words, since the Exchange doesn't border the residential parts of Point Douglas redevelopment won't just sort of sneak in eventually. As it stands nobody is going to build any high-end housing of any kind in the area. As for the industrial component of it (and I guess this is maybe what you're really referring to) it's too spotty in terms of operating businesses and abandoned lots. There just isn't enough contiguous land IMO to make a go of any large scale redevelopment. Thanks to the situs factor nobody is going to put up any high-density, high earner attracting development either. Its basically a dead zone IMO until the city formulates a plan to clear the whole southern half of Point Douglas and open it up to redevelopment.

Well, if we can grow by 10,000 a year (increased immigration, etc), this may become something developers may look at. There is no room in the Exchange for the large scale residential developments of this scale...

Is the Peg actually growing at 10,000 a year?

Well, at this point, 5,000...and perhaps 10,000 was a little generous....the Provincial government is targeting 10,000 immigrants a year, so with most of them coming to the 'peg, and less people leaving...

Speaking of leaving...this sucks...hmmm, I think this building needs to become a restaurant:


Sun, May 29, 2005


Downtown loss as A&B to close

Struggling chain cuts back

By DAVID SCHMEICHEL, STAFF REPORTER


It appears the death knell may have sounded for A&B Sound's downtown outlet, which will close its doors to business at the end of this month.

Yesterday, employees with the retailer confirmed Tuesday would be the Portage Avenue outlet's last day, though they referred further comment on the matter to the company's head offices in British Columbia.

Calls to Seanix Technology, the B.C.-based computer products manufacturer that purchased A&B Sound last February, were not returned.

PURPLE AND ORANGE

The employees spoken to downtown didn't say whether the store would be re-opening in a different location.

Employees at A&B Sound's second Winnipeg outlet, at 2195 Pembina Hwy., said their store will not be closing.

Employees at the downtown store were notified of the pending closure last Thursday.

Easily distinguished by its purple-and-orange exterior paint job, the downtown A&B Store opened in March 2001, after the company spent $2.5 million to renovate the eyesore that used to be the Portage Village Inn.

Downtown business boosters Centre-Venture Development Corp. were integral in bringing the store to Winnipeg, city Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said yesterday.

"That's disappointing," Gerbasi said, when informed the outlet would be closing. "It's one business, and I don't know what's been happening with it.

"I know there's a lot of excitement about what else is going on downtown, but it's still disappointing because they've been a really good type of retailer to have downtown."

Last January, A&B Sound applied for and received creditor protection under the Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act.

At the time, company CEO Tim Crowley told The Sun that the retailer was struggling with an estimated $50-million debt.

Sun Capital Partners Group Inc., a U.S.-based private investment firm, was poised to purchase the company, but press releases on A&B's website state the offer was rejected by creditors.

Instead, creditors approved an offer from Seanix, which "committed to offer continued employment to A&B Sound's 800 staff, and to enter into lease agreements on all 21 Western Canadian locations," according to the website.

A&B Sound sells a wide range of electronic products, including home theatre and car audio equipment, CDs, DVDs and video games.

^lol. The truth is, I've been expecting this announcement ever since they opened their doors. Yeah, that's hardly the height of downtown bolsterism but anyone could have told you the business would fail there. I'm sort of sad to see it go but it was only a matter of time. The city simply has not done enough to put people downtown and they are dragging their feet on getting more residential in the area. As a stand alone attraction it simply wasn't enough to draw people in. Still, as empty buildings go, it's better than what was there before.

I don't think it will be vacant for long--it certainly is striking given its colors (not that a future tenant wouldn't paint it) and certainly beckons...hmmm, how about adding some additional floors of condos/apartments, and a lovely restaurant on the main level? For a city that is supposed to have so many restaurants, there is nothing in this area...thank God for Moxies at least, but it is sad that Portage Ave in this area has no restaurants!

I don't think it will be vacant for long--it certainly is striking given its colors (not that a future tenant wouldn't paint it) and certainly beckons...hmmm, how about adding some additional floors of condos/apartments, and a lovely restaurant on the main level? For a city that is supposed to have so many restaurants, there is nothing in this area...thank God for Moxies at least, but it is sad that Portage Ave in this area has no restaurants!
I hope you're right (and I think you will be proven to be in due time) Personally, I imagine it'll be turned into a club until that goes belly-up too.
While I hope they don't tear it down (and of course, at this point they probably won't) it would be nice to see your idea come to fruition in terms of adding a few floors of residential to it.

I cannot say it enough...this city has so much potential. I was walking my dog around the Exchange today, and envisioned many of our surface lots filled with office buildings, etc. The thing is we need to start attracting more business to the city, which seems to have taken a back seat to simply promoting the downtown to Winnipeggers. Doer needs to get his act together asap! It is sad that South Dakota and Idaho are attracting business, but we aren't.

Well, between the pro-union/anti-business NDP and that bumbling fool Katz who bends over backwards for seniors but does nothing for the youth (or anybody in between for that matter either) I figure it should about two more years before all the bad news starts. Too bad, we were almost ready to move ahead in the world.

CentreVenture finally updated its website!!!!

www.centreventure.com

Wed, June 1, 2005


Aspers to build at Portage and Main?



By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER


Big and perhaps towering changes are in the works for Portage and Main as the Asper family maintains high expectations for Winnipeg's major intersection.

Broadcast magnate David Asper is working on plans to dramatically redevelop property around his family's 32-storey CanWest Global Place to create what he calls an "exciting" environment, possibly with a new building that would add to the skyline.

Asper confirmed the plans to The Sun yesterday but gave no details. He added, however, that the development could "potentially" add another point to the skyline around Portage Avenue and Main Street.

"The architects and designers involved, in terms of the concepts, are being extraordinarily creative," said Asper, executive vice-president of CanWest Global Communications Corp. who proposed a 40-storey tower in late 2003 for Manitoba Hydro's planned downtown headquarters.

'VERY EXCITING'

"We're not ready to say anything publicly at this point, in detail. But this goes back to the Hydro proposal. We've made no secret of the fact that we happen to believe strongly in the corner, and it's our intention to do whatever we can to make it very exciting."

The previous proposal for Manitoba Hydro's central offices would have meant construction of a tower -- to cost more than $100 million -- on Main just north of Portage, the site of a parking lot. The redevelopment would have come with an expansive glassed-in public space that would open with what Asper called "hangar-style" doors to bring a convertible indoor and outdoor environment.

David Asper confirmed the plans after his brother Leonard Asper, CanWest's president and CEO, hinted at them yesterday.

Leonard Asper said after his speech to a Destination Winnipeg meeting that the ideas focus on "enhancing" the area around the newly named CanWest Global Place, formerly known as TD Centre. "We're looking at making some improvements to the area that will enhance the building and make it more exciting to hang around at that corner," Leonard Asper explained, downplaying the possibility of another tower.

Confusion Corner has two more tenants


Wed Jun 1 2005

By Murray McNeill



TWO new retail stores are about to be added to one of the city's busiest street corners.
Dollarama, a Montreal-based discount-store chain, and Organza Market, a Winnipeg firm that specializes in natural and organic foods, are moving into the former Dark Zone/Adventure City building on the northeast of Confusion Corner (the intersection of Osborne Street, Pembina Highway, McMillan Avenue and Corydon Avenue).

The new Dollarama store, which will be the chain's seventh in the city and its largest at just over 11,000 square feet, will occupy the north half of the 24,500-square-foot building, the president and chief executive officer of the company which owns and developed the property -- Shindico Inc. -- said in an interview yesterday.

Sandy Shindleman said Organza, with about 9,000 square feet of space, will take up most of the south half of the building. There will be room for one other retail outlet in a 3,100-square-foot spot on the southwest corner of the building, Shindleman added, but a tenant for that space has not yet been found.

"It would be a good location for a financial services firm or a restaurant, or anybody that can make use of lots of parking," Shindleman added, noting there is room for about 200 vehicles in the parking lot on the west side of the building.

Shindleman said work crews are renovating the building to meet the requirements of the new tenants. He declined to say how much Shindico is spending to redevelop the property. Organza, which has been in business since 1999, is relocating from its 2,100-square-foot store at 664 Corydon Ave.


Owner Gerry Dickson said yesterday he hopes to have the store open by the end of June, and that he's looking forward to having all of that extra room and plenty of parking space at the new location.

"We've been frustrated here for a long time," he noted. "We think we're going to get a huge lift right away because we have customers who have refused to come here because they can't find parking."

Dickson said the new store will not only feature a larger grocery store (about 5,600 square feet), but also a bakery, a 30-plus-seat juice bar/deli where customers can also order takeout meals, and a health centre staffed with licensed practitioners (a naturopath and a chiropractor).

He said the company will be hiring extra workers to complement its staff of 12, although it's too soon to say how many more or when they will be hired. He noted this is a good time for Organza to be expanding because sales of organic foods have been growing by 25 to 30 per cent per year in North America in recent years as a growing number of consumers opt to eat more natural and organic foods as part of a healthier lifestyle.

"It's seniors, it's young kids, it's everything," he added.

He said some of Organza's best selling products are organic fruits and vegetables and natural dairy products such as milk, cheese and ice cream. He said the company buys its products from all over North America.

Chris Ketchabaw, Dollarama's district manager for Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said the company hopes to have its new store open by July 1. He added that the store will likely employ about 20 full and part-time employees.

Because of all the car and pedestrian traffic in the area, Ketchabaw said he expects the new store to be a high-volume outlet for the company. He also said that while this will be Dollarama's seventh Winnipeg outlet, it won't be the last one it opens.

"We're not even close. We still want to look into St. Vital, the Polo Park area, and Garden City," he added. "Winnipeg is a big city and there's lots of room for growing yet."

The part about the Asper Tower's adjacent lot is good news. I'm going to inflate my chest a little here on this though because ever since they announced their acquisition of the entire tower I figured they were planning something. I get the distinct impression that David Asper wants to see a large tower built on that site as a testament to the power of CanWest. I'm pretty sure he wants to crown the skyline, one way or another, with something big.

But I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, so to speak. For all we know they could only be talking about paving the lot and making it "pedestrian friendly" a la cheapo mini plaza.

On a side note though, the removal of the barriers at P and M would be downright stupid. If noticeably increased traffic is what is wanted then that's what they'll get with their removal. Not to mention the shops in the concourse would suffer. If there were tons of people who wanted to cross at the surface this would make sense but the concourse serves the purpose quite nicely. I hope those things never come down. If they want to rework them to make them prettier then fine but removal is stupid. It won't do anything for the corner since it's not a very active through-route for pedestrians on the street anyway.

People who want the barriers removed are as dense as Manhattan. The traffic that flows through the intersection is like no other in the city. because of poor planning, the traffic is not distributed properly, and allowing pedestrians through it will back traffic up big time. How about elevated (open) walkways above P&M?

People who want the barriers removed are as dense as Manhattan. The traffic that flows through the intersection is like no other in the city. because of poor planning, the traffic is not distributed properly, and allowing pedestrians through it will back traffic up big time. How about elevated (open) walkways above P&M?
We are in agreement of course where it concerns the barriers but I don't think it makes much sense to put up an elevated walkway. Afterall, we already have the concourse below grade. I know that it isn't open all the time but on the other hand that's something that can be fixed I think. For cost though, it makes a lot more sense to fix what we've got than building a redundant structure. It would have nice views mind you... ;)

It is so dreary and dark in the Underground...It would be cool to have the open area above to sit and have lunch, etc, and for the views alone, it would be worth it!!!

Record house prices
Sizzling city market shocks even industry vets

Sat Jun 4 2005

GORDON SINCLAIR JR.



PETER Squire, the Winnipeg Real Estate Board's market analyst, was expecting another robust month of sales in May, but yesterday he did a double-take.
And then a second calculation.

"I wasn't quite ready for what I saw," Squire said. "Our dollar volume just fell shy of $200 million."

Never in the real estate board's history have there been more houses sold for more money than there were in May.

The actual number -- just over $198 million -- was $42 million higher than June of last year, which owned the previous record.

The indicators that May would set a record were there early.

House price increases

These are the Winnipeg neighbourhoods that saw the biggest jump in average home prices between 2004 and 2005:


2004 2005 % difference
North Kildonan $166,669 $223,531 34.12 %
Weston $48,965 $62,525 27.69%
Deer Lodge/Bruce Park $92,844 $118,431 27.65%
North End $36,817 $45,939 24.57 %
Interlake $83,695 $104,100 24.38%
River Heights North $193,736 $240,476 24.13%
St. Vital $96,888 $120,145 24.01%
Elmwood $60,457 $74,818 23.76%
West End $76,397 $93,413 22.27%
East Kildonan $101,700 $120,833 19.56%
Riverview/Fort Rouge $104,653 $123,959 18.45%
Wolseley $122,917 $144,139 17.27%
Charleswood $169,613 $197,406 16.43%
Canterbury Park $113,207 $131,653 16.29%
Tuxedo $284,925 $328,727 15.37%
River Park South $170,118 $195,342 14.83%


In Linden Woods, Hugh and Milly Matson listed their pretty little pristine blonde-brick bungalow for $227,000. A few days and 12 offers later, the 1,600-square-foot house they bought nine years ago for $145,000 had sold for a Calgary-like price of $265,400.

Meanwhile, in Crescentwood, a rare Tyndall stone house that listed for $275,000 was driven up all the way to $400,000, although the real cost of the 2,100-square-foot home that a Stonewall quarry-owner built for his daughter might be closer to $500,000 after the circa-1912 interior is updated.

On Wellington Crescent, meanwhile, another house became only the fifth Winnipeg home to sell for $1 million or more.

Five years ago, before Winnipeg's housing market began to take on boom-town-like growth, the board would have been happy with a $100-million month.

But it's not just the dollar value that's climbing.

So is the number of sales. Five years ago, before Winnipeg's housing market began to take on boom-town-like growth, the board would have been happy with a $100-million month.

But it's not just the dollar value that's climbing.

So is the number of sales.

There were a record 1,434 sales last month, compared to previous best of 1,360 in May 2001.

Veteran real estate agents like Janne Young, who sold the Linden Woods bungalow, and Menno Friesen and David DeLeeuw, who have been around for more than two or three decades, all say they've never seen anything like it.

There are a number of reasons for what's changed since the 1990s, when Winnipeg housing prices were as flat as the landscape.

But it comes down to a basic three.

High demand, low inventory and low interest rates have created the perfect storm for the Winnipeg real estate market.

"There just aren't enough listings to satisfy demand throughout the city," says Dianne Himbeault, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's senior market analyst for Manitoba. Ideally, there should be four or five homes on the market for each buyer.

In Winnipeg, there aren't even two houses for one buyer.

"We have the lowest inventory, I believe, in the country," the real estate board's Squire said. "And it's been that way for the last two years now."

Plus, Winnipeg has the second-lowest vacancy rate, which exacerbates the perfect storm.

In certain neighbourhoods, houses are selling more quickly than they're coming on the market.

For example, last month in Norwood Flats, there were 16 sales but only five new listings.

In Whyte Ridge, 24 sold, compared to nine that were fresh listings.

Garden City had 12 sales to four new listings.

And in Wolseley, 18 homes sold while only five came on stream. In Linden Woods, where the average sale price is among the city's highest, there were 19 sales and an equal number of listings.

No wonder that last month, multiple bidders pushed nearly half of all sales over list price, while another 11 per cent of homes went for list.

The real estate board doesn't like to talk about average stock, because Winnipeg has a large stock of older, inner-city homes that skew the average.

But lower-end areas like the North End, Weston and Elmwood are among neighbourhoods where prices have climbed the most over the last year.

The highest is North Kildonan, where the average price jumped 34 per cent, from $166,669 to $223,531.

Little wonder that the average Winnipeg selling price hit a high last month, too -- $148,000 -- up 11 per cent from last May, when it was $133,000.

Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate does a national survey, using a set of generic styles of houses.

That survey tracks just how rapidly prices are spiking.

For example, the average River Heights bungalow was $180,000 in the first quarter, compared to $174,000 three months ago and $161,000 last year. Compare that to somewhat-similar neighbourhoods in Toronto.

The average price of a bungalow in High Park, an older, leafy Hogtown neighbourhood, is $565,000. Similarly, the typical bungalow in The Beaches, a lakeside area a short subway ride from the centre of town, is more manageable at $406,000.

Rick Preston, the manager of the Royal LePage office on Corydon and Niagara, says the boom has raised some expectations among home-sellers that every house should have multiple bidders.

But it's still generally the premium, well-maintained properties that get those top dollars.

Like the Linden Woods bungalow that went or a whopping $265,400.

Who would have enough confidence in the marketplace to pay that kind of price?

Veteran real estate agent Menno Friesen, as it turns out.

"We better get over the sticker shock," says the CMHC's Dianne Himbeault.

These unreal prices for Winnipeg are for real




OK, now is the best time for a massive redevelopment of Point Douglas...it can become Winnipeg's new urban neighborhood...especially now that more space is being cleared....

Wrecker's ball aimed at Point Douglas eyesore

CBC News

WINNIPEG – The burned-out hull of the abandoned Ogilvie Mills building on Higgins Avenue in Winnipeg is finally coming down.

Local business owners and residents have long considered the building, which was mostly destroyed by fire in 1997, a firetrap and an eyesore.

Eddy Osato, who runs Eddy O's Market next to the former mill, said it can't come down soon enough.

"We see people going in and out of there, kids going in and out of there, and somebody's going to get hurt," he said. "We don't want to see anybody get hurt as far as an accident is concerned or another fire. Let's take it down and be done with it."

Winnipeg's Fire Paramedic Service shares that sentiment. Last summer, firefighters spent weeks trying to put out a blaze at the abandoned Manitoba Cold Storage building, just down the road. The building was eventually demolished, and fire officials say the Ogilvie mill was just another hazard that should also be demolished.

"If we can get rid of these derelict buildings, it makes it safer for firefighters, the paramedics and ultimately for the public," said Robin Alford, spokesperson for the service.

The city gained control of the Ogilvie Mills building only recently, after the former owner defaulted on his property taxes.

A company from Edmonton is preparing the site for demolition; officials say the building will be brought down by controlled explosion.

All traces of the building should be gone by the fall.

New apartment complex for city
300 rental units planned to meet rising demand

Mon Jun 6 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



FRUSTRATED apartment-hunters could get some relief from another large-scale apartment complex, this one planned for Windsor Park.
WRE Development plans to build 300 new rental units in St. Boniface on an oblong, four-hectare parcel of land just west of the intersection of Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue.

It's one of a growing number of apartment complexes planned for the city after years of drought in the rental market. Generally, the only apartments built over the last several years were "life-leases" or units meant for seniors.

Officials from WRE could not be reached. But Ross Mitchell, a planning consultant with ND Lea who is working with WRE, said there is a new demand for rental units that may make it more lucrative for developers to build.

Mitchell pointed to skyrocketing house prices in Winnipeg that have forced many young people to put off buying their first property.

"Gone are the days when you'd move from your parents' basement into your first house," said Mitchell. The complex west of Lagimodiere will see the construction of five buildings, each four-storeys high. The suites will be high-end, costing about $850 per month for a one-bedroom unit and $950 a month for a two-bedroom.

The city's vacancy rate has hovered at about one per cent for the last couple of years, which has made it difficult for many renters to find accommodations.

Landlords and developers blame rent control for the dearth of new apartment buildings, saying it wasn't worthwhile to build new apartment buildings if they were prohibited from raising rents to a level that would allow a fair profit.

But earlier this year, the province proposed changes to the controversial rules that would give new rental units a 20-year exemption from rent caps. That's up from 15 years.

The move is meant to spur construction of new units.

2,000 apartment units Another firm, Broadstreet Properties Ltd., already has plans to build 2,000 new apartment units in Winnipeg over the next five years.

The British-Columbia-based company built 554 new one- and two-bedroom apartments in Winnipeg in the last two years, including a seven-building development on Leila Avenue. According to data compiled by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., that accounts for most of the rental units developed in the last decade in Winnipeg.

Broadstreet plans is to build about another 400 units per year for each of the next five years.

An estimated 200 residents of Windsor Park attended a public open house recently to hash out concerns about traffic near the Lagimodiere complex.

The land is zoned for commercial development such as a big-box store or a hotel, but city planners say a medium-density residential complex fits better on the site. It would have been tricky for traffic to access a busy store or office on the site, said a city report that recommends rezoning.

And something like a big- box store would have caused more headaches at the busy intersection of Lagimodiere and Fermor.

About 30 homes back onto the complex's land. But an eight-foot fence and about 130 feet of landscaping and mature vegetation will separate the apartment buildings from the homes.

Mitchell said most people left the hearing satisfied, but the public will be able to speak again at a meeting of the area's city councillors Wednesday evening.

Councillors will likely vote then on whether to rezone the land to allow the apartment complex

It's in a pretty horrible location though.

Hopefully one of the ugliest intersections we have will be rejuvenated...



Big doings on King St.

Major new development touted

By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER


Real estate developers will make a pitch today for a major new development in the Exchange District that would encompass up to an entire city block, The Sun has learned.

The multi-million-dollar development would encompass a multi-storey commercial, office and possibly residential complex, as well as a parking lot, in an area currently known as the Ryan Block -- a vacant four-storey heritage building constructed in 1895.

The development would encompass much, if not all, of King Street from Bannatyne Avenue to McDermot Avenue.

Dramatic twist

"It's going to be a major redevelopment for the area," Ken Reiss, real estate director for Bedford Investments, told The Sun yesterday. "We're dealing with the redevelopment of the entire block."

Reiss is scheduled to discuss his plans at a meeting of city hall's property committee this morning.

The new pitch by Reiss and his father Harry -- proprietors of the Reiss Furniture company, which has a store at the block's south end -- will mark a dramatic twist in a long dispute over the vacant Ryan building, which they own at King and Bannatyne.

The long-empty Ryan Block -- a city heritage property -- can't be legally torn down, as Bedford has wanted, unless councillors remove its historic designation.

The city has ordered the company to better secure the Ryan building's exterior and to correct interior fire-safety hazards under a warning of charges and court proceedings.

Though the city has not agreed to remove the heritage designation, Reiss said he may now drop that request to keep the building -- or at least its facades and features -- as part of the reconstruction.

The development would likely adjoin to the existing Bedford Building where the Reiss business is located and see four to six storeys run the entire block -- possibly similar to Red River College's $32-million campus nearby.

Retail would go into street-level space, with commercial and possibly residential units in the complex, Reiss said.

Construction could begin in about a year, separate from a planned $9-million renovation of the firm's Bedford Building on the block. Reiss would not give an exact dollar figure on how much the development would cost.

"It's going to be several million dollars," he said of the latest idea, noting grants might be available if the Ryan's heritage listing remains. "We have to do our feasibility study. We have to get some direction from the committee."

Coun. Mike O'Shaughnessy (Old Kildonan) is eager to see decisions that finally spruce up the boarded and ugly Ryan Block, which suffered heavy damage in a 1991 fire.

"Either leave it alone and remodel it, or keep the outer two walls of it and build something within like we did with Red River College," said O'Shaughnessy.

Local company goes back to the future
Project combines residential, commercial space

Wed Jun 15 2005

By Murray McNeill

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ips_rich_content/15b77_nu_osborne_cover2_e.jpg


A local firm is going back to the future with the newest development project for downtown Winnipeg.
Inlett Properties has begun work on a new multi-phase redevelopment of the former Canadian Red Cross building at 226 Osborne St. North, which will include commercial, residential and office space.

That kind of mixed-use building concept dates back to an earlier time in Winnipeg's history, when it was fairly common to see buildings that included commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above, Doug Russell, Inlett's director of operations and finance, said yesterday.

"It's basically a return-to-the-grassroots kind of thing," Russell said in an interview.

"You see that in some of larger cities like Chicago."

Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone, said those kinds of multi-use buildings were fairly common in about the 1930s and '40s in Winnipeg. He said it's the kind of development that's particularly welcome in the downtown. "It just brings so much more vibrancy to the neighbourhood."

Russell said there are some practical reasons why a mixed-use concept seemed to be a good fit for this project.

For starters, it reduces the market risk because it should be easier to fill 102,000-square-feet of space with three different types of tenant, instead of just one.

A second consideration was location. The site is across the street from Memorial Park, and Inlett officials wanted to take full advantage of the view by including two floors of one- and two-bedroom condominiums (seven on each floor) that would face onto the park.

Russell declined to reveal the price-tag for the project.

He said the plan is to develop the project in four phases, and hopefully to have everything complete within about three years. The first phase, which got underway about a month ago, involves an overhaul of the two-storey, 23,050-square-foot building at 226 Osborne St. North. That includes stripping down the interior to the bare walls, installing new mechanical systems, and then rebuilding the interior space for new offices and common areas.

The building exterior will be cleaned up, the front entrance rebuilt, and larger windows installed on the east facing Osborne and the park.

The second phase, planned to get underway next spring, will involve adding two floors onto the existing building (each 7,500 square feet in size) to house the 14 condos. They hope to have that complete by the end of next year.


The third phase, tentatively scheduled to get underway the following spring, would involve the construction of a one-and-a-half-storey glass atrium that will serve as a main entrance for the complex and also house about 9,000 square feet of commercial space. Russell said the plan is to fill the space with a couple of food-service-related business, such as a restaurant and coffee shop.

The final phase would involve the construction of a new eight-storey office tower that will be attached to the atrium and be built on what is now a gravel parking lot on the southwest corner of Osborne and York Avenue. Russell said each floor will be about 9,000 square feet, and the plan is to designate the bottom floor as commercial space and the rest for offices. There will be a combination of indoor and surface parking to accommodate the commercial, office and residential occupants.

Russell said although the first phase is being done without any tenants being signed up, remaining construction won't proceed until at last 50 per cent of the space in each phase is leased or sold. Inlett officials say they are optimistic the project can be completed within about three years.

He noted that with the renewed interest in redeveloping the downtown, this is a good time for Inlett to be proceeding. The Winnipeg-based firm owns about 400,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space in the three Prairie provinces and Northwestern Ontario, but this is its only property in downtown Winnipeg.

Posh, popular condos get started on Waterfront


Wed Jun 15 2005

By Martin Cash



CONSTRUCTION began yesterday on the second of four mixed use condominium projects on Waterfront Drive, with six of its eight high end condos already sold.
Ship Street Village, named after the tiny side street developers discovered when planning the project, will feature eight luxury townhouse condos and eight street-level commercial/flex use spaces.

The development is a joint venture between Freedom Developments Ltd. and Qualico Group's Streetside Development Corp.


While officials from those companies acknowledge that the timing is right for such a project, considering Winnipeg's housing crunch, they also said they were not surprised by the warm reception.

Kevin Van is the manager of Streetside, which has seven different condo developments with about 500 units underway around the city. He said this kind of upscale urban development is being met with enthusiasm elsewhere. "Some of us at Qualico have been looking at this site (on Waterfront Drive) for many years," Van said. "We have offices in Calgary and Edmonton and Vancouver and we know people love these kinds of projects. When the request for proposal first went out, we knew we could not miss this opportunity."

Van and his partners, Marshall Freed and Ross McGowan of Freedom Developments Ltd., said that among other things the fact that Ship Street was not a "one-off" development in the area made it much easier to go ahead with the $4.5 million, 27,000-square-foot project.

"The critical mass created by all the projects on Waterfront Drive was definitely an important feature for potential buyers," said McGowan, who was one of the proponents of the Gerard Street condo project off River Avenue just west of Osborne Street.

For various reasons the 42-unit Gerard Street project took much longer than McGowan had anticipated.

"This project (Ship Street) is a dream compared to Gerard Street," McGowan said.

Among other things, he said Ship Street Village has set "a new bar" for condo prices in Winnipeg. The eight units are being sold for prices ranging from $360,000 to $550,000. Laurie Davies, owner of a fibreglass window component manufacturer, bought one of the larger 2,700 square foot units. He and his wife, Linda, said that they do not worry about buying at the top of the market.

"We have a lot of faith in the neighborhood," Davies said. "We think it will be a great place to be."

Gary Bachman, sales manager for Ship Street, said the project will offer unique features like double heated garages for each unit, elevators that are shared only by two condo owners each, radiant heat and brick and concrete construction.

So when are the other two projects slated for Waterfront Drive going to get built? They were announced last year so you'd think they would be moving on them by now.

I would think they will start soon...

On another note, I emailed the Greentree Group about the Union Bank renos and addition...they were supposed to start this month. Hopefully they will respond...

I would think they will start soon...

On another note, I emailed the Greentree Group about the Union Bank renos and addition...they were supposed to start this month. Hopefully they will respond...
Union Bank renos and addition? What's that all about ?

The Union Bank building beside City Hall...The Greentree Home Group announced a $15.5 million project near City Hall. The Union Bank Centre, a 100-year old heritage building at William Avenue and Main Street will undergo a major renovation this summer and be open to tenants in 2006. A companion building will also be built next door on the former site of the Leland Hotel.

The Union Bank Centre, an eleven storey structure had been empty for many years. Together with the new skyscraper the two buildings will offer about 120,000 square feet of space. The new building will be slightly shorter than the existing bank building. The architect for the project is Prairie Architects.

Wasn't there any news recently about a developer interested in renovating the Avenue Building (or tearing it down and rebuilding)? I haven't heard anything about the proposed hotel next to the Convention Centre.

Lakeview was supposed to have started the hotel this spring...not sure what the delay is! The Avenue Building is such an eyesore...while it has no major historical significance, it would be great if the owners would restore the buildings red brick facade...that strip needs the color!!! Then again, so is the back side of the Kensington Building--concrete wall. I think they should have a mural painted on it...like the side of the Hydro building at Portage/St. James...

The Union Bank building beside City Hall...The Greentree Home Group announced a $15.5 million project near City Hall. The Union Bank Centre, a 100-year old heritage building at William Avenue and Main Street will undergo a major renovation this summer and be open to tenants in 2006. A companion building will also be built next door on the former site of the Leland Hotel.

The Union Bank Centre, an eleven storey structure had been empty for many years. Together with the new skyscraper the two buildings will offer about 120,000 square feet of space. The new building will be slightly shorter than the existing bank building. The architect for the project is Prairie Architects.
Sounds good but when is it going to get started?

They haven't emailed me back yet...hopefully soon!

I'm glad they're finally doing something with that Leland hotel site. Right now there's just a rusting freight container there. I think the Exchange district will be the first area in downtown to revive.

It still has a long way to go...the area needs more restaurants and more residential developments; I would like to see an injection of some new buildings. I would like to see it become more like Ottawa's Byward Market which is always bustling with people!

Construction on hold for downtown hotel
Developer reconfiguring plans to include condominiums

Sat Jun 25 2005

By Aldo Santin



CONSTRUCTION of a new downtown hotel has been delayed while the developer reconfigures the plan to include condominiums.
Jack Levitt, president of the Lakeview Group of Companies, said he's proceeding with plans to build an all-suites hotel on St. Mary Avenue, immediately west of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, but added the project will now include 25 one- and two-bedroom condominium units.

"It'll be a 10-storey building with 97 hotel suites and, on the top two floors, 25 condominium suites," Levitt said.

Levitt said the new building will be connected to the convention centre with an elevated walkway, adding there will also be a connection to the office building at 400 St. Mary Ave. to the west, which had been a terminus on the walkway system.

Levitt said he decided to alter the project plans after becoming convinced that downtown Winnipeg would be ideal for a model that's taking root all over the world.

"Highrise buildings going up now often have different components to them -- hotel space, office space, commercial space, and residential. Successful buildings are able to combine these in a variety of elements." The hotel will be an all-suite development marketed to the business community. It will include a small banquet room and three smaller meeting rooms. There will be no restaurant, but Levitt said there will be leased space available on the main floor that could accommodate one.

The condominium units will be about 900 square feet, and each will have a balcony. There will be nine two-bedroom units and 16 one-bedroom units.

Levitt said that while the condominium suites will be marketed to young professionals and empty-nesters, they'll prove a bonus to the hotel operation.

"I'll be providing for additional hotel rooms without investing any more money to get them," Levitt said, adding that owners of the condo suites will be invited to let the hotel rent them out when they're not being occupied.

He said he thought the condominiums would be attractive alternatives to corporations that have been renting homes or all-suite rooms for executives they bring to Winnipeg.

Lakeview had originally announced plans for a 115-unit hotel on St. Mary Avenue back in early November, with construction to start in the spring of this year and to be completed before the end of the year. Levitt said construction will now begin in the fall.

Klaus Lahr, general manager of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, said Levitt met with the centre's board yesterday to present his project plans, adding they were well received.

"Jack is known for thinking outside the box and I have to applaud him for that," Lahr said. "I'm very pleased that Jack is taking the initiative to bring an interesting component to the market.

"I think it's an incredibly creative way to build a downtown multi-use facility. It will have a residential component, a commercial hotel component and a street-level component to it. It will be interesting."

The hotel/condo project will be built on a lot that now contains 106 parking stalls.

The new hotel will be named Lakeview Suites. Levitt said there will be enough space remaining on the site for the construction of a second hotel. If the new hotel is a success, Levitt said a second hotel with 100 rooms would be built, possibly under a different name, but physically connected to the first hotel. Levitt said that if the Winnipeg Convention Centre proceeds with a proposal for a major expansion, the second hotel could have 200 to 300 rooms.

Lakeview has constructed $2 billion worth of projects since 1964, including 5,000 residential units, more than two million square feet of office buildings, two million square feet of office showroom and warehouse space, and 300,000 square feet of shopping centre space.

The St. Mary Avenue hotel project marks a return to downtown Winnipeg for Lakeview, where it built the twin Holiday Towers Apartments, Colony Square, Lakeview Square, the hotel now known as Delta Winnipeg, the Royal Trust building, the Centra Gas building and the downtown Sheraton hotel.

Lakeview has also developed the Courts of St. James, the Hilton Winnipeg Suite Hotel (formally the Airport Radisson Suite Hotel), the Country Inn and Resorts, the Lakeview Resort in Gimli, and the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Winnipeg International Airport, which an industry spokesman said has the highest average occupancy of any hotel in the city. Once the hotel links to the convention centre and the nearby office building at 400 St. Mary Ave., the downtown elevated walkway -- known as the W -- will be complete, save the corner at Hargrave Street and St. Mary Avenue. A person could walk from the Delta Winnipeg hotel through the convention centre, the new Lakeview hotel and on into the Bay, through Portage Place to the MTS Centre. From there, one could wind his or her way to Winnipeg Square, or go through the arena to the adjoining Cityplace mall, across the street from the Delta Winnipeg.

City officials have been working on a funding formula that will encourage owners of the Royal Trust Tower at 330 St. Mary Ave., and the Delta Winnipeg to complete the link with a connection to Cityplace.

Lahr said he was pleased that Levitt took the time to keep the convention centre up to date on his plans, adding that both sides will soon begin negotiating an agreement for construction of the bridge walkway linking the two facilities.






Old plant powers up
Bar, office space about to open near MTS Centre

Sat Jun 25 2005

By Aldo Santin



THE old Eaton's powerhouse building beside the MTS Centre takes in its first tenants next week and will be home to a fancy sports bar the week after.
The corporate staff of True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd., including staff of the Manitoba Moose hockey team, move into the powerhouse building next week, and Canad Inns will open its Tavern United sports bar there the week after. The red brick powerhouse at the corner of Hargrave Street and Graham Avenue is most easily recognized by its tall smokestack, which was retained in the $6-million re-development.

The Moose executive and True North will occupy the third floor of the building.

Canad Inns' first downtown sports bar will take up the first floor and mezzanine level and a roof-top patio.

CKY television will move into an addition that is under construction to the west of the building.

Eric Knarr, Tavern United division manager, said the new sports bar will be similar in design and atmosphere to Canad Inn's other two Tavern United bars -- one at the Canad Inn Fort Garry on Pembina Highway and the other at the refurbished Keystone Centre in Brandon. Knarr said downtown patrons will be amazed at the structure's interior, with its high ceilings, two-storey windows and original brick and ironwork.

"It will be a blend of a traditional English pub with a new-world twist," Knarr said, adding that in addition to the expected dark wood interior, Tavern United will sport a lot of neon and huge plasma TVs.

Jeoff Chipman, project manager of the Powerhouse redevelopment, said initial plans had the True North and the Moose executive moving into the building at the beginning of April but work was stopped when CTV decided last fall that it wanted to move to the site as well.

"We had to stop work and redo all our drawings," Chipman said. "That threw us off from our original move-in date by about three months."

The Powerhouse project is jointly owned by Megill-Stephenson, the Chipman family development firm, and Osmington Inc., the Toronto developer that used to own the Eaton Place shopping mall and parkade and later bought the Eaton building when the retail giant went into bankruptcy. Osmington is a partner in the arena project and retains a 50 per cent ownership of the Powerhouse building.

Chipman said Phase 2 of the project is proceeding. It involves expanding the building to provide a new studio and production facilities for CKY Television, the local CTV affiliate. The project should be completed by late October or November. Even though True North was counting on revenue from the 50 VLTs that will be located in Tavern United, True North CEO Jim Ludlow said the company has done so well since it opened in the fall that it hasn't missed VLT revenues lost due to the delayed opening.

He said revenues from the MTS Centre were higher than expected for the first seven months of operation. Almost every show staged there has been sold out, and attendance at Moose games exceeded everyone's expectations, he said. The greater attendance numbers boosted ancillary operations like concessions and merchandise sales.

"That nicely set off the VLT revenue that we're missing because of the delay in the Powerhouse project," Ludlow said

Sat, June 25, 2005


Packers site eyed for sport

Elite rec 'campus' touted

By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER




It would become an elite sports training centre and the country's largest recreation complex, filling all 170-plus acres where Winnipeg's Canada Packers plant once stood.

Officials from Man-Shield Construction are confident their proposed Manitoba Sports and Recreation Campus -- a combined indoor and outdoor mix of soccer, baseball, golf, skating and court sports facilities -- is like nothing else in Canada.

"We think this could be very, very unique," Tony Nocita, a Man-Shield partner and former professional soccer player, told The Sun yesterday. "We want to see if we can make a difference and clean up that area.

"And St. Boniface could use something like this. It's a great site and great location."

Nocita and other proponents unveiled their concept this week to Riel Enterprises Corp., a St. Boniface economic development agency. And the verdict was that the complex -- roughly estimated to cost between $76 million and $86 million -- might be the answer to Winnipeg's recreation facility shortage.

Between six and eight outdoor soccer pitches and nearly as many indoors would take shape at the currently vacant tract at Marion and Archibald streets, where the Packers main plant was imploded in 2001.

In addition, eight softball diamonds and outdoor courts for tennis, basketball and beach volleyball would be constructed with a water park and possibly a hotel.

Katz interested

An outdoor speed-skating oval and golf "academy" -- though not an actual golf course -- would make an elite athletic training centre as much as a family sports facility.

"It would be a centre of excellence for sports for the province," said Norm Gousseau, one of Riel's officials, who gave a tentative thumbs-up to the plan. "There's also a commercial area where you might have a sports injury clinic, rehabilitation and fitness centres and so on."

Mayor Sam Katz said he's interested in more details about the proposed sports campus.

Coun. Franco Magnifico (St. Boniface) has quietly championed the proposal around city hall and in his ward, where the future of the Public Markets Site -- former home to several food processors -- has long been in limbo.

Public and private funding would be necessary to build it, Magnifico said, adding a commercial sector at the facility would make it largely "self-reliant" in operations.

"Because of the enormity of this thing, it will have thousands of people using it," Magnifico said.

I think that the redevelopment of east St. Boniface is well overdue. I think they need to take all these projects and make a proper masterplan for the entire site.
Here is the site as it is right now.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/stbo.jpg

Here is my plan for the entire site. Notice the large park in the middle. That is where I envision a recreation complex. Right now it is the site of a partially abandoned shell refinery.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/stbr.jpg

Here is a zoning map of the site.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/stbrzone.jpg

Forgot to post this pic of the Lakeview hotel....

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ips_rich_content/25b9__north_view_eps.jpg

Two things...
@Haber: I'm pretty sure that your plan will remain unrealized. Too bad IMO (although I'm not a fan of the grid, the new urbanism model would be great in there [a hybrid of grid and garden style planning if you're not familiar with it...think Mackenzie Towne in Calgary for a reference)) Basically the city has already committed those lands to industrial development and what remains is just too blotchy to make a viable go of virtually any residential except along the fringe. Another way to put it is that while there are plenty of open areas and it is hardly full, that's not the same as saying that nobody owns the parcels in question. Not to mention that there are plenty of new and newer buildings in the area that simply will not be moved (think Maple Leaf on Warman for example) Anyway, I like the idea but it would require the city to start thinking ahead (as in right now) and we both know how well they do that.



Now for the exciting part...I was talking to a guy at work who mentioned something in passing that I can't confirm in any way but still find very exciting. He claims that he was watching Global the other night and saw something about the Aspers building their proposed MB Hydro tower anyway. I mulled it over in my mind to ascertain whether he heard wrong or not. I think he did but there must be a kernel of truth to it IMO. Essentially, I know that Great West was looking for about another 150 000 sq.feet of office space which would make them a viable main tenant. Since we are absorbing about a quarter million sq. feet of office space a year here I think that if the building included a residential component of some sort (or some kind of mixed use scheme anyway) as well as the fact that the Aspers are gunning for centralization in Winnipeg and would therefore require further space over the long run I think they could make a go of it.

In a nutshell, I'm starting to think that maybe the Aspers have something much bigger planned for that corner than our humble egos have permitted us to speculate on. Admittedly, I don't want to get my hopes up either but according to my source (however dubious his info is) they are planning to start in the fall on a 40 storey tower. I figure that if he understood correctly then that fits together rather nicely.

I dunno guys but I really do think that we have set our sights really low in pining for some kind of park when Canwest is quite likely thinking about 40-45 parks stacked on top of one another lol. He did describe what he saw rather vividly and mentioned plans that only people like us have much reason to know. He's not a skyscraper fan....obviously I needled him continuously on what he saw.

Okay, anyway, my excitement is bleeding through your screen by now I'm sure it's that obvious but I think this is %50 possible that he heard right and understood correctly concerning what he saw on the news. Knowing Leonard Aspers grandiose vision and civic pride I have a strong feeling that the Peg will be getting a very noticeable new tallest.

Crossing our fingers !

Cross more than your fingers...LOL

This would be great. As much as I want to see many smaller infills to replace surface/vacant lots, the skyline has not changed since Canwest (TD) Tower was built, and I am kinda getting tired of it! We need something truly spectacular to marvel at, and to imbue people with that sense of pride many of us are lacking! I am not a fan of the last proposal for Hydro though. In that location, the skyline needs something either round...

http://www.225southsixth.com/images/home5.jpg

Or at least curved....

http://www.ohnd.uscourts.gov/Clerk_s_Office/New_Court_House/DSCN5273web.jpg

Something with blue glass...maybe some red in it...hell, black even to break up the drab...

Cross more than your fingers...LOL

This would be great. As much as I want to see many smaller infills to replace surface/vacant lots, the skyline has not changed since Canwest (TD) Tower was built, and I am kinda getting tired of it! We need something truly spectacular to marvel at, and to imbue people with that sense of pride many of us are lacking! I am not a fan of the last proposal for Hydro though. In that location, the skyline needs something either round...

http://www.225southsixth.com/images/home5.jpg

Or at least curved....

http://www.ohnd.uscourts.gov/Clerk_s_Office/New_Court_House/DSCN5273web.jpg

Something with blue glass...maybe some red in it...hell, black even to break up the drab...

My money is on a resurrection of their MB Hydro proposal. The one that looks just like the Leadenhall in London (although slightly nicer IMO if not as tall) The nice thing about that particular idea is that it is easy to conceive as being modified to accomodate residential portions. I admit that I agree with you but what can I say, beggars can't be choosers and I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (have I satisfied my cliche quota for the day? lol)

God, the ol'Peg is just a rockin these days.
I know the city is growing but what about the DOWNTOWN population? Is it getting its fair share of population growth? Numbers?

God, the ol'Peg is just a rockin these days.
I know the city is growing but what about the DOWNTOWN population? Is it getting its fair share of population growth? Numbers?

The downtown population is around 12 000. It however has been declining ever year since the 70s. Hopefully someday people will be living downtown. By then it may be 50 000 instead of what it is now.

Thu, June 30, 2005


Plans unveiled for skate park

Private project for The Forks

By CHRIS KITCHING, STAFF REPORTER





The Forks unveiled plans yesterday for what it's calling a world-class skateboard park.

The $1.2 million project -- funded entirely by private cash -- features a concrete bowl for extreme sports buffs and a skate plaza equipped with lights, benches and obstacles skaters can jump and grind.

ANONYMOUS LOCAL DONOR

"We wanted to make it a skateboard park that everyone can use," said Bob Somers, a landscape architect who helped Vancouver's Mark van der Zalm come up with the design.

"It will be the second largest on the Prairies so you'll see some pretty incredible skaters coming out of this city in a year," Somers said.

The idea came about when an anonymous local donor -- along with van der Zalm, a seasoned designer with more than a dozen similar projects under his belt -- approached The Forks.

Construction is expected to begin near the end of July to make way for an October opening, said Paul Jordan, the site's chief operating officer.

Novice and advanced skateboarders, inline skaters and cyclists can use the 3,420 sq. m (38,000 sq. ft) park, which is bordered by Scotia Bank Stage, Festival Park and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights site.

Forks officials say it will attract more tourists and big name skaters, but the idea drew mixed feelings from those who checked out the plans last night.

"I don't think it's appropriate for The Forks," said senior Marjorie Jaman. "It's impressive but it would be a good thing if it was somewhere else. This is supposed to be a park and a quiet area."

Graeme Barr, 14, liked what he saw and said he'll bring his skateboard to the park when it opens this fall.

"It's a lot better than the other skate parks and it's free so we'll get a lot of use out if it," Barr said.

Manitoba Hydro's final design is in...

http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/10_carlton_bw.jpg

http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/01_portage.jpg

More at:
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/index.htm

Finally we are seeing something nice arise in Winnipeg. There seems to be only one leasable space on the Edmonton side. I would like to see coffee shops restaurants and a few small stores there (similar to the West side of Edmonton) , but I have a hunch that the bank will occupy that space. The amount of glass in that building will certainly put more variety in our skyline.

I was looking at Centreventure's website, and I see some lots that were for sale for quite awhile have been cond. sold. Perhaps we will see more infills like Webbsite?

Cumberland at Edmonton (two lots)

Waterfront Drive at James

An old rail bridge in Winnipeg's St. James neighborhood is poised to become condos. The city gave its approval, but of course the nimbys are trying to convince the province to curtail it. I think they will ignore the nimbys, though...


Bridge condos given thumbs-up
Last Updated Jul 14 2004 04:05 PM CDT
CBC News
A plan to build condominiums on an old rail bridge in Winnipeg moved a step closer to reality Tuesday night.

The bridge, which spans the Assiniboine River just east of the St. James Bridge, is part of the abandoned Oak Point rail line. Alex Katz owns the bridge; he wants to build 20 to 24 condominiums on it.

About 200 people crammed into the council chambers at City Hall Tuesday night for a community committee meeting on the proposal.

While some residents spoke in opposition to the idea, councillors on the committee voted in favour of it.

"We decided that essentially the negative case had not been made," says River Heights Coun. Donald Benham. "[We decided] that the owner had made a very good case for what he wanted to do with the property, that he was being very responsible, that he was offering people an opportunity to live in River Heights in a kind of innovative way.

"We don't live on bridges generally, and those who do certainly don't pay for them in condos. So to the extent that someone will now be living on a bridge in Winnipeg in an innovative way, I think that will be a good thing."

The proposal now moves on to the city's standing policy committee on property and development before a final vote by city council.


http://www.condosonthebridge.com/cmain/images2/west_before.jpg

Not the best rendering, but it offers an idea of what will take shape...
http://www.condosonthebridge.com/cmain/images2/west_after.jpg

pretty cool

An old rail bridge in Winnipeg's St. James neighborhood is poised to become condos. The city gave its approval, but of course the nimbys are trying to convince the province to curtail it. I think they will ignore the nimbys, though...


Bridge condos given thumbs-up
Last Updated Jul 14 2004 04:05 PM CDT
CBC News
A plan to build condominiums on an old rail bridge in Winnipeg moved a step closer to reality Tuesday night.

The bridge, which spans the Assiniboine River just east of the St. James Bridge, is part of the abandoned Oak Point rail line. Alex Katz owns the bridge; he wants to build 20 to 24 condominiums on it.

About 200 people crammed into the council chambers at City Hall Tuesday night for a community committee meeting on the proposal.

While some residents spoke in opposition to the idea, councillors on the committee voted in favour of it.

"We decided that essentially the negative case had not been made," says River Heights Coun. Donald Benham. "[We decided] that the owner had made a very good case for what he wanted to do with the property, that he was being very responsible, that he was offering people an opportunity to live in River Heights in a kind of innovative way.

"We don't live on bridges generally, and those who do certainly don't pay for them in condos. So to the extent that someone will now be living on a bridge in Winnipeg in an innovative way, I think that will be a good thing."

The proposal now moves on to the city's standing policy committee on property and development before a final vote by city council.


http://www.condosonthebridge.com/cmain/images2/west_before.jpg

Not the best rendering, but it offers an idea of what will take shape...
http://www.condosonthebridge.com/cmain/images2/west_after.jpg

I don't think this project is a good idea. I was all for the restaurant on the Esplanade Riel, but this is just dumb. Here are my reasons:
1) The bridge should be used for future Rapid Transit. This bridge is critical for a link between River Heights and Polo Park
2) The bridge is right beside the St. James Bridge. So half the units are going to have a view of a dilapidated bridge. Not to mention the noise from the traffic.
3) Part of the plan is to have a parking garage at the bottom which means a lot of new, disruptive infrastructure.
For these reasons I think there is a good chance the project will fail. I certainly hope it does.

www.winnipegrapidtransit.ca (http://www.winnipegrapidtransit.ca)

Park for new library unveiled
$2.1M total from 3 levels of government Continuing downtown momentum hailed

Wed Jul 27 2005

PAUL EGAN



Artist's comception of one possible layout of the park, unveiled at yesterday's funding announcement. A final design for the $2.1-million park has not yet been finalzed.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ips_rich_content/27b1_Library_4_ken_eps.jpg


DOWNTOWN Winnipeg's mass of concrete will be broken by a new splash of green beside the city's refurbished library, officials announced yesterday.
The city, provincial and federal governments said they will spend $2.1 million to develop a park immediately south of the Millennium Library on Donald Street. Each level of government is kicking in $700,000.


The space is now mostly taken up by a fountain pool, which is sitting drained and unused.

"The momentum continues to build in our downtown Winnipeg," said Mayor Sam Katz.

"The Millennium Library, along with the park, will attract hundreds of thousands of people back to the heart of our city -- our downtown." Plans for the redeveloped park are not yet drawn up. The Winnipeg Library Foundation will call for proposals, past chairman Bob Silver said.

With the $20-million Millennium Library project nearing completion, organizers want to make sure the four-storey glass facade that forms the expanded library's south wall "overlooks something magnificent," Silver said.

The park, the first significant public green space in the core north of Broadway, will be "a place for people to gather, a place for people to sit on the grass and read books," he said.

Premier Gary Doer said the new park and library are no less a key to downtown revitalization than the MTS Centre or the planned Manitoba Hydro office tower.

Federal Western Economic Diversification Minister Stephen Owen, who also attended the funding announcement, said the park will be "the final chapter in the renovation and reconstruction of the largest and most important public library in Winnipeg."

The renovated and expanded library is set to open in October. The park won't be completed for about a year. Silver, one of the owners of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership, which owns the Free Press, said private contributions to the Millennium Library project are well over $7 million. The foundation is nearing its $8-million goal.

"This is a testimony to me of what Winnipeg is all about," he said.

Renovations on the library began in February 2004. The project includes adding a 30,000-square-foot, fourth-floor reading room with a 22-foot ceiling and replacing the south concrete wall with the 21-metre-high glass wall.

The elevated walkway system will be brought into the library, and the library will move outdoors with three new reading terraces.

Its holdings will be increased, and the public will have use of 40 new computer terminals with Internet access.

The design for the new library won a major architectural award last year for its designers. Canadian Architect magazine named the library design and its architects, Winnipeg-based LM Architectural Group and Patkau Architects of Vancouver, as one of the winners of its 37th annual Awards of Excellence.

CentreVenture hires from within to fill CEO post


Thu Jul 28 2005

By David Kuxhaus



AFTER being without a CEO for over a year, the city's downtown development agency has finally filled the top job from within, appointing general manager Diane Bampton.
The CentreVenture Development Corporation board said it looked at about 40 candidates before choosing Bampton.

"She has demonstrated fantastic leadership, has the experience and I don't think anybody is more passionate about the role," said Chuck Loewen, chairman of the board.

Bampton has worked at CentreVenture since January 2000.

Prior to that, she was a business development officer with Destination Winnipeg.

CentreVenture has been around since 1999. Real estate development financier Ron Margolis was hired as the new boss in November 2003, but stepped down after only about five months on the job. It wasn't clear what led to his departure.

Margolis had been hired after Annitta Stenning left the post to become the City of Winnipeg's top bureaucrat.

Loewen said the board was particularly impressed with Bampton's work on the Waterfront Drive development which attracted $52 million in private-sector investment.

Bampton said she was "honoured and thrilled" at being chosen to run CentreVenture.

"The work we do here is really challenging and fascinating," said Bampton.

Over the last year, CentreVenture has been successful in selling a number of properties for redevelopment, putting them back on the tax rolls. Bampton said there is about $650-million worth of construction involving ongoing or proposed projects in the downtown.

"We want to build on that momentum and attract investment and growth," said Bampton.

Bampton said residential development will continue to be an important component.

She said they will also be focusing on Portage Avenue.

Some developers have expressed concerns that the street has been neglected with much of the attention going to the Exchange District.

In the meantime, CentreVenture also announced yesterday that David Asper, executive vice-president of CanWest Global Communications Corp., and James Ludlow, president and CEO of True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd., will be joining the organization's volunteer board.

Hotel planned for McPhillips casino
Move follows success at Club Regent location

Thu Aug 4 2005

By Paul Egan



THE Manitoba Lotteries Corp. will add a 125- to 130-room hotel to the McPhillips Street Station Casino complex, an official has confirmed.
The Crown corporation on the weekend advertised a request for proposals from private developers interested in building, owning and operating the hotel.

The long-discussed move follows the success of the hotel added to Winnipeg's other casino, Club Regent, in 2000.

And it follows expressions of interest in building a McPhillips Street hotel from four unnamed developers. The province asked for expressions of interest last December.

"We do know there is interest in the market; we have decided to go forward," corporation spokeswoman Susan Olynik said.

That's despite the fact the Manitoba Hotel Association says 1,188 hotel rooms have been added to Winnipeg's inventory over the last five years, including a 210-room Sandman Hotel under construction near the airport. Analysts say Winnipeg hotel vacancy rates have sat at around 30 to 40 per cent for years, but new hotels are still able to carve out markets.

It's hoped the new hotel at the McPhillips Street Station Casino will be built within the next two years, Olynik said. The deadline to respond to the request for proposals is Oct. 25.

The hotel is to be built on land the province owns immediately south of the casino, now used for parking.

More tourist groups visit Club Regent Casino since the hotel was added, Olynik said. In 2003-04, Manitoba's casinos hosted more than 78,000 motor-coach visitors. About 13,000 of them stayed overnight in city hotels.

A cost estimate for the new hotel was not available yesterday, Olynik said. The 146-room Club Regent Casino Hotel, part of the Winnipeg-based Canad Inns chain, was estimated to cost $16 million in 2000.

Days Inns-Canada already operates a 65-room hotel next to the casino on McPhillips. "They're certainly eligible to respond to the proposal," Olynik said.

Melissa Kenney, a spokeswoman for Days Inns-Canada, said the company leases its hotels and would not participate in the request for proposals.

"Regardless of what hotel goes into that area, I think the Days Inn Winnipeg will continue to be successful," Kenney said. "I don't think it would have much of an impact."

Canad Inns responded to the earlier request for expressions of interest in the hotel and will now examine the request for proposals, Canad Inns spokeswoman Cindy Carswell said.

From this announcement by the University of Winnipeg, the transformation of Spence into a pedestrian market will proceed...

Spence Street:
Open For Renewal

Dr. Lloyd Axworthy & Mayor Sam Katz

invite you to attend the historic transformation of Spence Street into a community-pedestrian mall.

Monday, August 8, 2005
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (Official presentation at 10:00)
Spence Street (between Portage & Ellice avenues)

We're Canada's Red-hot province!


Fri Aug 5 2005

By Geoff Kirbyson



MANITOBA'S red-hot housing market shows no signs of letting up.
The Winnipeg Real Estate Board announced yesterday that house sales through its Multiple Listing Service burst through the $1-billion mark on Wednesday -- six weeks earlier than ever before.

"Every single month this year we've been breaking records," Ruthe Penner, president of the WREB, said in an interview yesterday.

Also yesterday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. predicted Manitoba will be the only province in the country to see increases in housing construction both this year and next.

In its third-quarter Housing Market Outlook, the CMHC forecast 4,600 new housing starts in the province this year, up from 4,440 in 2004, and another 4,800 next year.

"What we're dealing with is a great deal of pent up demand. Essentially, we're looking at trying to get growth in our housing stock to match our growth in population," Dianne Himbeault, senior market analyst for CMHC, said in an interview yesterday. Both Penner and Himbeault said the underlying strength of the economy, growing consumer confidence, low interest rates, low unemployment and population growth have created an environment where people are increasingly able to make the most expensive purchase of their lives -- a house.


Penner said the market isn't showing any signs of slowing down and even if interest rates start to rise, as is widely expected later this year, demand for houses still far outstrips supply.

She added another positive sign for the economy is, for the first time in the WREB's history, the luxury home segment -- those worth more than $300,000 -- is outselling the $60,000-and-under price range, she said.

"That's unprecedented in this market. It used to be 60 per cent of the homes in Winnipeg sold for less than $100,000 and 40 per cent sold for more than $100,000. That's completely reversed now," she said.

Perhaps the most promising indicator for the future is that Manitoba's population has grown by 11,000 people since 2002, including nearly 5,000 people in the past year alone. With more people invariably come more taxpayers, increased retail sales, higher government revenues and an increased ability for the government to provide services. Wilf Falk, the province's chief statistician, said Manitoba hasn't had this kind of population growth in 20 years.

"(Since 2002) we've had more people coming (to the province) than leaving. That's obviously going to create more demand for housing," he said in an interview yesterday.

He added Manitoba continues to have one of the best employment pictures in the country. As of last month, the unemployment rate in the province was 4.8 per cent, tied with Saskatchewan for second lowest in the country, and trailing only Alberta's 3.8 per cent.

The population trends are reflected in the amount of business headhunting firms such as David Aplin Recruiting are getting. Mark Shayna, one of its vice-presidents, said over the past three years there has been a growing demand for people to fill positions in sales, information technology and accounting positions at Manitoba companies.

"We're not replacing people, these are new positions," he said in an interview yesterday. "There's a huge trend of professionals moving back to Winnipeg. They've moved to Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary, but they want to move home for a better balance of life and a lower cost of living. A lot of them are coming here without jobs, but they've decided to make a commitment to their families."

Shayna said while it's still difficult to convince Winnipeggers to relocate, it's now getting easier to persuade people from outside the province to move here.

"We're on the phone dealing with guys out east who want a change of pace. They realize Winnipeg has a lot to offer and once they get out here, they don't want to leave. They're able to raise a family and do less travelling. It's a change of lifestyle for them," he said.

THE University of Winnipeg launched a car-free block of Spence Street with bright orange "road closed" signs and pots of blooming flowers mounted on the posts of parking meters that are no longer needed.
Turning the stretch of road between Portage and Ellice avenues into a pedestrian mall has been on the university's agenda for two decades. Yesterday morning, Spence was officially closed to all traffic except buses in a short ceremony that attracted 300 people.

Bigger changes are at least eight months away when an ambitious new campus blueprint is revealed, outlining plans for student housing, a fitness centre, shops and cafés.

"This will be the beginning of a very exciting time as we take back the street," said university president Lloyd Axworthy.

"This is part of the renaissance that makes this the great city it really is."

Not long after speeches from politicians, giant globe-shaped planting pots wrapped in plastic were unloaded from a trailer onto the street. Freshly painted white lines and orange pylons mark the new bus and bike lanes.

Volunteers to patrol U of W campus

VOLUNTEERS in black and red uniforms will soon walk or bike the neighbourhoods around the University of Winnipeg.

At the closing of Spence Street yesterday, university brass touted the new "campus community ambassador" program. Headed by retired police officer Hugh Coburn, students aiming for a career in policing will patrol the campus and surrounding streets to increase safety. Similar programs are run by Winnipeg's Business Improvement Zones.

At U of W, volunteer patrollers will provide helpful information like directions and report problems to campus security and the police.

"Visibility is a huge factor in regards to reducing any crime around the university," said Coburn. "It's a deterrent to see people dressed in a uniform, they'll move away from the area."

He said he doesn't think it will be hard to find students to be ambassadors, since volunteering looks good on the resumés of those wanting to go into policing.

The campus is also getting more security cameras and special phones linked directly to security officers.

The program was conceived last winter after three female U of W students were attacked in separate incidents outside the downtown campus. In all three cases, the assailants were gangs of three or more teenage girls.

The new program is in addition to the existing SafeWalk program, where students can be escorted to their cars at night. Two safety vans also patrol the neighbourhood.

By the time classes start in September, there will also be a new information kiosk to help drivers manoeuvre around the car-free zone.

At $293,000, it's just the beginning of a multi-year project that Axworthy promises has the support of neighbourhood residents who will benefit from new greenery and facilities.

The University of Winnipeg is bursting with 10,000 students and staff.

The idea is to spill existing campus services onto neighbouring Spence, where the university owns all but one house and a parking lot. U of W also owns many properties on Young Street, just behind Spence, which could also be part of the expanded campus.

In April, Axworthy created an arm's-length agency to develop housing, classrooms, stores, a fitness centre and inner-city green space around the campus. He hopes to obtain government grants to fund the new corporation.

Students at yesterday's launch said they are keeping a critical eye on the project. Student president Kate Sjobern doesn't want to see student fees go toward the campus overhaul. She also wants to make sure the campus is still accessible for people with disabilities.

Kent Davies, a fourth-year student, is worried that chains like Tim Hortons will open on campus. He prefers community-owned businesses.

"The speeches today lacked content on what this is really going to look like. The students haven't seen a plan yet."

While parking spots have disappeared along Spence, there will be 62 new meters behind the university's new aboriginal education centre. The Wii Chii Waa Ka Nak Inner City Educational Centre will provide a variety of programs and services, including access to computers and information on jobs and housing.





It is about time. The University of Ottawa, as an example, plays a big role in its downtown, so it is high time the U of W has a presence....

Park Theatre to reopen with extra features


Thu Aug 11 2005

By Kevin Rollason



THE curtain will soon be raised at a restored Osborne Street theatre.
In its former life, movies and popcorn were pretty much the only tickets at the Park Theatre. In its rebirth as the Park Theatre and Movie Cafe, patrons will be able to sip espressos and cappuccinos, rent DVDs, dine on pizza delivered from Vesuvio Pizza and Restaurant next door, as well as watch commercial-release, independent and foreign movies.

The theatre also boasts a revamped projector, screen and sound system.

"Everything in the theatre is new except for the seats -- and they might as well be new with all the work we did on them," said Erick Casselman, who owns the theatre with his wife, Melanie.

The theatre was built sometime before 1930 and closed a few years ago.

The Casselmans, who live in Riverview and were earning an income buying and renovating older houses to either rent out or sell, had their eye on the theatre for about six years. "We wondered what it looked like inside," Melanie said. "We wanted to do something that would bring this community together."

The couple bought the theatre for $100,000 and have spent thousands more to renovate it.

The theatre used to seat 477, but to give patrons more room, to accommodate tables and wheelchairs, and to construct a stage in front of the screen, it will now seat 158.

Erick said he's targeting patrons in the local community and expects that most of the theatre's clientele are within walking distance.

Interest in the Park is obvious, with a steady stream of neighbourhood children already coming through the door only to be told it isn't open yet.

"It's going to be exciting," said Mac Lean, 11, as he gazed at the DVDs for rent. "I'm looking forward to seeing movies and renting them out." Mac's friend, Stefan Kosior, said the theatre was "awesome."

Melanie said for the benefit of Mac, Stefan and the other neighbourhood children, "we're going to be playing children's movies for the month of August that is left."

For the kids' movies during the day, the theatre will be charging $2 a head.

"We owe it to them -- they've been waiting all summer."

Erick said the theatre will be open as early as today or tomorrow, but its official grand opening will be on Sept. 9, featuring the 1950s classic Marlon Brando movie On the Waterfront.

"We'll want everybody to dress in '50s clothing -- it should be a great time," Erick said.

In the theatre's lobby -- where the original concession stand used to be -- is a cappuccino bar, complete with desserts.

For a calendar of events, see www.parktheatrevideo.com.

any way you can show some pics on these develpoments ? Im quite interested in the city but much shots of new things.

Here is a good link:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=83707
This is just a compilation of the above link.
Manitoba Hydro Office Tower (under construction)
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/01_portage.jpg
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/02_portage_entrance.jpg
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/04_graham_edmonton.jpg
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/issues/downtown_design/images/03_graham.jpg
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/webcam/AirCan_352.jpg
http://www.hydro.mb.ca/webcam/MedArt_352.jpg
YWG terminal:(uc completed 2009)
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/1908/19ds1.jpg
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/7435/24ir.jpg
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/950/39jq.jpg
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/1472/49pp.jpg
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/7521/65ut.jpg
Canadian Museum for Human Rights begins 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/museum2005/images/01.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/museum2005/images/02.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/museum2005/images/04.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/museum2005/images/11.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/museum2005/images/14.jpg
Winnipeg Public Library main branch (finished this fall)
http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/whatsnew/images/exterior2.jpg
http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/whatsnew/images/exterior1.jpg
http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/whatsnew/images/terracesup.jpg
http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/whatsnew/images/terracesdown.jpg
http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/9942/dsc00228lt.jpg
Nygaard Village (uc)
http://img249.echo.cx/img249/6033/ny4hq.jpg
http://img111.echo.cx/img111/6752/nygard26nj.jpg
http://img111.echo.cx/img111/4618/nygard37vk.jpg
Health Sciences Centre expansion (uc, almost complete)
http://www.hsc.mb.ca/csrp/images/csrp1.3.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9372/13ij1.jpg
University of Manitoba Faculty of Pharmacy (uc)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2103/hsc5ye.jpg
Condo in St Boniface(construction begins this fall)
http://img200.exs.cx/img200/2502/stb27pf.jpg
another uc condo in St. Boniface
http://www.500tache.com/tache.jpg
Addition to warehouse in exchange district (under construction 2 floors added to top plus the elevator shaft is in for the new addition in back)
http://img204.exs.cx/img204/437/ban3za.jpg
226 Osborne 1st phase under construction
http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/7830/226osborne6wh.jpg
Lakeview hotel to begin soon
http://img136.echo.cx/img136/9741/kyle00041hc.jpg
Excelsior (under construction)
http://www.sherwooddevelopments.com/excelsior/images/northeast.jpg
http://www.sherwooddevelopments.com/excelsior/images/southeast.jpg
Ship Street Vilage (under construction)
http://img198.exs.cx/img198/7460/shipstreet29zx.jpg
http://img198.exs.cx/img198/2877/shipstreet37wy.jpg
The Strand to begin soon
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3830/strand8fb.jpg
The Sky (to begin next year)
http://www.sunstonegroup.ca/sky/images/rendering_1000.jpg
CTV studio (uc) and MTS Centre addition (old Eatons powerhouse) (almost complete)
Engineering Bldg University of Manitoba (almost complete)
http://umanitoba.ca/bisoncam/camera1.php
http://www.sunstonegroup.ca/sky/images/rendering_1000.jpg
Proposed Portage Place expansion
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5268/da0cityelevs2vf.jpg
The Dubrovnik (proposed)
http://img316.imageshack.us/img316/6532/de010084yr.jpg
http://img316.imageshack.us/img316/458/de010094sw.jpg
Warehouse to loft conversions under construction:
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8372/230princess5sp.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5041/fairchildlofts9gi.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6462/kilgourblock0fz.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/7623/dsc03054ji6zl.jpg
University of Manitoba Centre for Music Arts and Design (proposed)
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1156/man3cg.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1156/man3cg.jpg

proposed new stadium (undergoing a feasability study)
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6268/newcanadinnsstadium28ch2ki.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9546/newcanadinnsstadium18pz8by.jpg

Man , that was ausome . Thank you so much . I had no Idea Winnipeg was so booming . How is the Job ratio there ? Is it hard to find work ? Is it affordable to live there ? What is there to do except watch bombers loose to BC ? :) just kidden about that last part LOL

Here is a clip from yesterday's FreePress for some walking info.

Urban Ambles
Thu Aug 11 2005
Bartley Kives


SAUNTER down Corydon Avenue on a warm summer night or meander through the Exchange during the fringe fest, and it's obvious Winnipeggers enjoy walking when the route or destination is worth their while.
But relatively few people in this town routinely hoof it to work or play, thanks to an unfortunate combination of factors that stifle pedestrian culture here, including low population density, inefficient rapid transit, urban sprawl and frigid winters.
Like it or not, this is a driving town, where small children quote the price of gas and suburbanites believe free parking is a constitutionally enshrined right. Being a pedestrian in Winnipeg is only marginally less annoying than it is in car-obsessed, smog-choked L.A., where even some dogs have drivers and the mere mention of walking may result in a trip to a psychiatrist.
But there are some signs of hope, as inner-city renewal and a growing sense of optimism inject a little life into our streets.
Every Winnipegger knows about the city's three most popular pedestrian areas: the Corydon strip, Osborne Village and The Forks. The Exchange District is also coming along, but its character remains uncertain until people start moving into those condos going up along Waterfront Drive.
Today, I'd like to point pedestrians at three other emerging strolls that have the potential to become vibrant pedestrian areas. One is Provencher Boulevard, strangled for years by construction, but now beginning to benefit from the completion of Esplanade Riel.
The second is Sargent Avenue, an unpolished gem of a multicultural village in the immigrant-rich West End.
The final stroll, Academy Road, is at the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum, potentially Winnipeg's answer to Rodeo Drive.
The next time you have an hour to spare, slip on a pair of comfortable shoes and go pound some pavement. The following three strolls are guaranteed to be franchise-free -- with the exception of a single Starbucks on Academy, you're in for an entirely local eating and shopping experience.
PROVENCHER BOULEVARD
The new Little Italy ... er, New France
THE WALK: The western stretch of Provencher Boulevard, from Esplanade Riel to Rue Aulneau.
THE ATTRACTION: Cafés, gelato parlours and a smattering of shops finally begin to deliver on the long-held promise of a vibrant French Quarter.
IDEAL TIME TO VISIT: Evenings and weekends for people-watching, weekdays for shopping.
THE ROUTE: Start out on Esplanade Riel, bypass the lineup at the new Salisbury House and head across the bridge for Italian ice cream at either Leo's Gelato & Café (130B Provencher), arguably the best gelati in town, or right across the street at the brand-new Café Emilio (131, in the same building the library), which also serves great sandwiches and beer. Outside both gelati spots, you'll find large colour directories of Provencher Boulevard businesses and directions for a self-guided walking tour of Old St. Boniface.
A few steps further and you're at Just Desserts (150), a rare survivor from the pre-construction era, where the name belies the fact they serve Thai noodle bowls and sandwiches as well as desserts. It shares a block with Step'N Out (157), one of the few high-end restaurants in Winnipeg where the food merits the price tag, which moved from the Exchange in 2004.
You'll pass another brand-new café, Le Garage (166), with a garage-door-sized entrance, as Provencher gives way to retailers like Quest Musique (161), the Wayne Arthur Gallery (186), one of the city's most well-regarded designer jewellers in Bijou (190), fair-trade outlet Café Equitable (190) and a storefront housing both A La Page bookstore and The Chocolate Affair (200). As you approach Rue Aulneau, you'll notice a photo-radar camera camouflaged in Festival du Voyageur motifs, right before an old stone Canada Post office (208) and St. Boniface's Old City Hall (219), which now houses a tourism bureau and art gallery.
SIDE TRIPS: The Basilica, St. Boniface Museum and the Taché Boulevard riverwalk to the south, Fort Gibraltar, Whittier Park, Lagimodière-Gaboury Historic Park to the northeast, and of course, The Forks and Exchange District to the west.
SARGENT AVENUE
Folklorama, all year round
THE WALK: A long stretch of Sargent Avenue, from Balmoral Street to Ingersoll Street.
THE ATTRACTION: The city's most multicultural stroll and foodie central, with restaurants and grocery stores offering Asian, African, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Central European foods.
IDEAL TIME TO VISIT: Weekdays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. In the evenings, Sargent's rough edges are a little more noticeable. THE ROUTE: Heading west from Balmoral, you'll pass an amazing concentration of inexpensive, often excellent restaurants within three blocks, including Vietnamese joints Viva (505 Sargent Ave.), Tay Do (510) and Thanh Huong (534), friendly South Asian buffet house Taste of India and the Ethiopian Pyramid Falafel (both at 510), plus remarkable take-out palace Asia City (519), where you'll find subs for under $2 and the best bubble tea in town.
Italian grocery La Grotta (550) offers up upscale cheeses and olives at reasonable prices, before you continue past yet another Vietnamese restaurant in Pho Linh (570), Jamaican eatery Caribbean Spice (613) and Portuguese seafood mainstay Picasso's (615) before you hit Maryland Avenue.
Here, the Little Saigon atmosphere gives way to a more varied vibe, beginning with Nigerian diner Tomi Tola (641), chocolate manufacturer and retailer Morden's (674), Filipino hole-in-the-wall Nene's Place (679) nifty Central American grocery El Izalco (696) and Chinese restaurant Emerald Palace (704), which offers authentic southern dishes.
There's a brief foray into Portugal at fish market Costa Brava (695), Chave d'Ouro (714) and its excellent roast chicken and the incredible water bread at Lisbon Bakery (717).
Taste of Laos (720) offers more southeast Asian food, Salad Bowl (798) offers produce at discount prices and Lvov (800) imports foodstuffs from Ukraine.
The stretch drive of the stroll is dominated by Filipino establishments, including eateries Pasalubong (806) and Myrna's (833) and the Tindahan Food Mart (906), which offers the best carioca -- fried dough with honey -- in the city. This stretch also features Italian restaurant Martini's (819) and one final Vietnamese outlet in KG Saigon (840), which features more vegetarian items on the menu than the norm.
SIDE TRIP: Try the parallel Ellice Avenue, one block south of Sargent, which sports a similar -- albeit far less concentrated -- assortment of multicultural restaurants and shops.
ACADEMY ROAD Upscale but not necessarily Uppity
THE WALK: Several sections of Academy Road from Oak Street to Kenaston Boulevard.
THE ATTRACTION: High-end retailers, spa-salons and restaurants on a stretch that's quickly becoming an older and wealthier version of Corydon.
IDEAL TIME TO VISIT: Weekdays and Saturdays for shopping, early evenings for restaurants.
THE ROUTE: The transformation of Academy from residential street to pedestrian mall may have begun with Stephen & Andrews (384 Academy Rd.), a high-end grocery and wine retailer that has yet to let its standards slip. It marks the beginning of an upmarket stroll that includes furniture showcase Charisma Design (388), the venerable Academy Uptown Bowling Lanes (394), lingerie-swimwear retailer Eyelet Dove (400), the Paper Gallery (404) and consignment clothing store Redeemed (410) before sustenance is offered on the patio at Academy Bar & Eatery (414), inside at Cornelia Bean (417) or in the form of hand-made truffles created by the magical people at Chocolates by Bernard Callebaut (431). This stretch of Academy concludes with the footwear-addict distractions of European Shoe Shop (436) and pricey stuff you never knew you needed at Moulé (443).
After a few quiet blocks, Academy returns to life with The Market 520 (520, as you might have guessed), which offers prepared foods, upscale eateries Enorae Bistro (545) and Fusion Grill (550), geek heaven at Comics America (552) and kitchen outfitting at Casa Idea (566), among other retailers.

Manitoba does have one of thew lowest unemployment rates in Canada (after AB, usually tied with SK - check statcan.ca.
The walk concludes with more dining options, including Saucers Café (570), tiny sushi parlour and sushi-making supplier Yujiro (580) and the European-inspired Café Kohler (612).
Academy also features a slew of hair salons, designer skin-care centres and massage therapists, but really, who has the cash to walk into one of these places off the street? SIDE TRIPS: Assiniboine Park, the Wellington Crescent footpath and via a footbridge, Wolseley Avenue.

There are plenty of things to do in Winnipeg. It could be livlier with more people downtown, but things are improving. What impresses me most about Winnipeg is the incredible collection of late 19th early 20th century buildings you will find here.

It's good Winnipeg's Getting "groovy".Someday,Winnipeg Will Be Modern as NYC,As The Golden Age City in North America

Something is under construction at Cumberland and Edmonton. I emailed Centreventure about it, and the response I received was it will be announced very shortly!!!

Something is under construction at Cumberland and Edmonton. I emailed Centreventure about it, and the response I received was it will be announced very shortly!!!

It's an apartment complex for seniors, not sure though on size or any other details.


http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/3783/august29th065edit8yc.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/8630/august29th069edit4gz.jpg




On another note, we all know the city has pulled out of the union bank tower proposal. Well now the city has offered to purchase the head office building of The North West Company for 11 million dollars. Apparently it’s the exact size they are looking for so they can amalgamate all the offices not located at city hall. In turn the North West Company will move its 350 employees out of the downtown to Murray Park RD, in Tynadall Park. Not only will the downtown lose 350 workers, it will be losing one of its very few head offices. Good to see the city has it’s priorities straight.

Also, huge proposal for the Met is on the way, not only significantly important for the city, but on a national level as well...stand by.



For a photo thread on Winnipeg, check out Cityscapes and Skyline Photos at the following link:

http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=251657

NWC...fuckers!

Smart suburb 'raises the bar' for developers


Tue Sep 6 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



A huge suburb planned for South St. Boniface will be a pioneer in environmentally friendly planning, stealing the spotlight from rival Waverley West.
Qualico Developments has quietly unveiled draft plans for the city's most progressive new suburb, which is slated for about 900 acres of vacant land southeast of the intersection of Bishop Grandin and Lagimodiere boulevards.

Instead of street after street of cookie-cutter houses, Qualico is touting plans for a diverse neighbourhood with a commercial centre, many different styles and sizes of homes, good transit routes, denser development and a large park system.

It could stand in stark contrast with Winnipeg's traditional suburbs such as Whyte Ridge or Linden Woods, where generic, single-family homes dominate, public transit is an afterthought and condo or apartment complexes create a huge neighbourhood outcry.

Qualico's development could also mark Winnipeg's first experiment with some of the elements of "smart growth," which many expected to see first in Waverley West, a bigger and more controversial suburb planned for the city's southwest corner.

"It raises the bar," said city planner Martin Grady of Qualico's plan. "And I'm hoping the next ones raise the bar even higher." The city and Qualico are putting the finishing touches on a blueprint for the neighbourhood, often referred to as Silver Acres, so it can begin winding its way slowly through city council this month.

Homes could sprout up before the end of next year.


Qualico's plan is the first of a batch of blueprints for new suburbs that will lay out the location of major roads, sewers, parks and commercial clusters before the city allows houses to go up.

Until now, the city has allowed development in a more willy-nilly fashion without a regional, bird's-eye plan. After council approves the blueprint, Qualico will begin filling in the details, deciding what kinds of houses will go where, what exactly the parks and shops might look like and where the residential streets will go.

Blueprints for other new suburbs in Transcona and Waverley West are still in the works. Qualico's experts, under the watchful eye of city planners, came up with a suburb built around a town centre with shops, cafés and offices surrounded by multi-family homes such as condos or apartments. That's an element lacking in most new suburbs, where the nearest coffee shop or drugstore still requires a car ride.

Many advocates of more vibrant, diverse suburbs support the town-centre concept, though it's been tried in cities such as Calgary with limited success.

Eric Vogan, Qualico's land-development manager, also wants to see more four-plexes, row housing and bungalow condos.

He is even interested in building back lanes, which many consider to be the Holy Grail of smart urban planning because they eliminate homes dominated by garages and replace them with more social front porches and yards.

"We'd like to bring back the idea that we can have different types of houses in a neighbourhood," said Vogan. "People want to go around the corner and see something different."

The suburb will still be mainly single-family homes because that's what the market demands, says Vogan. But he'd like to see a slightly higher density than traditional suburbs. Linden Woods has about four houses per acre. Qualico is shooting for five to seven homes per acre.

But that still falls well short of what many urban planners recommend -- densities of eight to 12 units per acre to support neighbourhood commercial ventures.

Vogan and his team of planners also envision a network of wetlands, pathways and meandering parks that help people get around the neighbourhood without using their cars. The wetlands double as natural land drainage ponds, and a strip of land needed for power towers will double as the spine of the park system.

And, the major streets will be planned in such a way that no house will be more than 400 metres away from a bus route -- Winnipeg Transit's target to encourage people to commute by bus. "It's transit-oriented, it encourages people to move around and get out of their cars," said city planner Grady of the plan. "There's an attempt to create a whole community so it's a place where you can work, live and shop and you don't necessarily have to get in your car and leave."

The South St. Boniface land could be home to 14,500 residents over the next 20 or 25 years. But it has largely flown under the radar, overshadowed by Waverley West.

That's in part because the city's long-term planning blueprint needed to be amended to allow development on Waverley West, a process that wrapped up in the spring. The amendment proved contentious, pitting developers against environmental and inner-city activists who feared Waverley West would be another sprawling, car-bound suburb that robs the downtown of much-needed residents.

Qualico's South St. Boniface land has been targeted for residential development for years in the city's long-term plan.

At about 3,000 acres, Waverley West is also bigger and could be home to almost double the number of people. And, about half of Waverley West is owned by the provincial government. That spawned an undercurrent of conflict-of-interest concerns since the province stands to make a profit off the land while also acting as the ultimate arbitrator of the city's long-term plan.

Before the South St. Boniface land can be subdivided and serviced, Qualico's plan must pass muster at a series of public hearings and council committee meetings slated for this fall.

There, concerns about traffic, urban sprawl and the viability of Qualico's plan are expected to be debated.

If the suburb goes ahead, it could mean a burst of traffic heading through the already-congested routes to downtown, including Lagimodiere, Bishop Grandin and St. Anne's Road.

Bishop Grandin must also be extended to accommodate the new suburb, and the southern stretch of Lagimodiere must be expanded to four lanes. The developer generally bears those costs. Detailed traffic studies won't be released by the city until later this month when councillors get their first glimpse of the final, 50-page plan for the Qualico land. A formal public hearing is slated for October.

It's good that they're going to be planning this suburb, though the location sucks. Now only if they would start planning infill development.

http://www.winnipegrapidtransit.ca

NWC...fuckers!
Umm....how would this be the NWC's fault exactly ? It's the city who's got this in their head, not NWC. Besides that though, they have their warehouse there (which by the way isn't Tyndall Park but just off Ness at Moray) and if the city boots them out, fine, they could use this to their advantage. I've never heard anything about that building being for sale so the city obviously approached them first (or of course, I could be wrong) That or they find a way to cram their warehouse into some parking lot downtown.

As for this new suburb at Lag and Bishop...meh. Not really surprised but wait until the plans are drawn up and presented before making a judgement. The new style of planning isn't cookie cutter houses with a Macs two miles from the closest house serving as the retail component. People who are always bitching and moaning about how we basically "don't make them like we used to" need to get with the program. These new burbs are exactly that. They're dense, walkable, and include things like back lanes and porches. It's gonna happen one way or another so count your blessings if you automatically cringe at the thought of new housing tracts. Infill is fine but convincing people to move into those areas is the tricky part. Plus they don't afford developers the opportunity to make the kind of cash they need to make a profit. That's business and if you value your job you'll support the priniciple of it at least.

The Aspers ? Well, we've been waiting a while on this and I'm not holding my breath for anything spectacular. Some silly little plaza most likely. Sure , maybe they'll throw in a few neon lights and a big screen to give it that "New York feel " but it'll still be a plaza. Meh. Or they'll build some small addition to the CanWest tower. Maybe somewhere to throw in the local studio or something. Blah, I say. Oh wait ! Maybe they'll make it a three storey studio with neon lights and a big screen on the outside ! Whee !

So Katz is finally getting things done eh ? Whoopee. Now we have the one mayor in the country who figures that it's better to fill those potholes and enable the traffic than to build a rapid transit system. Great.
And some people don't understand why I think he's a step backwards for this city.

Loose--you have been away for so long...too bad you didn't stay away!

Um, if an offer was made it is because they (NWC) wanted to move--seems pretty clear! They should stay downtown! Quite simple...

Take your negativity and stick it...why don't you build a high-rise for the city?

Loose--you have been away for so long...too bad you didn't stay away!

Um, if an offer was made it is because they (NWC) wanted to move--seems pretty clear! They should stay downtown! Quite simple...

Take your negativity and stick it...why don't you build a high-rise for the city?
And a big heaping helping of "fuck you too!" asshole.
What's your problem ? Don't like my opinion ? Don't read it then. Better yet, how about YOU build a tower downtown ? Why should I be the only one with this unsolicited responsibility ? And negativity ? How so ? Because I think Katz is useless ? Because I don't have a problem with the new style of urban planning and think people should at least see what's offered before coming to a conclusion ? Maybe because the Aspers could do alot more with their land if they want to ? Please do tell...I'd just love to hear all about how this makes me a negative thinker.

And lastly, as far as the NWC goes...well, if anyone should know what they're planning to do it should be me and we'll leave it at that. Either way, if you're going to get so uncivil in response to a civil post most people would put this squarely on your shoulders. Hell, you started it with calling people "fuckers" because you didn't know anything about the situation. If you don't like somebody trying to inject some reason into your thought process that's just fine. It wasn't even a direct response to your words but rather to the thought that should have been the kernel of them. But, yeah, sure, I'm the negative one.

Patriot is right; it’s mostly NWC who is at fault here. The President has wanted to move the HQ to WLSC for years, but with no buyer for the building, makes the move very hard. Unfortunately the city caught wind of this and put an offer on the building. Not a smart move. Right now it’s all still skeptical and the city has lots of red tape to plow through before this deal is done. If the move does go ahead, NWC will build a 2 million dollar expansion to the WLSC to house the new employees. So if all went according to plan, it will take a year or two or the move to be complete.

That sucks!

Katz wants condos in park
Plan aims to raise cash to fix city's crown jewel

Sat Sep 17 2005

By Mary Agnes Welch



MAYOR Sam Katz wants to build condominiums in Assiniboine Park to generate the cash needed to repair the park, a proposal that is certain to enrage environmentalists.
Katz is eyeing two underused zoo parking lots just north of Corydon Avenue near the bus loop. Many Winnipeggers know those lots as the location of the city's yard waste and Christmas tree depots.

As many as 280 units could be built on the eight-acre parcel, and lease fees and property taxes could generate more than $1 million per year. That money would be deposited in an endowment fund for the park, which needs at least $200 million for a makeover.

"I've been here for 14 months, and the same problem arises over and over again," said Katz, who frequently walks in the park with his family. "Assiniboine Park could be one of the nicest in North America if we had money to put into it. But there's no money. We can barely maintain that place."

In a move that will surprise many at city hall, Katz and his cabinet will ask city staff next week to study the feasibility of the condo idea.

It's Katz's boldest initiative since he won council's approval to scrap the city's rapid-transit project last fall. It could also prove to be much more controversial. Assiniboine Park, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last summer, is widely seen as Winnipeg's crown jewel, generating more than a million visits annually.

In the past, attempts to sell off the city's green spaces were often met by public outrage.

But yesterday Katz was quick to take on any naysayers.

"Yes, it's a new way of thinking. Yes, it's shaking things up. But you know what? Maybe that's why I was elected. The status quo isn't working," Katz said.

"If the options are to stand around and do nothing, which is what's happened for the last how many years, or take something new and innovative, then I'm going with new and innovative."

For the last several years, there has been low-level debate at city hall about the park's future. Its major attractions, including the zoo and the conservatory, are crumbling and obsolete. The zoo alone has a capital plan worth about $178 million over the next 25 years, and there are grand plans for the conservatory that include a butterfly and exotic plants pavilion. Last year, council accepted a draft plan for the entire park that would see the construction of a new conservatory, a domed enclosure for polar bears and other arctic animals, more walking and cycling paths, and new, grander entrances to the park on Portage and Corydon avenues.

The plan also includes improvements to the English Garden and the Leo Mol sculpture garden, better picnic and playground areas and a river pavilion complete with docks.

No price tag has even been put on the plan, but it's estimated to be at least $200 million, making it one of dozens of costly projects the city is under pressure to build.

The plan to develop part of Assiniboine Park left some environmental activists shaking their heads yesterday.

"If they tried to sell off part of our green space, boy, we'd be up in arms," said David Danyluk, co-ordinator of Save Our Seine. "We'd oppose it vigorously."

Katz said he has no interest in developing any other part of Assiniboine Park or any other green spaces in the city. And he said there is nothing natural about two old parking lots.

"If this were green space, I wouldn't even be talking about it," said Katz. "It's concrete."

Cynthia Cohlmeyer, a well-known Winnipeg landscape architect who designed the natural prairie garden at The Forks, agreed.

She biked past the parking lots Thursday night and found them a "dreadful" part of a park that's in desperate need of more funding. Cohlmeyer said Katz's plan has merit, but she cautioned that there must be a cohesive vision for the park's overhaul and that the condos must be unique, well-designed and buffered from the park by vegetation at the back.

"It seems intelligent to me," she said of Katz's plan. "This is already ruined land. Whatever nature was there is gone."

But she expected the idea to get a rough ride with Winnipeggers, who are often slow to warm to new ideas.

It's not clear how much money the city could get if it sold the land outright, but it likely would be in the millions, which would kick-start the endowment fund.

But Katz says he is leaning toward leasing the land to a developer. That way, the city retains ultimate ownership and the land provides a guaranteed annual revenue to the city.

That money, more than $1 million, could either collect interest or be used to leverage debt. Katz estimates the city could borrow between $12 million and $15 million, repaying the money from the land's annual revenue and possibly leveraging more from the province and Ottawa.

At next week's meeting of Katz's executive policy committee, a last-minute motion will be walked onto the committee agenda asking for city staff to begin researching how a residential development might get built, how much revenue it could generate and how much that money might improve the park.

If the report comes back with a favourable plan, the city will begin a long, convoluted process of opening up the land for development and asking for bids from developers.

This is the first time i've actually supported katz on one of his 'new and innovated ideas'. I still can't stand the sight of the man though.

Hey WinnipegPatriot, NWC board voted and they are keeping the HQ downtown, they will renovate for a more open concept office building, there was a happy ending here.

Alright! Great news! Thanks for the info, WPG Guy!

For once I'm surprised and impressed by Katz's thinking. I still hate him, but if he does more of this instead of axeing rapid transit he would be more like the Katz who built the ballpark downtown.

any one notice the demiliton of a building acros from the mclarian hotel there are they guna be building that green building there or is this just the city doing demolition of the 3 buildings there?

i am talking about the old salvation army building site

At this point, basically all of Main Street from City Hall to Higgins should be razed, and re-built through a joint development consisting of urban reserves and other private developers; it has been in its state for too long, and the best thing is to start anew.

On another note, the downtown Sheraton (99.9% chance) will lose the Sheraton flag. It will become either a Holiday Inn or a Quality Inn.

Winnipeg is really developing. :)

New Winnipeg pics up here:

http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=263521

Something to the tune of $100 million is going to be announced Monday (probably) What it is I have no idea. What it will be for I have no idea. Who it will be for is anybody's guess at this point. Supposedly it's quite the project and all three levels of government will be glad-handing about it. Somewhere in the Polo Park area anyway. If you follow the site I'm using for my source, you know that it's pretty much for certain whatever it is since the forumer in question seems to always have the inside scoop on this stuff and is probably the most knowledgeable about anything coming up in the Peg.

I'm pretty excited about it whatever it is but apparently it's really being mislocated. Personally, I'm willing to bet that it's some sort of water park (about time if that's the case) although I have to admit that $100 million seems awfully pricey for that sort of thing. Still, that's my best guess anyway. The source (goes by Trueviking by the way) is very tight lipped about it and I'm sure he has his reasons but damn ! I wish he would just spit it out for all of us Winnipeg project nail-biters.

Anyway, that's the heads up on it anyway. If anybody knows any more than this (even some basics) and finds Monday to be as good as next century, we'd all love to know more. Anyway, I'll try and keep us all posted on this for those of you who don't follow SkyscraperPage but at the very least you know that it's big and it's expensive.
I just hope the city has some plan to deal with the traffic I'll bet this thing is going to generate. .....bwahahahahahaah....yeah right. City, plan,....as if.
Anyway, it sounds pretty good either way.

Oh, and apparently the Aspers have submitted something to the city along the lines of a twelve storey building on the west side of the CanWest Global Tower. This is sorta old news so sorry if it's been covered. My pessimism about it appears to have been misplaced. Hopefully they'll go for something bigger when all is said and done (and apperently they keep revising their proposal to be larger so here's crossing our fingers)

Plenty of smaller scale projects going on and coming down the pipe in terms of high density residential. According to council minutes, we can look forward to quite a bit of multi-family construction (three to six storey type buildings) Quite a bit of that it would appear. We'll find out soon enough I suppose but nothing major comes to mind.

Now if only the city would start actively promoting mid-priced high density downtown, we'd see a flurry of construction I'd bet. Sooner or later that will probably happen although I'm not sure if Katz is astute enough to push for it. Votes to buy, babies to kiss, seniors to give rides to and that sort of thing.

It appears that Winnipegs first New-Urbanist community will arrive soon. Those familiar with Mackenzie Towne in Calgary will know the style. Well, it will arrive sooner than we might have expected anyway. WW will probably be exactly this sort of development but that's still a couple of years away either way. The big one on the other end of Bishop Grandin is slated to start next year (when exactly is anybody's guess) but the draft looks interesting. A few roundabouts (or traffic circles if you prefer) and a different take on those master planned parks than we usually see in Winnipeg. Nothing too spectacular that way I suppose but the interesting thing about it (which I'm also hoping they'll revise) as that there is quite a bit of land reserved for their "Town Center". I'm willing to bet that the current vision in somebody's head is really just another big box mall a la Kenaston/McGillivray. However, these developments tend to be far more esthetically pleasing so even if does turn out to be essentially a big box hub, chances are it will go right to the street with the parking in the back. Kinda funny to think of it that way since that's where everybody will likely be coming and going through but who knows really. I really have to say that New Urbanism is something of a Godsend in terms of how the neighbourhoods actually look. You can actually get a "Main Street" of sorts with these things even if nobody actually bothers walking down them yet. I'm willing to bet that that'll change in the not too distant future anyway.
Okay, anyway, I'm rambling here. If you want to know more, check out SkyscraperPage or you can ask me for some details not listed there that you don't want to look up as far as civic meetings and what not go. I'd be more than happy to help if I can.

why didn't winnipeg develop into chicago north? viewing those pictures ^^it looks as if they both have sort of similar buildings. winnipeg looks beautiful.

Concerning St. James, I will stand by the most popular rumour and say it will be a major expansion to Polo Park shopping centre expansion.

Concerning St. James, I will stand by the most popular rumour and say it will be a major expansion to Polo Park shopping centre expansion.


You are both wrong. Really, it is nothing to spectacular; let's say it will benefit one 'ethic community' only, a waste of money if you ask me. You will probably never think twice about this project after it is announced. Unless it has some sort of extravagant design, which I have yet to see.

Although, better suited for the downtown, with, or without it, it won’t make Winnipeg better or lesser of a city IMO.

Times Square --Winnipeg style
$40-M broadcast centre planned for Portage, Main

Sat Oct 22 2005

PLANS for a new CanWest Global Communications Corp. head office building -- complete with giant exterior video panels and generous indoor and outdoor public spaces -- will transform the northeast corner of Portage and Main into Winnipeg's version of Times Square.
Company executive vice-president David Asper said yesterday that while elements of the new $40-million, 10-storey project have yet to be nailed down, construction of the planned 120,000-square-foot building could begin by late this winter.

Asper said the company plans to locate the building on the site of an empty five-storey building at 209 Notre Dame Ave. The new structure will face southeast towards the existing public square.

The new building will be connected by a second-floor walkway to the 33-storey CanWest Global Place, which occupies the northwest corner of Portage and Main. The exterior of the walkway will include a series of electronic video screens that might broadcast everything from Bomber games to art exhibits to news ticker information.

The current outdoor public space on street level will remain, and there will be additional public space planned on the third storey.

Asper said the second-storey public walkway connecting the two buildings will feature public art.

Asper said the intention is for CanWest Global Communications to occupy the entire new building and that it will function as a broadcast centre for Global's Winnipeg television station, the company's digital cable stations, its Winnipeg radio station as well as the CanWest news desk that services its family of Canadian newspapers.

The Winnipeg-based international media's corporate head office will also move into the building from its current perch in the penthouse offices of the adjacent CanWest tower.

"It is obviously not as large as the Hydro building development but in terms of the impact and energy and signal it can send that there is life right here at the centre of the city, we think it is pretty exciting," Asper said.

The Aspers had made an unsuccessful pitch to develop the Manitoba Hydro building (now under construction at Portage Avenue and Carlton Street) on the vacant lot north of its tower on Portage, and David Asper said he has continued to negotiate with prospective tenants with the hopes of putting up another office tower on that site.

"We are very aggressively attempting to develop another building on the Main Street site of a size substantially larger than this one," he said, referring to the new broadcast centre. "There was no point in our minds of just buying the existing tower if we weren't going to do something substantial on Portage and Main."

The $40-million broadcast centre would be developed by the privately owned Asper family real estate company. For the public corporation to sign a lease with the Asper real estate company, it would be considered a related party transaction and Asper said the project would not go ahead until it receives approval from the corporation's board of directors.

"We will have to convince the independent members of CanWest's board of directors that it makes economic sense and the whole project is being developed on that basis," Asper said. "I am feeling quite confident that we will be able to show that."

He said that after board approval has been secured, the company will then have to get various zoning variances and approvals from city hall. "We have been in discussion with the city all along and they have been absolutely phenomenal and supportive," he said. "Once we get the firm go-ahead we will have to get the formal approvals, but the city has been brought along step by step and we have not done anything that we think isn't going to work. Once we get the approval, we want to get moving."



http://static.flickr.com/33/54963986_743e02e043_o.jpg
CanWest Global's plans for 10-storey building include a walkway wit a series of electronic video screens that might broadcast everything from Bomber games to news ticker information.

http://static.flickr.com/30/54963988_da0deb1e65.jpg?v=0

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AUSOME !!!! Right on WINNI! , almost all of Western Canada kicks ass!

This looks really nice. Will there be shops at street level?

Quick update for the CanWest Global's 10-storey building in Winnipeg. Today there were workers placing signs, and barricades around the to-be construction side. I guess demolition time is coming.

The Millenium Library opened today
Click Here (http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/story/mb_millennium-library-20051108.html)
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This should be constructed on Main Street...rather it will be developed at such a stupid location



Fri, November 11, 2005

'Urban reserve' to riseSt. James site seen as start of new era
By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER




A 200,000 square-foot office and multi-purpose facility is to be built at 489 Madison St., just west of the Polo Park Shopping Centre. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs will become a lead tenant of a shiny new $60-million complex that's expected to become the city's first official urban reserve.

"You must be excited. This is history. This is great stuff," Mayor Sam Katz said while mingling with First Nations leaders following an official announcement that drew more than 200 aboriginals and stakeholders to a downtown hotel ballroom.

The development will bring a dazzling, five-storey First Nations governance and service centre to a St. James industrial zone, as well as launch what is widely seen as a new era for Winnipeg aboriginals -- one in which natives generate economic development and jobs for themselves on their own land.

The project -- likely to involve virtually no government funds for construction -- will begin giving First Nations youth "a future, and a healthy one" in becoming a severely needed catalyst for sustainable native-run businesses, AMC Grand Chief Ron Evans told the audience.

Towering spire


"We want to move forward and assume responsibilities for ourselves," Evans said of the benefits of native-run commercial zones, often referred to as urban reserves. "This affords us an opportunity to demonstrate that."

Shovels are planned to go into the ground within a year to construct the 200,000-square-foot office and multi-purpose facility -- complete with towering spire, museum, restaurant and conference centre -- at 489 Madison St., just west of Polo Park Shopping Centre.

Long Plain First Nation is spearheading the initiative with other groups to purchase the Manitoba Hydro property for about $1.5 million.

Officials are negotiating with federal, provincial and municipal officials to give the 3.5-acre site official reserve status by the time the complex opens in 2007.

The reserve designation will exempt the property from several forms of taxes.

Instead, the city will be given a regular cash transfer that's equivalent under a municipal services agreement.

The centre will hold offices for aboriginal education, social services, business support and other programs as well as the AMC's headquarters, a day care and, eventually, native-run firms, said Evans.

Construction funds will likely come from a pool of supporters such as Arrowhead Development Corp., Long Plain First Nation Trust and the Tribal Council Investment Group, said Long Plain Chief Dennis Meeches


http://winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2005/11/11/urban.jpg

There are some cool apartments at the corner of Balmoral and Broadway which are being restored/renovated. I wonder if they are being converted to condos; I have not seen any marketing yet...

Im glad wini is doing so well , As of the last 2 years the west has really become KING.

You and me both--I had given up on the city 5 years ago (which of course is why we left), but the ball is rolling now, not as fast as Calgary, but certainly there is more going on now than the last 20 years (there was a building boom in the late 60s, early 70s). We cannot become complacent...we need to continue with the momentum, and of course, vote Doer out of office, and adopt business friendly policies to attract the business, thus more people (and keep our younger people), etc, etc, etc.

But today I was out walking (I always forget my camera), and I see so many infills and renos of old homes in our inner city...more people, too. It is so good to see the increased value of living close to downtown in neighborhoods that were deteriorating; in other cities like TO, Calgary...the land is so expensive, but here, it costs more to live further away from downtown.

You and me both--I had given up on the city 5 years ago (which of course is why we left), but the ball is rolling now, not as fast as Calgary, but certainly there is more going on now than the last 20 years (there was a building boom in the late 60s, early 70s). We cannot become complacent...we need to continue with the momentum, and of course, vote Doer out of office, and adopt business friendly policies to attract the business, thus more people (and keep our younger people), etc, etc, etc.

But today I was out walking (I always forget my camera), and I see so many infills and renos of old homes in our inner city...more people, too. It is so good to see the increased value of living close to downtown in neighborhoods that were deteriorating; in other cities like TO, Calgary...the land is so expensive, but here, it costs more to live further away from downtown.

Well you can forget about the momentum. Katz is doing everything to bring Winnipeg back to a halt. If we're lucky people like the Aspers may keep it going at a snail's pace

It's not Katz...it's Doer. No province does well under an NDP government. It is amazing how well BC is doing since the NDP was booted out!

^ exactly look at sask....

Condos keep up with red-hot housing market
Brisk demand pushes resale prices higher; realtors want to see more luxury properties

TRACEY BRYKSA - AROUND THE MARKET

WINNIPEG'S housing market may have been hot this year, but the condominium market has been keeping realtors just as busy.
New condominium projects are popping up all over the place to meet the strong demand that is out there. Recently, I wrote about a brand-new condo project in the Maples that is already attracting a lot of attention. Other condo projects are selling out just as quickly as they come on the market.

In just nine months, the Winnipeg Real Estate Board has already experienced one of its strongest year's ever for condominium sales. Up to the end of September, the board reported 827 condominium sales for 2005.

"Demand for condos is certainly strong and brisk like we've been seeing in single-family homes," says Peter Squire, WREB's director of public affairs. "Condos are doing as well as single-family homes in terms of prices and days on the market."

According to Squire, the average sale price of condominiums has really shot up over the past few years. The biggest jump was from 2003 to 2004 where it went from $90,660 to $114,141 for the first nine months of market activity. The average condo price now sits at $123,017. "This is not getting far off the residential-detached average, which in September was $143,267," notes Squire.

With a few big sales in September, the average condo price for that month shot up to $130,589 based on 96 sales. One of those sales was a whopping $446,000 condo in the new condominium project built by Greentree at the corner of Grosvenor Avenue and Wellington Crescent.

Condominiums are surpassing houses when it comes to converting listings to actual sales. From Jan. 1 to the end of September, 84 per cent of all condominium listings were converted to sales, compared to 78 per cent of residential-detached listings. And at exactly three weeks, the average days on the market for condominiums is one day less than single family homes.

So who's buying condominiums? According to Brent Martin of Re/Max Performance Realty, it's a mix of two distinct groups. About half of his condominium clients are under the age of 35, while the other half is over 55.

He says there's a sizeable group of people under 35 who are looking to buy into lofts and other such condominium projects downtown, while the 55-plus buyers are looking to downsize from the family home.

"Younger people are looking for that urban chic lifestyle of downtown," Martin notes. "The baby boomers want the double-attached garage, but without the maintenance so they can go on a winter vacation."

As far as demand goes, Martin says the market has kept him hopping this year. With strong demand from buyers, he says prices have been excellent, often surpassing the asking price by thousands of dollars.

"It's just like the house market -- you put it up and it's often gone the next day," Martin says.

What's lacking in Winnipeg's condominium market are available luxury condominiums. Dallas Rosenblat, who specializes in condominium sales with Sigmar McKenzie Real Estate Services, says while there are a lot of condominiums projects underway, most of them are not high-end. The majority of newer projects popping up around the city are offering condos of about 1,000 square feet. But that's just a tad too small for many buyers who are looking to move out of their family home.

Rosenblat says most of her clients are looking for a condo in the 1,400- to 2,200 square-foot range, priced between $150,000 and $250,000. And that's where the shortage exists.

"We're desperate for really good condos on the market," says Rosenblat, who is a member of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute. "There is very little to show in the way of luxury condos."

For her clients, Rosenblat says location is also the No. 1 priority. People want to be able to walk to places like The Forks and Corydon Avenue. She says condos on Wellington Crescent are "as hot as can be" these days and are in high demand.

Overall, Osborne Village/Crescentwood continues to be the dominant resale area for condominiums, accounting for 13 per cent of total condominium sales so far in 2005. Crestview, River Heights and downtown have also become popular condominium areas. Interestingly, condominium sales in the downtown area are up 22 per cent from the same period last year.

But despite the growing interest and brisk demand for condominiums, Winnipeg is still an overwhelmingly single-family market. Condos only represent 11 per cent of the total single-family or residential-detached sales.

That's a far cry from other major real estate markets in Canada, like Calgary and Toronto, where condominium sales represent a much higher percentage of total sales. For example, condo sales in Calgary accounted for 42 per cent of all residential-detached sales in August alone.

"Winnipeg is still a meat and potatoes kind of town," says Squire. "People want to have their own home and lot."






Hopefully Nygard will see this and get moving on his ambitious project in the Exchange. Hopefully all of the vacant lots in the area will be replaced by condos in the next few years...then we can move inward like across from Canada Post, the triangular lot at Smith/Notre Dame/Ellice, etc.

Aboriginal housing program set
Inner city to get10 rental units

Fri Nov 11 2005

By David O'Brien



TEN new rental homes will be built in an inner-city neighbourhood in the first aboriginal housing project in Canada in over a decade.
Kinew Housing Inc. announced yesterday it will build 10 new rental homes for aboriginal families with help from the three levels of government, which are contributing $1.6 million towards the project.

Kinew Housing was Canada's first urban aboriginal housing organization when it was established in 1970.

During a 24-year period ending in 1994, Kinew acquired or built 400 houses for low-income aboriginal families, but its work came to a halt when the federal government withdrew its funding support for social housing while Paul Martin was finance minister.

The new three-bedroom homes will be built in the Centennial neighbourhood, located west of the Exchange District. Liberal MP Anita Neville, who attended the ceremony on a vacant lot at 619 Elgin Ave., said the announcement marked the federal government's first involvement in social housing since 1994.

The three levels of government have funded affordable housing for inner-city residents, but the new homes to be built will be for people who are too poor to afford even the most basic rental rates.

Under the program, the new occupants will receive rent supplement assistance that bridges the gap between market rates and the tenants' incomes.

Lawrence Poirier, executive director of Kinew Housing, said social housing is essential to ensure both neighbourhood and family stability.

"Poor housing conditions force families to be constantly on the move," Poirier said. "This has a negative effect on a child's education. It's hard to learn if you are in Grade 2 and you have been in five or six different schools."

He said more than 50 per cent of aboriginal people in Canada live in urban areas.






They better f*ckin take care of these homes, or they should be kicked out.

It's not Katz...it's Doer. No province does well under an NDP government. It is amazing how well BC is doing since the NDP was booted out!

Yeah, Doer does suck. There is no provincial party that looks out for Winnipeg, they try to pretend it doesn't exist

I guess on one hand it is understandable...I mean it's not like it is home to like 70% of the population of the province...

Hmmmm....honestly folks, I'm going to collect my money on this one. I said that the NDP would kill the provincial economy (check the latest stats) after the momentum the PC's had built up wore off. I also said that Katz was all about the status quo, had no vision whatsoever, and really was about as effective as a solar powered flashlight. Bingo. Just watch, these two (Katz and Doer) will effectively kill our rejuvenation and set us back on track to nowhere once again. Good job Katz and Doer. So glad we have you around to please the seniors and buy their votes. Just remember to turn off the lights if you're the last one leaving Winnipeg. If you think I'm being pessimistic about this don't. Check the stats. They're killing this city with inaction just like the last time we had this situation. For those who don't recall, the last time this happened was under an NDP government while the city had a pretty much useless mayor (Norrie) The only thing different is the name of the guy at the top in the province and the city. Vote these schmucks out or start looking outside the province for your next job.

Hmmmm....honestly folks, I'm going to collect my money on this one. I said that the NDP would kill the provincial economy (check the latest stats) after the momentum the PC's had built up wore off. I also said that Katz was all about the status quo, had no vision whatsoever, and really was about as effective as a solar powered flashlight. Bingo. Just watch, these two (Katz and Doer) will effectively kill our rejuvenation and set us back on track to nowhere once again. Good job Katz and Doer. So glad we have you around to please the seniors and buy their votes. Just remember to turn off the lights if you're the last one leaving Winnipeg. If you think I'm being pessimistic about this don't. Check the stats. They're killing this city with inaction just like the last time we had this situation. For those who don't recall, the last time this happened was under an NDP government while the city had a pretty much useless mayor (Norrie) The only thing different is the name of the guy at the top in the province and the city. Vote these schmucks out or start looking outside the province for your next job.

What can I say, I completely agree with you. :)

thats so sad, write letters and make signs ( thats what we had to to do in Kamloops )

Some good news on the rental front...no, rent control is not being abolished, but there are signs of a liberal swing in policy....

Controls lifted on more suites
Rent allowed to rise on upgraded units

Thu Nov 17 2005

By Murray McNeill



A growing number of Winnipeg landlords are taking advantage of the city's unusually low apartment vacancy rates to upgrade their properties, government figures show.
The executive director of the province's Residential Tenancies Branch said yesterday there's been a dramatic increase in the past four years in the number of suites that have been exempted from provincial rent controls because the landlords have completed major renovations (at least $6,000 worth per unit).

Roger Barsy said that prior to 2001, when apartment vacancy rates in the city began to plunge, an average of only 50 suites per year were being exempted because major improvements had been made to the units. However, by 2004, that by number had skyrocketed to 1,086 units.

"I think it's related to the vacancy rate," Barsy said, noting landlords whose suites are exempted from rent controls can charge whatever the market will bear for the units.

And if vacancy rates are low -- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation pegged the average vacancy rate in the city at 1.1 per cent as of last October -- they have a much better chance of getting what they want, he added, so they're going ahead with the renovations. There's also no indication that trend is about to change any time soon, Barsy said, because there have already been 1,137 units exempted in the first nine months of this year.

"So we're not seeing a slowdown in renovations, that's for sure, and we think that will continue."

While that means some tenants are paying higher rents, Barsy said there's also an upside to this trend.

"It's a good thing because it improves the quality of the rental stock," he added.

Barsy didn't have any figures to show how large the rent increases have been for some of these exempted units. However, the average increase in 2004 was about three per cent, he added, which was double what would have been allowed had they not been exempted from the rent control guideline, which was been set at 1.5 per cent for the last three years.

In addition to renovation-related exemptions, Manitoba landlords also can apply for rent increases above the provincial guideline if they can show that the regulated increase isn't enough to cover their increased operating and maintenance costs.

Barsy said there's also been a dramatic jump since 2001 in the number of applications for those kinds of exemptions, as well.

He noted that in 2001, there were only about 100 such applications. The following year that number jumped to 258, and in the first eight and a half months of this year there have been 245 such applications filed.

The president of the Professional Property Owners Association of Manitoba said those number are on the rise because of escalating costs for things like natural gas, water and sewer services, and building materials. "Energy costs have been hitting us hard," Ron Penner said in an interview, "and this winter the suggestions from Centra Gas are that we're facing more increases."

The provincial government announced in September that next year's rent control guideline will be 2.5 per cent, which is the biggest annual increase in more than a decade. It said at the time that the higher rate was based on a review of increases in utility costs, property taxes, insurance, and repair and maintenance costs.

Penner, who is vice-president of operations for Globe General Agencies, said it's too early to say if 2.5 per cent will be enough to cover the increased costs landlords are likely to face in 2006.

"But if I had to make a guess... I'd say it's not going to cover the costs," he added.

He noted the average increase for exempted suites was three per cent last year, and operating and capital improvement costs have increased substantially since then. So it seems unlikely that 2.5 per cent will be adequate in many cases.

"We'll see how the year goes...," he added.

Barsy noted that even though the number of rent-control exemptions has been growing in recent years, two-thirds of the approximately 54,000 apartment units in the city still saw increases of only 1.5 per cent or less in 2004.

This is the only development in Winnipeg that makes me think the city has hope
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/HumanRightsnight.jpg

Opportunity calls OsborneMTS rumoured to be building
By KATHLEEN MARTENS, BUSINESS REPORTER

Excavation has started at the South Osborne site of a new MTS call centre.
Opportunity is calling for the South Osborne area in the form of a new MTS call centre, the Sun has learned.

Big piles of earth behind the Co-op gas bar and McDonald's restaurant are the only clue to the development south of Confusion Corner.

Sources tell the Sun MTS has committed to a long-term lease for the building that would house between 200 and 900 employees in a 24-hour operation. The help-line workers for telephone, Internet and television services would move in next year.

MTS declined to comment on the project, as did the building's owner and construction contractor. MTS spokeswoman Michelle Bailey said property matters remain confidential until a lease is signed.

But employees working in businesses near the site say they have heard about the project. And the South Osborne Business Improvement Zone welcomed the development.


'IMPROVES THE AREA'

"Growth is always good," said president Alvin Pauls. "There have been so many things talked about in the area for the last few years, it's good to see something happen.

"There may be some traffic concerns, but this creates an awareness of the area and improves the area."

MTS call centre employees now work from different sites around the city, serving five areas of business.

Diane Shaver, president of Local 7 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, represents 1,200 call centre workers.

She said MTS has been talking about consolidating the workers under one roof for about a year. But there has been no official announcement to the union or employees, she added.

Sources say MTS put out an RFP or request for proposal seeking a developer.

This is the only development in Winnipeg that makes me think the city has hope
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/HumanRightsnight.jpg
wow, what is that? it looks like some sort of alien space craft

Zat wood be ze Human Rights Museum proposed for ze Forks!

'Dead area' despairWhat happens to Bell Hotel site?
By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER


The wrecking ball is poised to start bringing down some of the derelict buildings on Main Street downtown.

But after the dust settles, it's anybody's guess as to what will replace them.

The reason for the uncertainty is the old Bell Hotel at 662 Main, between Logan and Higgins avenues.

It stands in the middle of a block which could see a resurgence if the owners would either clean up their building or sell it, says Coun. Mike Pagtakhan.

"They have to clean up -- the surroundings, the building's exterior," charged Pagtakhan, councillor for Point Douglas.



"There's an awful stench coming out of that hotel, let me tell you."

Expansion

Midland Foods owns the boarded up buildings surrounding the Bell and wants to tear them down to make way for expansion of Kingstown mall and Sun Wah Supermarket, one of nearby Chinatown's biggest businesses.

Although they could go ahead with part of their plans if the Bell stays, Midland has more flexibility to develop the property if it can tear down the hotel.

"They want to develop a second storey of the mall right now," Pagtakhan said. "They're looking at an expansion of the mall there."

The owners of Midland Foods are out of the country until December and weren't available to comment on the issue.

Company managers with Sun Wah and the nearby Kum Koon Garden restaurant -- which was greatly expanded two years ago to hold 600 people -- "don't want to get it out in the open too much," Pagtakhan said.

Meanwhile, the hotel owner is "asking way too much" for the property, the councillor added.

Bell proprietor Don Marshall didn't confirm he's discussed a sale with Midland, but said the shopping centre and the Sun Wah Supermarket would likely turn the old stores into a parking lot, at least in the short term.

And that, he complained, would make the "dead area" far worse.

"If this property falls into the wrong hands and becomes a parking lot, the future becomes very bleak," Marshall said, noting his inn and adjacent Main Meats are the only enterprises running on that block on Main's west side.

"Nobody wants to invest in this area because of what's going on. Nobody wants to start up a viable business when they're all going to fall down," he added.

"We maybe have room for another five missions, three more detention centres and two more shelters. And that's the way to go."

Reviewing plans

Tom Brzozowski of the city's planning department confirmed officials are reviewing demolition plans and "waiting for information from the applicant, including plans for future development."

Jim Iverson, demolition manager with Paragon Industries, said he expects to have permission to tear down the old buildings within days.

"It's clearing all its hurdles, finally," Iverson said. "They should be coming down within the next two weeks. I believe they'll be parking lots for a little bit and then they'll redevelop them."

The redevelopment would be a boon for the Main strip, Pagtakhan said, and tremendous exposure for Chinatown which hasn't reached its potential.

"It can be a tourist attraction," he said. "We're missing the mark here in Winnipeg. We need to see more of that."

I like it , well thats not go that far . But is isnt bad!

So that development is supposed to have a "go-ahead" if they can demolish the whole block? including the Bell Hotel? In some other forum, they were saying that is too bad for the city to lose a non-status (or so it seems) historical building. My know-it-all super answer, is to demolish what needs to be demolished, and let the Bell Hotel's facade standing. I mean, they could find a way to allow cars park inside the standing walls, so they'd have their parking lot, and the city wouldn't lose a part of its heritage.

Yeah, and Red River College did this with its Princess Street campus, however, I do not know what costs are associated with facade retention vs simply demolishing. I just hopt this area sees renewal asap, as it has been in this disgusting state for too long!

in some ways we need soomthing like this it will be sad to see the old bell go but its just been geting wores and wores theres only 2 bars left in this strch of main the manwin and the bell and as they close these the rift raft will move up main into my area we have to adress the isue ... or the next strip of main is going to suffer the same death!

Yeah...I say we build a fancy ass shelter like the one Calgary built. The thing that is really needed though is to spread these less fortunate people around; they are more likely to find success--or at least a better life--if they are dispersed around the city and introduced to better environments.

Yeah...I say we build a fancy ass shelter like the one Calgary built. The thing that is really needed though is to spread these less fortunate people around; they are more likely to find success--or at least a better life--if they are dispersed around the city and introduced to better environments.

Are the shelters in Winnipeg divided up on Christian religious grounds like the ones in Calgary? Given the strong and prosperous Jewish contingent, perhaps they are in on it too?

Calgary has the drop-in centre (the one likely referenced above) run by the Catholics, the mustard seed run by the Anglicans, and the salvation army run by the Evangelicals. When you visit the places, on initial inspection, the tip-offs are not significant, but once you really investigate, you do see the under-tones [though each is in-your face at different levels]. You can imagine the publicity competition and the competition for funding from the same sources! You'd think that for something like this, the groups would get together and leave religion at the door! Maybe the Jewish community could step up and work with the different groups, IF Winnipeg has the same situation as Calgary.

Also, the Calgary shelters are primarily visited by caucasians, IE well beyond the caucasian proportion of the public at large [at least I noted that at the drop-in centre - haven't seen the distribution at the others lately]. Don't know why that is, but just wondering about Winnipeg. I recognize the demographics are different, but don't know if it correlates to the service recipients.

Calgary has a very low aboriginal population, so I am not surprised most of those in need of shelter in Calgary are caucasians unlike Winnipeg; it is predominately them that troll Main Street and use the shelters/dumpy hotels around the area. Unfortunately, I deal with them on a daily basis...in my neighborhood, in the skywalk systems (Plus 15s in Calgary) as I walk through after work, wandering through the hotel at which I work...I am talking hard core, lysol-sniffing miscreants! I am really getting sick and tired of them...maybe I will move back to Calgary where they cannot afford to live!

Anyhoo...our shelters are not run by any particular denomination!

Outta curiosity, to the 'peggers on this forum, who writes, phones or emails suggestions/ideas/complaints to the city, Centreventure, the prov. gov't, etc about things you think we should see happen in Winnipeg (particularly downtown)? When you see developments occurring in other cities that you think should be happening here (condo/office developments...infills, etc) do you email, etc your thoughts to Centreventure for instance? Do you email local developers or developers in other cities to build similar projects here? I do!

Hey! I've done that only once myself, and it was to complain about some bus driver. I suppose CentreVenture and local developers might take some ideas from e-mails, as to what developments should be built, and such. I wonder how seriously they take those messages.

I mean, it just boggles the mind that it took soooo long for Waterfront to get started when the truth is, it could have been started ten years ago...fifteen years ago and they would have been successful. So, we all see so many great projects posted on this forum, and for me, it is ridiculous that we are exempt from so much. All of our freakin' lots downtown should be filled. I was looking at the projects happening in Omaha, and I get the vibe it is a business friendly city. Most are small projects, but that is what cities like Omaha and Winnipeg, etc have to rely on; we are not Calgary or Toronto which builds dozens of high rise condo and office towers.

I get so frustrated walking down Portage between Main and Vaughn because it is so blah. The Avenue Building is a disgrace, the former Birks Building is still vacant, the Dayton Building was supposed to have been converted to residential but it is still dead (in fact the whole block is)...the building A&B Sound was in will no doubt be vacant for a long time...Cliffords Building has been vacant for years...it is depressing for the most part. At what f'in point will we see a true revitalization of downtown? When the arena is finished? Oh wait, it is. When Hydro Tower is finished? When Canwest's tower is built? I am so tired of the lack of development here. Don't even get me started on the lack of promotion on the part of developers here. The developers of the Fairchild Lofts never update their website, the Butler Centre's Loft website has nothing on theirs. Good luck trying to find anything on the conversion of the former Williams-Cassidy warehouse loft conversions. Again, looking at the Omaha projects, virtually everyone includes renderings, etc. Nygard has no updates or renderings (maybe one or two at most) on its website. There is no info/website for the Webbsite Lofts at Webb Place.

So, I constantly send email after email to Katz, Centreventure, developers in hopes of at least getting them to think about possible ventures. I guess it is better than doing nothing, right?

I believe that there's two main problems with Winnipeg. 1) No one seemed interested in taking the risk of investing downtown. The issue is very complex. On the one hand, you have security (which is even worse in summer) or rather the lack of it. On the other hand, there's not enough reasons for people to go downtown. There's not enough shops or variety to go there. I mean, if it wasn't for the MTS Centre, it'd be even worse. 2) People who are just way too hardcore when there's talks of demolition. Just look at the huge debate when the old Eaton's building was about to be demolished so construction of the MTS Centre would begin. Or when some guy wanted to buy some old restaurant to build there an apartment tower. The opposion was just too big and the developers had to cancelled the project.

I suppose it all comes down to red-carpet, if developers could buy, demolish, and build much faster we'd see the revitalization of downtown in no time.

There are plenty of empty lots to choose from though.

The demolition of the Bell Hotel seems like history repeating itself. Those other vacant lots you see were the result of proposed 'redevelopment' projects that never happened.

Also, the reason why there are so many poor people downtown is because their support structure is there as well. This includes soup kitchens, Salvation Army and community centres. The way to help these poor is to educate them so that they can support themselves.

Winnipeg sometimes seems so hopeless. Our downtown's dead, our suburbs sprawl, our neighbourhood's decaying, our streets are boring and hostile towards pedestrians, you need a car for everything, our cycling network is terrible and our riverfront is treated more like a landfill then a destination. Not to mention it is ruled by a bunch of feudal lords called 'councillors', a pro-business-friends mayor. The city is caught in an inferiority complex where talented people leave and the good people left do nothing.

Then again, there are a few signs of a new and better Winnipeg:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/HumanRightsnight.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/mtsctr.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/esplanaderiel2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/lee_haber8/canwestpark1.jpg

St. B condos already getting plenty of interest
StreetSide's Place Joseph Royal project offers location in burgeoning area, top-notch views

Sun Dec 4 2005

TRACEY BRYKSA - AROUND THE MARKET



IMAGINE waking up to a view overlooking the Red River, with The Forks, Waterfront Drive and Winnipeg's downtown skyline in the background.
That's the top selling feature of Place Joseph Royal, the latest condominium project by StreetSide Development Corporation, a member of the Qualico Group of Companies.

Located at 147 Provencher Blvd., on the north side of the street just off the Provencher Bridge, Place Joseph Royal has been designed as an attractive, seven-storey building overlooking the Red River, The Forks and the north part of the Exchange District.

"We really feel it's a good area with proximity to Waterfront Drive, downtown and The Forks," says Marty Maykut, StreetSide's operations manager. "The downtown area is really picking up and Provencher is seeing a lot of activity."

Place Joseph Royal will offer 55 condos ranging in size from 1,141 to 1,524 square feet. Maykut says they have chosen to offer larger suites for the condo projects. Of the 55 units, 39 have two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a den. And at least a dozen of the condo units offer large walk-out terraces, some with sweeping views of the river. The terraces are located on the second through fifth floors and provide enough room for things like a table and a small garden.

Even the suites without a walk-out terrace offer residents a roomy taste of the outdoors. Maykut says all of the condos have spacious balconies, sized at eight by 16 feet. The building will also feature heated, underground parking for condo residents.

In addition to the 55 condo units, Place Joseph Royal will feature four 'flex' units on the second floor. These flex units will be 1,700- to 2,200-square-foot spaces, which StreetSide is not planning to finish. Maykut says they are intended to be custom-designed condos or combination live/work spaces.

While many of Qualico's previous condo projects have focused on an older demographic, Maykut expects Place Joseph Royal to appeal to a fairly wide mix of people. The primary focus is twofold -- young people who are working downtown and want to live close by; and older people who want to live in close proximity to shops, restaurants and the theatre. It will also be a good option for people who want to stay in the area.

Although Place Joseph Royal has only been lightly marketed to this point, Maykut says there has already been very strong interest in the project. On Nov. 8, StreetSide invited 90 people who had inquired about the condominiums to a preferred customer event. That resulted in 19 people leaving cheques to reserve their spot in the building.

"I think people really like the location," says Maykut. "It's downtown living with that residential feel."

Place Joseph Royal will also feature commercial development along Provencher on the main floor of the building. There are seven designated commercial spaces that are each 26 feet wide. The units can be combined into larger spaces or kept as they are.

"It really fits with the Provencher area," Maykut says of the commercial space. "We think it's important to maintain that feel of having activity on the street."

Although pricing information is yet to be determined, Maykut says the condos at Place Joseph Royal will be priced very competitively for the downtown market. Pricing information and offers to purchase are expected at the end of January or February. Construction would begin around March, with possession for spring 2007. Place Joseph Royal is another boost in the burgeoning redevelopment of Provencher Boulevard, says Gerald Dorge, CEO of Entreprises Riel, a not-for-profit economic development agency for the district of Riel.

"It's a great addition to the boulevard," says Dorge. "Qualico is really welcome in helping us to revitalize the boulevard."

Largely neglected for 25 to 30 years, Provencher Boulevard's decline really came to a crux when the new Provencher Bridge was being built. Three years ago, during the construction period, Dorge says there were 15 or 16 for lease signs along Provencher. Today, there are no empty spaces on the boulevard, as he signed a lease for the last spot just last week.

Place Joseph Royal adds a residential element to the area, which is seeing growing interest from retailers and other businesses owners. Dorge says Entreprises Riel and it partners are in the process of developing a four-storey office complex on Provencher. The new building, on which they hope to start working in the spring, will feature three storeys of offices and main floor commercial space for a total of 26,000 square feet.

"We hope to create a village-type atmosphere not unlike Corydon or Osborne Village," Dorge explains. "With an eclectic mix of retailers like you would find in rural areas and a lot of pedestrian traffic."

why didn't winnipeg develop into chicago north? viewing those pictures ^^it looks as if they both have sort of similar buildings. winnipeg looks beautiful.
The building of the Panam canal screwed everything up. After that it
became cheaper to ship south thru the canal than to ship westward overland
through the 'Peg.
That CanWest development looks totally exciting!! I remember that
area being developed around 25 years ago and this is exactly what
it needs.
The City dropped the ball about 30 years ago when they started
getting serious about planning a downtown rejuvenation (Portage
Place, etc...). At that time they should have made it attractive
to build apartment buildings downtown, through city planning (tax
breaks,etc...). It takes a major push to change people's perception
of living downtown, and city planning has to be at the centre of it.
The more people that live downtown, the more vital it becomes.
I am SO sad to hear they are going to rip down the old Bell. That
is a crying shame. Wpg has a treasure of old turn of the century
buildings and they should protect them as much as possible.
ps. that photo of the MTS development is very cool. Is it at the
location near Polo Park? :cheers:

The city should also be the meeting capital, given its location; it makes a lot of sense to hold meetings in such a central location. The city has never really done anything to promote this. Of course, warmer climates make great convention destinations, but we should still be hosting a lot more conventions, etc than we do.

Also, it was not just the opening of the Panama Canal that contributed to our downward spiral; many of the banks head offices that were here so many many years ago either merged and/or moved to Toronto. In the early 1900s, we truly were a centre of finance, etc, but so many things like this were allowed to wane, and nothing was ever done to curtail the bleeding, as well as attract new business. As far as Transportation, again, we are central so we should be the hub (like Chicago), but this was never really pushed, and in the 90s, a group (Winnport) was formed to achieve this, but it was dissolved (sold I believe) and since then, there has been no push to revive it. We missed out on so much because we have a history (at least since the end of the Great Depression) of not having much of a business-friendly environment.
Rent Control is a main reason why there have been barely any new units built, however, I believe that new-builds are exempt from it now...and it can be exempt if the cost of renos cannot be recouped...

What we need to do is focus on the future, and we cannot do this with the NDP governing. Katz is a businessman, so he certainly knows what is needed for business to grow...and what causes it not to (a la the Payroll Tax).

delete

Received another update from Jennifer Rattray at the U of W, and the design team will have the plans for Spence Street completed in february, and then they begin fundraising! Hopefully this gets off the ground by early spring!!!

Shaw's Winnipeg call centre brings 100 jobs


Sat Dec 17 2005




SHAW Communications Inc. is setting up a new national call centre in Winnipeg, creating 100 jobs.
The call centre will serve as a national overflow centre to handle customer calls and inquiries from across Western Canada, the company said yesterday in a statement.

"With the continued growth of our business, we need to grow our staff to continue providing exceptional customer service to our customers," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications. "Winnipeg is a natural fit for this new call centre. It is an important and competitive market, it is a strong economy with a skilled workforce, and we are proud to make this significant investment."

A local Shaw spokesperson was unavailable to discuss details of the company's plan.

Shaw has increased its employee base in Winnipeg over the last year with the addition of 150 local staff. That brings the total of new staff hires to 250. Shaw is a diversified communications company whose core business is providing broadband cable television, high-speed Internet, digital phone and satellite direct-to-home services.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange, its shares (TSX:SJR.NV.B) gained six cents to close at $24.61 prior to the announcement yesterday.

-- Canadian Press

any one notice the for lease sign behind the union tower? on the empty lot

God--that building needs to be renovated...it is like one of our crown jewels, and it has been detiorating for so long. I would like to see a glass addition at the back, something to inject that modern flare into the area.

This makes me very sick--I almost feel like joining them like I did in 2000...why the hell are these idiots moving away...I can understand some, but for f*ck's sake, the cost of living, esp. housing is attrocious in Calgary and Vancouver, and the slight increase in wages does not compensate. These people are going to be house poor or in debt. Will we ever f*cken keep our best and brighest? At first I was immediately going to attack the NDP, but we have more people moving here under the Doer Government that the Filmon PCs...so is voting them in again the answer?


Population loss worries businesses
Hot economies in Alberta, B.C. lure most of Manitoba's migrants

Wed Jan 4 2006

By Larry Kusch / Business Reporter



MANITOBA is losing people to other provinces in greater numbers than at any time since 1997, a fact that the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce call "alarming."
In the first nine months of 2005, 17,867 Manitobans packed their bags for other parts of Canada, while 11,656 came here from other provinces, according to Statistics Canada.

The net loss was 6,211 people -- mainly to Alberta and British Columbia, whose economies are red-hot.

The last time the net provincial migration from Manitoba was that high came in 1997, when the total for the entire year was 6,717.

The federal statistics, quoted in a quarterly report issued by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, come at a time when Manitoba has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and many employers are crying for workers. Despite the net interprovincial loss, however, Manitoba's overall population continued to grow in the first three quarters of 2005.

Immigration and a natural increase in the population (births versus deaths) caused the province's population to increase to 1,178,100 by the end of September 2005, compared with 1,173,400 in the same period of 2004.

The StatsCan numbers show that in the third quarter of 2005 alone, Manitoba's net interprovincial loss of people to other provinces was a whopping 3,037.

The numbers, which are preliminary, are so stunning that the province's chief statistician, Wilf Falk, is questioning their accuracy.

"There's no doubt about it that these numbers are alarming," said Dan Overall, director of policy with the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

"The only time that we've had numbers like that (in recent years) is during the Flood of the Century and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why there would be a huge exodus then."

John McCallum, an economist with the University of Manitoba, said also troubling is that federal statistics show the province's labour force actually declined in November.


There were 606,500 Manitobans working or looking for work this past November compared with 610,100 in November 2004. Meanwhile, Canada's labour force grew by 0.7 per cent over the same period. McCallum said Manitobans shouldn't take the numbers lightly.

"It really matters because job creation and your workforce are at the heart of a vibrant, growing, high-standard-of-living economy," he said. "The workers are the people who pay the taxes that give the money to the government to keep the services decent."

Falk said Manitoba is not the only province questioning the StatsCan interprovincial migration numbers, although he didn't say what the other jurisdictions are.

"We're saying, 'Gee, these numbers just don't look right,'" he said in an interview.

He added, however, that StatsCan has stood by its numbers.

The federal agency bases its preliminary figures on the number of people receiving the child tax benefit, Falk said.

He said provincial health- care records suggest the net migration to Alberta from Manitoba -- 3,488 in the first nine months of last year -- may not be as bad.

He said Statistics Canada won't have firmer numbers, based on income tax records, until the fall.

Overall, of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said that at times in the past the preliminary data have actually under-represented the number of people leaving the province. He said even if the final numbers wind up being less pessimistic, the province needs to analyse why people are leaving Manitoba and what attracts them here.

He also said government needs to have a truly long-term economic strategy that focuses on key sectors.

"The government will talk about planned tax relief and things like that but I believe most of their planned tax relief ends at 2007. That is not a long-term vision."

Manitobans appear to be drawn to the high-powered economies in Alberta and British Columbia.

In recent months, there has been "fairly aggressive promotion" by Alberta and B.C. companies looking for Manitoba workers, said Ron Hambley, executive vice-president of the Winnipeg Construction Association, referring to newspaper and radio ads in Winnipeg last fall.

"I haven't seen that for quite some time."

He said there is no evidence that construction industry workers are pulling up stakes and moving to the western provinces.

"I haven't had a contractor come up to me and say I have a crew of 30 and 10 of them have gone to greener pastures."

But he hears local construction firms say all the time that if they had another 30 people they could put them to work. McCallum said what is needed is solid evidence on what exactly is causing people to leave the province so that steps can be taken to stop it. And only government has the resources to do the job.

"We don't know who is leaving. We don't know why they're leaving. We don't really know where they're going. And all of that is important to know in terms of (formulating) policy to keep them here," McCallum said.

Industry Minister Jim Rondeau said he also questioned the Statistics Canada figures.

"Occasionally the numbers get skewed," he said.

If the numbers proved to be a long-term trend, "we would want to work to reverse it," Rondeau said.

He said the province is focusing on making better jobs available to Manitobans and assisting the transition from school to the workforce.

"We believe that if you have good opportunity, then you'll probably stay."

This makes me very sick--I almost feel like joining them like I did in 2000...why the hell are these idiots moving away...I can understand some, but for f*ck's sake, the cost of living, esp. housing is attrocious in Calgary and Vancouver, and the slight increase in wages does not compensate. These people are going to be house poor or in debt. Will we ever f*cken keep our best and brighest? At first I was immediately going to attack the NDP, but we have more people moving here under the Doer Government that the Filmon PCs...so is voting them in again the answer?



I'm guessing that the majority of that population loss is coming from Winnipeg. People don't move to a place because it has a low cost of living. People generally migrate from poorer areas to wealthier ones. Winnipeg is relatively poor compared to Calgary and Vancouver, therefore people move there. It doesn't help Winnipeg that Calgary and Vancouver are nicer cities with better parks, rapid transit, vibrant urban life and other amenities that Winnipeg doesn't have. Truth is Winnipeg sucks and people won't move here unless it gets better. Low cost housing doesn't bring people, opportunity does.

Yeah--5% unemployment rate leaves no room for opportunity! Calgary and Vancouver are "nicer" because they are sucking away all of our people; The larger number of people moving to a city (young professionals/blue collar/trades--not aboriginals like we get) = prosperity.

No, you can blame the NDP for this just like the last time they were in power.
I said it before and I'll say it again : any political party can take over but that doesn't mean anything the day after they do. So how long does it take ? I've always maintained that our prosperity was due to the policies of the Filmon government. Naturally, the momentum they built for this province wasn't going to end the day after they got the boot. We had to wait for the NDP to put anti-business policies in place, drive up our taxes (sure, they'll tell you that you get a two percent tax cut on your total income but then they'll drive up the amount of money they take from you in other areas. So, yeah, you got two percent off at the end of the year but then you paid twenty percent more for car insurance, were forced to buy home insurance by government decree, etc. etc.) and give our money away to people that don't reinvest it back into the economy. It was only a matter of time and it will get worse before it gets better. Just look at the population figures under Howard Pauley and you can see for yourself how it works. They take credit for the policies of the previous government (to be fair, they all do this) and give you a song and dance about how the numbers are always misleading.

Just watch, next year it will be worse.

Now, with that said, this isn't really quite the horror story it looks to be (at least not yet) Rural populations have been in decline across the globe for decades so this doesn't mean much concerning Winnipeg's population necessarily. They left Manitoba but let's say ten thousand left the province but eight thousand moved into it and most of them settled in Winnipeg ? That's usually what happens. Aside from that, don't be misled into thinking that Manitoba has less people now than it did a year ago. The numbers cited don't include births which , even in the worst years has managed to keep the provincial population growing, however minutely. To my knowledge the province has never experienced a year of loss in total population although I could be wrong about that.
So anyway, it's not that bad yet. We'll see but I bet next year will be moderately better and the year after that will see things go to about twice as bad. Just a pure guess there but it always seems to be the case. Unless we boot out Doer and his anti-business socialists out of the leg. Doubt that.

Well, my issues with voting the PCs back in is that they will not remove rent controls and eliminate the payroll tax. Now, this was according to Stuart Murray, as I believe he was opposed to phasing out rent control because of the number of seniors living in his riding; as well, he said that due to financial woes, it would not be prudent to phase out the payroll tax.

Also, the population of Manitoba grew less during the Filmon years, while the Doer govt. made Immigration a priority!

^That's true about the population growth during the Filmon years. However, that just goes back to what I said. It was during the Filmon years that the decline was gradually reversed. Naturally, just when the NDP took power the momentum we had built up in correcting their previous government's mistakes finally paid off in actual growth. And then it continued for a couple of years until the NDP's anti-business, anti-growth stance finally whittled it away until here and now, we are back to square one.

Anyway, I happen to agree with you that eliminating rent controls would certainly make alot of sense. One thing about this province that I find so damned unappealing is how far over backwards politicians will bend to please the old. There's nothing wrong with this in some ways except of course that the old don't want to see change...they like things the way they are. Just use Eatons for example : their main argument for keeping that rat infested eyesore from being torn down was that it provided them with a visible reminder of days gone by. That was their main argument. How sad is that ?

The NDP represent socialism in it's outdated form. They believe in pandering to unions at the expense of everybody else. Of course they have to do this because no business will ever contribute to their coffers. Nevertheless, they focus so hard on that tired old ideology that they refuse to keep up with the times. They say "No...we're different now" but they aren't. Just look at the Floodway expansion project for example. That's about as perfect a case of the back door shenanigans these guys play. Why can't we have private MRI clinics ? The NDP's answer is "Well....um....because we said so." Hmmmm....

Anyway, I think that if I had to choose who to vote for in the next provincial election it would probably be the Tories or the Grits. In fact, as much as I hate their federal party (Liberals), provincially they might well do us some good. I'd be inclined to cast my lot with them. Besides, the Tories are too shaky right now and have been useless for the most part provincially. So while I think you're absolutely correct in saying that maybe another Tory government isn't such a grand idea, I know that the NDP was a huge mistake for this province...as it has been for virtually every province they've ever managed to take the top job in. For the most part, the NDP has destroyed the economy of every province they've ever run. A couple of exceptions just don't cut it. This is what they have always done and will continue to do from now until we wise up about this crowd. Just to add some indirect evidence for my belief in the time lag between a government's election and the effect of their policies on population and economic growth, just look at BC. These guys are all about spending money, not making more of it.

Anyway, I think we're on the same page here almost completely but just to reiterate, if we don't vote these old-time thinkers out the next chance we get, pack your bags and head for Alberta because it won't get any better around here.

Yeah...unfortunately, while I loathe the federal Libs, the MB Libs are in favor of abolishing the payroll tax, and I believe they would remove rent control, too. I think they deserve a chance, but the NDP has gotta go!

Hopefully this kicks the development off. I would love to see the McLaren converted into affordable housing, while the gaps along Main get filled with mixed-use edifices....




New 'artist village' to open in Winnipeg's Exchange District
Last Updated Jan 16 2006 06:13 PM CST
CBC News
A Winnipeg developer hopes a new housing project set to open next month on Main Street will provide an alternative for artists who need an affordable place to live and work.

The Edge Artist Village, located on Main Street near the Disraeli Bridge in the Exchange District, will have eight live/work residences, some including two-level lofts and open garden patios, and a communal studio space on the main floor.

Proprietor Richard Walls hopes the creative energy from the village will help transform Main Street's dismal reputation.

"The idea was to try to create a focal point to Main Street to change the identity using arts and culture as the medium," he told CBC News.

The new housing development could provide alternatives to the dozens of artists who squat illegally in Exchange District studios.

To save money, some artists also live in rented studio spaces in Exchange District lofts and warehouses. However, the spaces, which are not zoned for residential use, often lack basic necessities such as bathrooms and kitchens.

Studio space open to the public

Walls hopes to attract some of the squatters to the Edge Artist Village by offering affordable rates. The rent for a small bachelor unit is $495 per month, while a two-bedroom loft suite costs $795 a month.

As the village is subsidized by the federal-provincial Affordable Housing Initiative, Walls says the all-inclusive rent is fixed for the next 10 years.

Walls says the main-floor studio, equipped with pottery kilns, neon workshops, and gallery space, will also available for non-resident artists to use for a fee.

Walls also wants to keep the village open to the public, to serve as a porthole into an artists' lifestyle, something he says the cluster of art galleries in the Exchange District don't fully accomplish.

"When people come to our tourist destination, it's difficult to find artists," said Walls. "I thought in many other cities in North America and Europe you can go to areas of the city where the process of the artist is evident. Granville Island would be an example in Vancouver."

Walls hopes The Edge Artist Village will open next month. He says a jazz musician and a glass artist have already checked out the spaces.

aww yes abot time they finised they been working on this for quiet some time now

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9313/theedge5wb.jpg

some plp have forgoten about...
... the old citidel in china town.... though its painfuly slow progres on this i think its still happening... slowly
http://www.cier.ca/building/images/plans3.jpg
http://www.cier.ca/building/images/plans4.jpg

http://www.cier.ca/building/

I sure as hell did not forget it--cause I didn't know about it....

I have not been in the area for a long time...how far along is the project?

not vey far on there site theres now updates they seem to be behind scedual gues they need more funding its all fundrasing based so they just taking their time hopefuly major progres in made this summer

Ready to rock the Met?
Plan would turn theatre into music museum

Mon Feb 6 2006

By Bartley Kives



A group of influential Winnipeggers is one step closer to transforming the long-vacant Metropolitan Theatre into a Canadian rock 'n' roll museum.
After considering a pair of bids to renovate the 83-year-old heritage building, downtown Winnipeg development agency CentreVenture has asked a group led by Winnipeg businessman Hartley Richardson to come up with a business plan for an ambitious project.

The group would transform The Met -- unused since 1987 -- into a non-profit but self-sustaining museum, performing arts space, restaurant and nightclub.

If the number-crunchers come up with a viable business plan, CentreVenture will greenlight the museum proposal, said Richardson, president and CEO of James Richardson & Sons.

"It's far too early to begin the hype, because these sorts of things have a way of taking on a life of their own," Richardson said on Saturday. "We hope to know whether this is (viable) within three months." The Met, a national historic site, was built in 1923 and spent most of its existence as a movie theatre.


The group looking at transforming the structure, which requires at least $5 million in renovations, includes Richardson, CanWest Global CEO Leonard Asper, Manitoba Moose owner Mark Chipman, Winnipeg Free Press co-owner Bob Silver, Canad Inns hotel chain head Leo Ledohowski and Dennis Levy, general manager of Levy's Leathers, the largest manufacturer of guitar straps in the world.

The group has enlisted Winnipeg rock historian John Einarson to consult on the project, which would incorporate the museum aspects of Cleveland's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the performance features of a House of Blues nightclub and the interactive elements of the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

The focus would be Canadian rock 'n' roll, with a special emphasis on the Winnipeg music scene. It will not compete with the Canadian Music Hall of Fame slated for Toronto, which will honour classical, jazz and country musicians as well as rock bands.

"It's an exciting project because it's not static," said Einarson. "It's more than a museum. It's a multi-faceted, multi-purpose project with a lot of synergies."

Though early architectural designs for the building have already been drawn up, the project will not proceed unless the museum backers conclude it will be able to survive without constant injections of public funds, Richardson has said.

The financial model for the project is Partners In The Park, a private-public venture that transformed the underused Assiniboine Park pavilion into a restaurant, art gallery and rental space.

While CentreVenture has not given the museum project a green light, director Diane Bampton is already working with the Richardson-led group. In January, Bampton accompanied Richardson, Levy, Ledohowski, Einarson, Winnipeg promoter Gilles Paquin and Partners In The Park executive director Irene Merie to a fact-finding mission to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and a House of Blues franchise in Cleveland

hope this bluty happens real shame to see the building sit empty...

Yeah, add to the recently-leased former Birks building, and the possible re-development of the north side of Portage between Donald and Hargrave....

Now, we gotta see something replace the Avenue Building...that side ruins the whole area.

why is it the avenue sits empty seems stupid... also don't forget the little bilding next to the avenue.

if you also noticed the heritic building spaces on portage on the top floor look like some one is moving in.... the building with dominon news and the chocolat shop in it....

don't forget the 2 rumered towers in downtown that were mention on skyscraperpage.com if you did not know...

Yes...I hope to see them built!

I saw Glenn Murray today in down town Toronto. He looks like 40 pounds lighter. I guess his new city agress with him more.

no thats w happens in this town when you become mayor ... you sit alot lol

About bloody time....it makes me ill to think that this building--this gem--has been vacant for over 12 years....


Rebirth of old bank?Building overhaul in works
By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER




The redevelopment of Main Street's Union Bank Tower is expected to cost $16 million. (JON SCHLEDEWITW, Sun)
One of Main Street's most prominent bank buildings is being eyed for a taste of the high life.

After standing empty for about a dozen years, the Union Bank Tower -- western Canada's oldest remaining skyscraper from the turn of the last century -- is beginning a redevelopment, the Sun has learned.

The overhaul, eventually to cost at least $16 million, could put 25 condominiums on its top five levels.

"It will be real cool," Guy Hobman, whose Greentree Group firm owns the edifice, said of the potential for great views from upper-level condos where the tower stands at a bend on Main's busiest stretch.

Prairie Architects Inc. is handling preliminary interior upgrades for fire exits, disability access and bathrooms. This spring, a rejuvenation inside and outside is expected to press ahead.


"It's very extensive. There's a cornice on the second floor that needs to be totally taken off and rebuilt," said Prairie architect Dudley Thompson.

LONG-TERM PROJECT

"The building is going to be cleaned. We're re-doing windows and doors, everything. It's a long-term project and we're just starting to finalize the work."

The pending big-ticket rebirth has set City Hall tongues wagging because of what many see as a so-far lost potential for the nearly century-old structure, whose height and Chicago School features catch the eye at Main's sharp curve.

COMMERCIAL SPACE

No tenants have yet signed leases, Hobman said, adding his company is working with realtors at Royal LePage to discuss options with "a number of prospects" for commercial space on lower storeys.

About $15 million is expected be sunk into the tower's interior while $1.3 million has been budgeted for its exterior, Hobman told the Sun.

Specific price tags, timelines and the number of floors to be renovated will become clearer as spring weather arrives.

"We'd like to occupy them all and that's what we're looking at eventually doing. Some of them may go to condominiums on the upper floors, and a combination of offices and retail on the main floors," Hobman said.

"We're going to bring it back to life and get the lights on. Our plan is to have it ready for the summer," he continued.

"I'd think that as soon as we get the building going and people working on it and showing some activity, that's going to make it much easier for our leasing people.

Because right now the building has kind of a connotation about it -- that it's been vacant for so long, that it's just going to stay vacant."



http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/features/walkingtours/exchange/unionbank.jpg

It seems that every year there is a new plan to renovate that tower. I hope this one doesn't fall through like the rest.

Well, Greentree announced last year that work was to begin in the summer of 2005, and of course this did not occur; the language used in this article suggests this time we will see action....

We're going to bring it back to life and get the lights on. Our plan is to have it ready for the summer," he continued.

"I'd think that as soon as we get the building going and people working on it and showing some activity, that's going to make it much easier for our leasing people.

Because right now the building has kind of a connotation about it -- that it's been vacant for so long, that it's just going to stay vacant.


Now I would like to see the Reiss family renovate the former Ryan Block...another freakin' blemish in the Exchange, although not as prominent, it is a nice little building which would make great office/artist space!

Boy, this building did not take long to sell (was sold a couple of months ago), and I drive by when I go to work thinking "hmmm, great lofts"....and now I see it is for sale again. I hope whoever buys it this time does something with it!

http://www.kfcommercial.com/370donald_front.jpg

That is a beautiful building. Relatively close to Central Park. It would nicely tie that neighbourhood with the rest of the Exchange, if it was made into lofts.

Landmark medical office closes doors


Sat Feb 18 2006

By Aldo Santin



FIVE generations of Winnipeggers have gone through the doors of the Abbott Clinic, a landmark within the city's medical community.
But those big doors on the stone building at the corner of Osborne Street and St. Mary Avenue closed for good yesterday.

"It's a very sad day when you see something that's been established in the city for many years ... to see it go like that -- but things happen," said Dr. Bill Abbott, whose father and uncle, Fred and Clifford Abbott, founded the medical clinic in the early 1930s.

Abbott said the clinic was closing and the building has been sold. The doctors have dispersed to other clinics within the city. It was moving day yesterday.

Abbott said the clinic had prospered as a facility of medical specialists, but of late it was unable to attract specialists who were able to secure privileges at either of the city's two major hospitals. "We used to have 10 to 12 specialists, but they were down to five and we just couldn't carry the building with five doctors any longer," said Abbott, who retired from medical practice three years ago but remained part of the building ownership group.

Sheila Wolfe made her last visit to the clinic this week and was dismayed to learn it was closing.

"My grandmother was one of the first patients," said Wolfe, wife of former city councillor Bernie Wolfe. "You only ever had to wait 10 to 15 minutes -- they never double-booked. It's a magnificent building and it was beautiful inside."

The three-storey building, kitty corner to the Hudson's Bay parkade, was constructed in 1927. It was one of the city's earliest examples of a mixed-use building, a concept that is being heavily promoted today. The main floor was commercial and the second and third floors were apartments.

Abbott said his father, Fred, had started his medical practice in 1920 in the Boyd Building on Portage Avenue. He was joined by his brother, Clifford. They moved together into the Power Building in the early 1930s when several other specialists joined them and they formally became the Abbott Clinic. Abbott said his father and his business partners moved in 1950 to the corner of Osborne and St. Mary, when they bought the building, which was then home to the Dominion Business College.

The clinic took over the main floor and left the apartments on the two upper floors. Eventually, a laboratory and X-ray clinic were opened in the basement.

Abbott said the partners opted to keep the apartments on the upper floors. "We didn't have an elevator, so we were limited in the clientele we could rent to," he said. The apartment rents remained modest over the years, he said, which was one reason they were never upgraded.

"They were unique. They are today exactly as they were when they were built."

Abbott said five generations of Winnipeggers were treated at the clinic. He said he was saddened to see the facility's role in city life come to an end. "There wasn't really any choice as far as we were concerned," he added.

Abbott said the building was purchased by an owner represented by Sussex Realty, and he doesn't know what the new owner has in store for the building. A spokesman for Sussex Realty said the owner is out of the country until April and could not divulge development plans for the building.


Not that I am a big fan of displacing anyone, but hopefully this will become a more desired location; the units renovated, maybe even turned into condos....maybe an addition or second building to the south...

Centreventure is marketing the vacant lot(s) on Hargrave at Cumerland...I can see a nice modern glass sleek condo tower (a la 1 King in Toronto) fitting in there nicely....
http://images.hotel-rates.com/hotels/TOR_KING-exter-1.jpg


CentreVenture is now accepting development proposals on this property located on the southwest corner of the intersection between Hargrave Street and Cumberland Avenue.

The property for sale consists of two lots, each approximately 3,000 sq. ft. (287.5 m²) in size. 388 Hargrave Street, includes a 2 storey building measuring approximately 2,058 sq. ft.

(219 m²), which is in very poor condition. Further details of the property can be found in the information sheet.

All submitted proposals must comply with CentreVenture's Criteria for Offer to Purchase. Any purchase is subject to CentreVenture's Offer to Purchase and Standard Development Agreement.

Priority consideration will be given to proposals received before 4:00 p.m. March 15, 2006.


http://www.centreventure.com/images/386-388Hargrave.jpg

Centreventure is marketing the vacant lot(s) on Hargrave at Cumerland...I can see a nice modern glass sleek condo tower (a la 1 King in Toronto) fitting in there nicely....
http://images.hotel-rates.com/hotels/TOR_KING-exter-1.jpg


CentreVenture is now accepting development proposals on this property located on the southwest corner of the intersection between Hargrave Street and Cumberland Avenue.

The property for sale consists of two lots, each approximately 3,000 sq. ft. (287.5 m²) in size. 388 Hargrave Street, includes a 2 storey building measuring approximately 2,058 sq. ft.

(219 m²), which is in very poor condition. Further details of the property can be found in the information sheet.

All submitted proposals must comply with CentreVenture's Criteria for Offer to Purchase. Any purchase is subject to CentreVenture's Offer to Purchase and Standard Development Agreement.

Priority consideration will be given to proposals received before 4:00 p.m. March 15, 2006.


http://www.centreventure.com/images/386-388Hargrave.jpg

Jeepers, from my recollection that house used to have a rainbow looking sign and was actually a house of pleasure. It's been many years since I've seen this place but I'm sure that's what it used to be.

Looks like the former Birts Saddlery Building (470-474 Main Street) Will see new life...

http://www.saddlerylofts.ca/

i used to work in the book store that used to be in there.... best job i ever had

i used to work in the book store that used to be in there.... best job i ever had

I spent a few years working at Birt Saddlery for Susan Thompson before she was mayor. Back then the one story annex was luggage and the 3 story section was retail on main, tac and leather repairs on 2, and storage and staffroom on 3.
Great old building withn vaults on main and basement, neat basement in the annex with the tunnel that connected to the old jail system tunnels.
Some great memories.. some included chasing done native theives thru the backlanes and watching some XXX events that happened at the Woodbine, none of these good memories include Susan Thompson of course.

Too bad, huh? He he he...

your telling me that patch of wood planks in the basement bye the old boiler... is were a tunel is??? or your talking next door at the corner? also theres a door between though 2 buildings... sliding door lol....

o and whats with all these buildings being called the anex? its confusing me

Latest building for sale in the Exchange...certainly a lot of potential for lofts....although, the asking price is quite high IMO: $1.5 million!

http://www.kfcommercial.com/49%20Adelaide%20north%20view%20Feb06.jpg

http://www.kfcommercial.com/49%20Adelaide%20front%20Feb06.jpg


http://www.kfcommercial.com/49adelaide.html

any one here seen these renderings of Saddlery Lofts yet?
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5416/saddl17xr.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1628/saddl24ol.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6413/saddlery37lm.jpg

I just saw them--wow! This development kicks ass! I am so happy with this!

sure inpresive when i saw it i was shocked :runaway:

i just hope they keep the 2 story vault in that building... i used to work in the book store there...... best job i ever had........ all sorts of neat things in that building


i miss the old pop factory... rember that peac of art the demolition guys left behind its sitin at the old cold storage lot last time i saw it lol

Do you remember if the building had a freight elevator?

Do you remember if the building had a freight elevator?
There is no freight elevator in the old Birt Saddlery building. Does anyone know the details on this development. Can the existing building support 4 new floors ontop of it? or are they just keeping the facade? as the floors on the upper levels are pretty rolly. Does the entirely new portion have parking below, as it's quite a small footprint?
What's the start date?

No details have been released yet.