Winnipeg | Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park | 130 Main St.
 

so what's going to happen here....

http://www.archiseek.com/gifs/100mainstreet.jpg

Rumours of something tall... rumours of something small... the world's largest teepee....

^Another project that will fall through

wow, lee, you are cranky these days...

i have heard of one response to the RFP that will only be park space...demolishing 100 main and re-building in an abstact way, part of the fort...an interpretive centre will be included.

Like i predicted in the WPG construction thread. It didn't take long to start this thread at all. Hopefully it will encompass those parking lots and leave some room for an expanded historic site at the Fort Gate.

two other responses that i have seen are quite dramatic....both will get people very excited.

I would like to see part of the sight permanently dedicated to some sort of archiological dig around the old fort site at 100 main.

A tallish building would be great - but it might be better suited across Broadway (beside the Wawanesa building) on that empty lot.

We should try to save the old fort site for something more green and touristy.

sadly i smell a new conterversy starting like the save the eatons thing round the corner... lets work on the area that the gate sits on and let progres have the 100 main!

i can't wait to see what were geting :)

can't wait to see a crane for it :)
http://static.flickr.com/114/257787588_3303309bfa_b.jpg

There's not much to be excited about these days, at least not in Winnipeg. Other cities have cool projects too, but at least they happen. The only good thing that has actually happened in the last two years that I can think of is the skatepark. I think we'll be waiting till 2010 for things to start changing

come on stop being so negitive!

your just making your self part of the problem by being negitive like this........

let's see...two years eh?....

a new $300m airport designed by one of the world's most famous architects

$50m in new condo construction on waterfont drive as well as numerous loft conversions in the exchange district bringing hundreds of new residents downtown,

the $200m hydro building, the world's greenest office tower designed by one of canada's premier architects

award winning $50m red river college downtown campus

the beautiful $20m milleneum library designed by another of canada's premier architects.

the $150m MTS centre

the $20m CTV downtown buiding

the $35m pharmacy building

the $150m expansion of HSC

two large condo projects (8-9 storey) in st. b across the river from downton on provencher and tache.

the inn at the forks is less than 2 years old.

In addition to Trueviking's list of recent construction activity, there are numerous other, tangible signs that good things Winnipeg has improved in the last two years, and continues to improve: the mini retail boom on Albert and McDermot, quickly turned the West Exchange the city's third most (and in my opinion, best) trendy neighborhood; visionary property owners and artists started to migrate north to Chinatown and North Main (the Occidental Hotel was cleaned up, new galleries and residential units, etc.); African immigrants did much to renew Central Park; West Broadway, parts of the West End, North Point Douglas, and the North End have noticably improved; the Volvos parked on Wolseley streets are getting newer and nicer.

Obviously, this progress is all occuring at a slower pace than any of us would like, but is happening, and undeniably so.

[QUOTE=1ajs]lets work on the area that the gate sits on and let progress have the 100 main!
/QUOTE]

Winnipeg has PLENTY of sites available for progress, and lots of them are sitting on nicer pieces of real estate than this.

However - not many of these already vacant sites come complete with a significant (at least for Winnipeg, and maybe Western Canada) historical setting. That should be worth something.

While this may be the most Winnipeg has seen in the last 50 yrs that is not saying much if anything at all. One of the things NewFlyer keeps saying is that if the city were really starting to thrive than most of these projects would be private sector like in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. I agree that in order to kick-start something you may need public sector money. That's what the library, Red River College and MTS Centre were for.
But we can't keep kidding ourselves that this is going to do it, the government can't do everything.

I would also note that most of the projects listed are Murray Era projects. These things were in development years ago and are just being built. What's going to be built for the next few years? I don't see many new projects coming down the pipe, especially ones that are initiated by the private sector. I also don't see much private investment resulting from the projects like the library and Red River College.

I'm going to say this and I really, really hope I am wrong. The Human Rights Museum which I think is an amazing project which defies all the bad characteristics of Winnipeg will not happen, at least not as the amazing proposal it is now. It will probably be scaled down, becoming another mediocre compromise. I really hope this doesn't happen, but this is the way things seem to be going. Just as soon as the city starts to get some momentum we shoot ourselves in the foot. How Winnipeg!

I'll see all of that and raise you an EnCana (rumored ~1 billion)... haha, im sorry, i just wanted to throw that out there. *quietly walks away from Winnipeg forums, never to be seen again*

haha..
but seriously though im pleasantly surprised that there has been this much happen in Winnipeg in the last 2 years. I knew about the Hydro building, MTS Center and Airport, but there's a lot of good mid-range projects there in the mix... something which is just as important to a city as the biggies. Keep up the good work!

As far as 100 Main Street... i would make a cultural center where the history of Canada is told through interpretive dance... with colourful ribbons! who's behind me?

Unless you were born yesterday (which I realize many around here almost were) you'd have to have recognized from the start that the Human Rights Museum was a longshot. The idea with this sort of thing is that you announce something impressive but underfunded and then hope public excitement will put enough pressure on the government to provide the missing cash. I think they kind of overreached with this, and obviously the Aspers were blindsided by the election of a Tory government that they don't have much influence with. But who knows...maybe it will come together somehow.

Very true... when they first announced the fund raising for the new library, it was an amazing vision which included a tower, but as the fund raising stalled it was serverly scaled down. I was very excited when I made my contribution the first day of the drive, and was disappointed with the end product.

I also don't think the federal government in power has had little impact on the muesum, as the Conservatives have stood behind previous commitments and said they will fund there share. Only a last minute desparate promise to raise funding .. as a means to collect votes during a election campaign promises were made, but I have serious doubts that funding would have ever flowed. Last second promises during a close campaign are not to be taken very seriously, as they rarely folow through.

when dealing with the goverment get every thing on paper or you will get screwed over....

a new $300m airport designed by one of the world's most famous architects (Private investment??.. I don't think government is involved in this one, but I am not sure)

$50m in new condo construction on waterfont drive as well as numerous loft conversions in the exchange district bringing hundreds of new residents downtown - (involved centre venture incentives)

the $200m hydro building, the world's greenest office tower designed by one of canada's premier architects (100% government funded, will go over budget)

award winning $50m red river college downtown campus ( 100% government funded)

the beautiful $20m milleneum library designed by another of canada's premier architects. (Partially government funded .... remainder donated funds)

the $150m MTS centre (Partially government funded)

the $20m CTV downtown buiding ( This is part of the powerhouse building expansion... which was a part of the True North Deal to house VLT machines, restaurant, offices for the moose and leasable space - CTV)

the $35m pharmacy building (government funded??)

the $150m expansion of HSC (government funded)

two large condo projects (8-9 storey) in st. b across the river from downton on provencher and tache. (Private investment)

the inn at the forks is less than 2 years old. (Private investment)



As you can see the confidence in the local market is not that strong at the moment, even with hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from government couffers .. building mega projects at a record pace.

It is a lesson Winnipeg seems to need to relearn every 10 years or so... mega projects and high taxes don't work. Mega projects and stagnant private entreprise means nothing. We have to build the downtown economy through private investment. An endless stream of government offices is little more than depressing to the average person with ambition. Infact the government couldn't send a clearer message to those who want to build a bigger and better economy... head west young man.

:jester: ...........i cant help it...............your actually kind of hilarious today..........maybe I'm just a little weird today but your seriously Hilarious!:jester: to much negative!!!!! :crazy:.............:dancing:

seriously newflyer, did the government beat you as a child or what.....