Winnipeg | CentrePoint | Alt/Glasshouse | 20F | 21F | 72.5M | 70M | Completed

[wags_in_the_peg]

good convo on Glasshouse

[bomberjet]

Once you get out on those balconies, wind chill is a very serious concern. haha

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Expressing windchill as a temperature value is too confusing for most people. It was expressed in watts/metre squared which made far more sense.

Funny that. Because that's exactly how the current system was promoted, as something that was "easier" to understand.

[rkspec]

This is getting out of order...but kinda interesting. Would the metal surface of a car in direct wind contact of a say -50 'wind chill' be the same surface temp of the same car that was behind a brick wall on the same day?

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by rkspec

This is getting out of order...but kinda interesting. Would the metal surface of a car in direct wind contact of a say -50 'wind chill' be the same surface temp of the same car that was behind a brick wall on the same day?

All that windchill would do to an inanimate object is cool it faster. It won't cool it below the ambient temp. The two cars would both reach the same temperature, the one protected from the wind would reach that temperature slower.

[Biff]

....

[esquire]

A depressing twitter thread about one Glasshouse resident's ordeal living with a large number of airbnbs in the building:

https://twitter.com/AllenMankewich/s...9-bbQx8z-TDv4g

I feel bad for this guy and those who have sold units at a loss to get out of a bad situation. This is terrible for downtown residential development when one of the most prominent and promising downtown condo developments has shaken out so miserably. He makes a good argument for restricting this type of airbnb activity, because it sounds like it is making his building unlivable.

Who are these people staying in airbnbs and creating such a huge scene? Personally I made good use of airbnb when my kids were babies/toddlers and we'd travel with a need for extra bedrooms, a kitchen and such. We did our best to be quiet and respectful to residents. I never encountered any problems doing that. It sounds like Glasshouse is now mostly airbnb, but why does that make the living situation there worse than a nice hotel?

On a somewhat related note, has anyone bought or leased out the CRU at the base of Glasshouse yet?

[drew]

People using Airbnb's in a city like Winnipeg, especially during the pandemic are mostly using the apartments to deal drugs or to sell sex.

The place I work in the east exchange has (had?) an airbnb and it was horrible. Prostitutes, drug dealing - changing every month when someone left and someone new came in. Our office/building was broken into on a few different occasions, simply due to the less than desirable clientele these types of enterprises tend to attract.

I believe it is no longer an airbnb, and things are back to normal.

[esquire]

^ I remember you mentioned that before, now that I think about it.

But what is it about airbnb that attracts so much of this? It's not like airbnb is dirt cheap, you still have to pony up, and you need a credit card so it's not like it's some shady cash only enterprise.

Maybe that is the reality in Winnipeg... since we are not exactly Barcelona or Venice in terms of tourism and airbnbs seem to attract nefarious uses, maybe that heightens the need for some form of regulation as compared to those high tourism locations where airbnb uses may not be that problematic (while recognizing that there may still be long term issues with respect to housing supply).

It must be a profitable business if the Glasshouse owners and Urban Capital are willing to let these airbnb users run their property into the ground. Maybe the people having a hard time living in Glasshouse should have just converted their suites to airbnbs

[GreyGarden]

That's terrible, I feel really bad for the guy. Unfortunate that owners have sold at a loss. The downtown condo market seems to be struggling generally.

Just to come to the defence of Winnipeg somewhat, condominium buildings that have a large concentration of Airbnb units that descend into horrible conditions is not just a Winnipeg phenomena. The Ice Condominium complex in Toronto, which I don't mind the look of, just as I don't mind the look of Glasshouse, has experienced significant issues as a result of Airbnb:

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-t...ondos-toronto/

I do believe some regulations and restrictions on Airbnb are in order.

Edit: While I have no doubt that drugs and sex work are common in Airbnbs, I also think groups of friends from the suburbs rent them for a night or two to party. I don't mind if the unit next to me has a party on a weekend night, but if that's the primary use of the unit all week and there is no relationship between the tenants, I would get pretty upset.

[bomberjet]

It's pretty cheap for someone dealing to set-up shop for a weekend. A couple hundred bucks to make 10's of k's.

These aren't like people on the corner of Higgins type dealers and hookers. These are the people driving new Mercedes type.

I know numerous people who have stayed at Glasshouse. Non-dealer people. Just to get away for the weekend. I assume they are not the problem. But the rowdy's who get all worked up and don't give two shits about the place. Or the credit card they are using. Cause it's most likely not in their name.

[esquire]

I have heard about Ice condo's situation but that's one of a hundred or more such towers in downtown Toronto and environs... Glasshouse on its own represents a substantial portion of the total new (say, within the last 10 years) condo construction in downtown Winnipeg. If one of the only large scale new condo towers is beset with these problems, then that's a real indictment of the state of the downtown condo market overall.

I wonder how the situation is in other downtown condo buildings, both new and old? I used to live at 15 Kennedy but I sold in 2009 before airbnb really became a thing. I wonder if it's noticeable there? How is it in dCondo or the various Exchange District buildings?

[biguc]

Shouldn't the building's condo board be able to deal with this? If most people are OK with tanking their unit's value by Airbnbing, so be it.

[GreyGarden]

Originally Posted by esquire

I have heard about Ice condo's situation but that's one of a hundred or more such towers in downtown Toronto and environs... Glasshouse on its own represents a substantial portion of the total new (say, within the last 10 years) condo construction in downtown Winnipeg. If one of the only large scale new condo towers is beset with these problems, then that's a real indictment of the state of the downtown condo market overall.

I agree. The condo market in downtown Winnipeg seems to be pretty much non-existent evidenced by the nearly zero condo development in the inner city since this development and the amount this building has struggled.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by biguc

Shouldn't the building's condo board be able to deal with this? If most people are OK with tanking their unit's value by Airbnbing, so be it.

It sounds like the condo board is controlled by owners of suites being used as long term rentals or airbnbs. According to the twitter thread there is only one resident owner left on the board.

That's what makes Glasshouse a weird case... if it was just 4 or 5 units out of 100 being used for airbnb it would probably be easy enough for the board to control. But with this kind of critical mass the resident owners are at the mercy of those who rent out suites either for the long term or short term (i.e. airbnb).

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

I agree. The condo market in downtown Winnipeg seems to be pretty much non-existent evidenced by the nearly zero condo development in the inner city since this development and the amount this building has struggled.

There was blip of condo development for a while including some larger projects that got started about 10 years ago, but it feels like it's really dropped off a cliff. I can't think of any large condo projects in or around downtown. Maybe there are some smaller ones in the Exchange District?

There are still condos going up in the rest of the city... it's just that downtown condo development has pretty well ceased. I wonder if there is any chance that the condo component of the Sutton Place project will eventually go ahead?

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by esquire

It sounds like the condo board is controlled by owners of suites being used as long term rentals or airbnbs. According to the twitter thread there is only one resident owner left on the board.

That's what makes Glasshouse a weird case... if it was just 4 or 5 units out of 100 being used for airbnb it would probably be easy enough for the board to control. But with this kind of critical mass the resident owners are at the mercy of those who rent out suites either for the long term or short term (i.e. airbnb).



There was blip of condo development for a while including some larger projects that got started about 10 years ago, but it feels like it's really dropped off a cliff. I can't think of any large condo projects in or around downtown. Maybe there are some smaller ones in the Exchange District?

There are still condos going up in the rest of the city... it's just that downtown condo development has pretty well ceased. I wonder if there is any chance that the condo component of the Sutton Place project will eventually go ahead?

The condo market is pretty tenuous. Some areas condos move well and other areas, like downtown, just don't seem to have much uptake. Rentals seem to move better downtown than condos. I live in a condo in Osborne Village and my neighbours have had theirs up for sale since before the holidays. I don't even think they've had a showing recently. Yet, other developments are gone with relatively quick sales. I think it's really about price point and location. On Wellington Crescent condos move relatively well once they hit the market. It always feels like a bit of a crap shoot.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by esquire

A depressing twitter thread about one Glasshouse resident's ordeal living with a large number of airbnbs in the building:

https://twitter.com/AllenMankewich/s...9-bbQx8z-TDv4g

I feel bad for this guy and those who have sold units at a loss to get out of a bad situation. This is terrible for downtown residential development when one of the most prominent and promising downtown condo developments has shaken out so miserably. He makes a good argument for restricting this type of airbnb activity, because it sounds like it is making his building unlivable.

Who are these people staying in airbnbs and creating such a huge scene? Personally I made good use of airbnb when my kids were babies/toddlers and we'd travel with a need for extra bedrooms, a kitchen and such. We did our best to be quiet and respectful to residents. I never encountered any problems doing that. It sounds like Glasshouse is now mostly airbnb, but why does that make the living situation there worse than a nice hotel?

On a somewhat related note, has anyone bought or leased out the CRU at the base of Glasshouse yet?

I've done service calls and upgrades to their security system at Glasshouse, and the clientelle there, because of Airbnb, has been very questionable ever since. Management wasn't quite prepared nor expecting to be the way it is now (hence why they had to enhance their security measures), and it's been nothing but a gong show.