Ikea Winnipeg | Completed

[thegreattait]

Normally I would think the idea of bikes at a "power" centre type store as being useless, however with the number of trails in the area and connections to fort whyte trails I think this is something that should be looked at or at least not laughed off the table. Maybe the city could allocate future spending on trails for that part of the city to these special bridges and IKEA could buy the bike racks and let the Bike groups put them together and install them, create a community event around it or something (have to love the self assembly it fits right in with their corporate model).

[vid]

I don't bike when I go to our big box stores. But that's because I hate leaving it locked up there, the bike racks are always in shady corners. It's terrible planning. Superstore especially has a huge atrium, they could put it in there instead of way out by the side streets. There are tiny grocery stores downtown that have their bike racks inside, why can't big box stores do it?

[sledhead35]

the very idea of big box stores lacks common sense, they are just following suit.waste as much space as possible.

[wags_in_the_peg]

the idea from the bikers got rejected this morning...case closed

[1ajs]

^^^ and no one from the bike groups botherd to show up at city hall

[SpongeG]

people who work at IKEA or power centres could use bikes to get to work

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

people who work at IKEA or power centres could use bikes to get to work

tuche

[ue]

Originally Posted by h0twired

The Costco wouldn't be in downtown Vancouver had it not been for the 900 condos built on top of it along with the thousands of condos surrounding it.

Asking Costco/IKEA/HomeDepot/BestBuy to move into Portage Place is different because the urban population of Winnipeg is MUCH smaller. However should the pads ontop of Portage Place see the construction of 400-500 condo units, then we might see some change in Portage Place.

I'm just saying it can be done. No Peg's downtown population is much lower and it shouldn't expect an Urban Home Depot or Best Buy right now, but I'm sure something like Safeway or Michael's or maybe Future Shop could do well on Portage Ave or something.

[Only The Lonely..]

IKEA passes all city hall approvals

Winnipeg Free Press | 29/05/2009 - 9:55 AM

WINNIPEG — Furniture-retailing giant IKEA said today it has received all of the city hall approvals needed to proceed with its plan to build a new 350,000-square foot store as the anchor tenant of a 1.5 million-square-foot big-box development to be built near the corner of Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

City council approved the project in March. The final reading of the applicable bylaws — a legal technicality — was conducted on Wednesday.

That includes approval to widen Kenaston, Sterling Lyon Parkway and Shaftesbury Boulevard; an amendment to Plan Winnipeg; and a rezoning of the land on either side of Sterling Lone Parkway where the $400- million Tuxedo Yards Redevelopment project will unfold.

IKEA spokesperson Madeline Lowenborg-Frick said the retailer now has to wait for the developer — Winnipeg's Fairweather Properties — to complete the necessary infrastructure changes in the area, which is just west of Kenaston. That includes the widening of the three streets and the installation of new traffic lights.

Lowenborg-Frick said it's too soon to predict how long that will take, or how soon construction of the IKEA store can begin. She said it normally takes about 18 months to build an IKEA store, and the company is still aiming to for a store opening sometime between late 2011 and early 2013.

In addition to an IKEA store, the Tuxedo Yards project is expected to include up to seven other big-box stores, numerous smaller retailers, a hotel, a condominium project, a 16-screen movie theatre and office space.

city.desk@freepress.mb.ca

[DowntownWpg]

"and office space."

I've been meaning to post about this for a long time now.

Doesn't City Hall's passage of all the zoning elements, etc, including the office park as part of this project, completely give a slap-in-the-face to downtown development?

Office sprawl into the suburbs... and not the type of commercial for public front-line services either (like autopac dealers), but the type of offices you would like to see in downtown office towers?

Winnipeg.ca notes "150,000 sq ft office park" as part of the development. That's like, what... a typical 10 floor building in our downtown? (just guessing).

Instead, it'll be, I assume, a bunch of walk-up two story buildings that just looks like a glorified glassy strip-mall. Like the Tuxedo office park.

When, if there is in fact demand for more commercial offices, that demand could have lead to creating something downtown... and all the pluses of getting more people working downtown, etc. Certainly enough surface parking lots to choose from for space... I don't need to tell you guys that!

Anyway, I don't like the city approving zoning that will lead to such office projects going to anywhere but downtown; at least anything greater than, say, 50,000 sq feet.

Was the whole IKEA project contingent on the 150,000 sq foot office park? I doubt that if the city put it's foot down and said "no" to that, that it would derail the whole IKEA project.

Interested in what you guys may have to say about that? Forgive me if this was debated earlier in the thread.

[drew]

^ I think I posted before on this thread that there shouldn't be ANY office associated with this development. Talk about counterproductive.

[1ajs]

face it not all offices belong downtown

a healthy city is a city with a healthy vacancy rate both downtown and in the rest of the city

in otherwords don't put all your friggin eggs in once basket

[ue]

Good job to Winnipeg. I assume there will be a big market for IKEA there, as the closest IKEAs are Edmonton and Calgary, Minneapolis, and GTA.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

face it not all offices belong downtown

a healthy city is a city with a healthy vacancy rate both downtown and in the rest of the city

in otherwords don't put all your friggin eggs in once basket

Absolutely agree .... there are many businsses who cater to clients outside the downtown, and simply don't belong downtown. Regardless how downtown centric some may be, it is simply not realistic or efficient to expect all business to be downtown.

[DowntownWpg]

I agree with Drew, its counterproductive. 150,000 sq ft? That's big. There was no reason why that amount of office park had to be a part of this project. Again, I'm also guessing that the IKEA project wasn't contingent on it. Doubt that if the city said "no" to that element, that it would have killed the entire project.

What it is, is just Sam Katz further encouraging sprawl to the suburbs, IMHO.

This office park, I'm sure, isn't going to comprise of friendly neighborhood bakeries, and the like. If it's anything like the Tuxedo business park, the tenants are the types you'd like to see downtown in buildings.

[blake10]

Originally Posted by newflyer

Absolutely agree .... there are many businsses who cater to clients outside the downtown, and simply don't belong downtown. Regardless how downtown centric some may be, it is simply not realistic or efficient to expect all business to be downtown.

Agree 100%. There are some people who believe absolutely EVERYTHING (not just office space) should be downtown and call any new building outside of downtown "sprawl". It's absurd. Case in point: The new ice complex announced yesterday will be a great facility and a fantastic addition to our city which currently has a severe ice shortage. But go over to the WFP and readers are calling it "sprawl", "good for rich kids", and "car dependent". Yeah...like people go to a hockey rink on mass transit (please...). Sometimes...it's actually OK to build something for us in the suburbs...we do pay the majority of taxes after all!

[jmt18325]

As long as Winnipeg stays inside the Perimeter for now (excluding the small part outside on Portage and St. Norbert), I wouldn't really consider the things built within sprawl. It's simply filling in empty areas of the city.

[1ajs]

is this going to hurt traffic flow for the center port stuff in anyway?

[jmt18325]

I don't think so. I believe the idea is to route most of the traffic out of the city along CCW, around the Perimeter, and along the new St. Norbert bypass (which will connect with RTE 90) when it is built.

[jmt18325]

What they are going to need now is an interchange at the Perimeter and PTH 3. Oh, and that reminds me, the tender just closed for intersection improvements at the Perimeter and PTH 2.