Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Fort Rouge | Developments & Discussions

[Unbending]

The Fort Rouge Yards in Lord Roberts is a good example of a multi-building infill project to showcase. There are many articles about how the development of the Fort Rouge Yards would destroy the existing community. Examples given in the article below were noise, traffic from 10,000 extra cars, less street parking, protecting the children, 20 story towers are not a good fit, etc etc etc..

https://globalnews.ca/news/5190836/lord-roberts-residents-traffic-housing-density/amp/

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

Maybe you should become a tenured professor

ha ha...its true, they are untouchable.

i find that the opposition is always exactly the same....you can set your watch to it....but nobody ever goes back and looks at how it all turned out....we just forget about it, move on and the next proposal faces all the same complaints.

[ColdRain&Snow]

Looking back at page 1 on this discussion board, it looks like there was talk about widening Osborne St in 2013. Was that ever actually a serious proposal? Hard to believe something that idiotic could ever be taken seriously.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by ColdRain&Snow

That would be a great topic for an article, especially if you could cover some of the Missing Middle projects in Corydon and Osborne. Stuff like 653 McMillan Ave, 584 Gertrude Ave, or 530 Stradbrook Ave. Clearly these projects haven't caused nearby property values to decline, on-street parking to be overwhelmed, or even a noticeable increase in traffic. The only NIMBY fear that has somewhat come true is a loss of trees. That is unfortunately part of the trade-off with doing infill developments, but I do think there's more that could be done by the City of Winnipeg to restore the tree canopy in older neighbourhoods.

Lots of what I have noticed in terms of tree loss has come from cutting down diseased trees. A ton of them have been removed in the past several years. The trees sure are a tremendous urban resource, we should do our best to replenish and preserve what's there.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by ColdRain&Snow

Looking back at page 1 on this discussion board, it looks like there was talk about widening Osborne St in 2013. Was that ever actually a serious proposal? Hard to believe something that idiotic could ever be taken seriously.

I think it's still officially on the books as the City's long term plan for Osborne? Vike mentioned something about his project near Confusion Corner requiring a setback to accommodate it.

Although interestingly, the Zu project doesn't have that kind of setback IIRC. Or am I misremembering?

[trueviking]

^ yup, its still a thing. All new buildings have to be set back 7 feet. I was promised that they weren't enforcing it for road widening anymore but for sidewalk widening....i kicked up a fuss at first, and it does cost developers a lot of money to give up that land, but looking at 197 osborne, it is nice to have that proper width on the sidewalk....as long as it is actually for a sidewalk.

if you look at every building on osborne built after world war two, it is set back 7 feet....all the way to Jubilee.....

[ColdRain&Snow]

I haven't seen anything in the Osborne Village Secondary Plan about widening Osborne St. Let's hope that it never happens. Sherri Rollins told me she wants to repeal the Secondary Plan for Osborne Village because she feels it's limiting the density of new developments. Either way, the current secondary plan is from 2006 so it's due for an update soon. Also, there's that plan from Osborne Village BIZ about narrowing the lanes on Osborne St to widen the sidewalks, which I fully support. I don't think the BIZ would ever allow the widening to happen.

In terms of the required 7 ft setback, that is a fairly large setback for developers to give up. However, the sidewalks on Osborne are super narrow given the volume of traffic flying by you. I think 4 or 5 ft would be more reasonable, but it is nice to see the sidewalks getting widened one way or another.

[WinCitySparky]

Sherri Rollins is a great councillor

[trueviking]

i rode by tonight and Zu is setback.

[ColdRain&Snow]

Hi Folks,

Here's an update on some of the new developments going in near Corydon.

In Pre-Development:

670 McMillan Ave:
-3-4 story multi-family residential
-39 residential units
-Previous buildings have been knocked down
-More info: https://www.paragonliving.com/projects/670-mcmillan-avenue

880 Grosvenor Ave:
-4 story multi-family residential
-26 residential units
-Previous buildings have been knocked down
-More Info: https://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/ViewPdf.asp?SectionId=588450

Under Construction:

-None that I'm aware of.

On-Hold:

911 McMillan Ave:
-3-4 story mixed-use
-22 residential units
-2 commercial units facing Stafford St
-Three houses are currently boarded-up
-More Info:https://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/ViewDoc...&InitUrl=/DMIS/Documents/bac/2021/m20703
-More Info: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/nobody-is-li...more-vacant-houses-in-winnipeg-1.6472412

Please feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong or if you have more information to add!

[esquire]

You know, if you had told me 25 years ago that Corydon Ave itself would look more or less identical in 2023 with virtually no new construction apart from a couple of minor commercial buildings I have to admit I'd have been a little disappointed.

Osborne is finally starting to see some new development, I wonder if Corydon is going to get its share?

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by esquire

You know, if you had told me 25 years ago that Corydon Ave itself would look more or less identical in 2023 with virtually no new construction apart from a couple of minor commercial buildings I have to admit I'd have been a little disappointed.

Osborne is finally starting to see some new development, I wonder if Corydon is going to get its share?

Aside from a few strip malls and parking lots, I don't see why Corydon streetscape needs to change. Nice small scale walkable vibe from Stafford to Daly with lots of businesses.

[esquire]

Lots of gaps that need to be filled in, like empty lots, parking lots, dilapidated SFHs, etc. It's good but it could always be better... I'm surprised that so few developers want to take a chance on it.

[Jeff]

corydon outside of the "village" area has seen some notable changes, tho.. like around lanark.

[pegster]

New sushi place (looks like more of a take-out, counter service place?) going in where Silver Lotus used to be on River at Osborne.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by Jeff

corydon outside of the "village" area has seen some notable changes, tho.. like around lanark.

The area that is in the village has great bones, like esquire mentioned, I too am surprised not much has happened in terms of teeth filling in there. You’d think that it would be a great place to take a stab at mid sized mixed use

[esquire]

^ Yeah, not calling for a total transformation of the Corydon strip, just maybe filling in some lots or replacing a few of the remaining tired SFHs and tiny outdated CRU spaces with a couple of low/midrise mixed use buildings. It could improve the area by bringing more residents and new businesses.

I'm surprised that it hasn't really happened. Corydon won't attract the Tridels and Concord Pacifics of the world but you would think it would be an enticing proposition for an ambitious smaller developer.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Yeah, not calling for a total transformation of the Corydon strip, just maybe filling in some lots or replacing a few of the remaining tired SFHs and tiny outdated CRU spaces with a couple of low/midrise mixed use buildings. It could improve the area by bringing more residents and new businesses.

I'm surprised that it hasn't really happened. Corydon won't attract the Tridels and Concord Pacifics of the world but you would think it would be an enticing proposition for an ambitious smaller developer.

For sure. One of the things that I think really hurts the whole strip is that big ole BellMTS building that just kinda eats up real estate and in fact kinda killing the whole vibe on that side of the street. Wish that they could put some CRUs in there to at least make it feel less hostile.

[esquire]

^ I agree that the BellMTS drags down the block. But there is far more low-hanging fruit when it comes to development possibilities. Think of the vacant lots (like the ones west of MTS), the run-down SFHs which I assume are rentals? The very tired walk-up apartments, the small and tired CRU spaces. The strip malls with parking out front. Hell, there is a gas station that eats up half a block and could be easily reconfigured to take up half as much space, if not less.

As others have pointed out, there has been a decent amount of development in the surrounding area. But Corydon itself is somehow resistant to development. I thought the Cafe 22 building would be the start of some action in that regard but not much has happened since.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by pegster

New sushi place (looks like more of a take-out, counter service place?) going in where Silver Lotus used to be on River at Osborne.

How many sushi joints can the neighbourhood handle? There's Wakoya, Meiji, Nara, and whatever the old Wasabi is now named.