Winnipeg | Downtown | Portage Place | Redevelopment | U/C

[bomberjet]

It's hard to tell. There's lots of images floating around and I'm not sure what the latest and greatest are. There doesn't appear to be a website specifically for this that I'm aware of.

The image I posted is from a TNSE news article.

Here's the banner on the page.

https://www.tnse.com/news/true-north-real-estate-development-confirms-purchase-of-portage-place/

[bomberjet]

Another one of that area from CBC/TN powerpoint.

[Malcsta]

Can't wait to see this get going. Demo is planned for spring, correct? So we might even begin to see some movement here in the next month hopefully? True North seems to move quick from what I can tell.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Noticed some big massive banners showcasing the upcoming re-development tacked to the side of the building fronting Portage Place this morning. It's exciting to see. Hopefully work starts this spring/summer.

[cheswick]

There’s a thing happening.

[Jeff]

judging by the flatbed there, it's probably more streetlight removal!

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by Jeff

judging by the flatbed there, it's probably more streetlight removal!

Not related to streetlights. They're hauling loads of debris off the roof.

[wani]

I’m still so sad about the loss of the atrium since I always thought that feature made PP so much prettier than all the other malls in the city, but turning it into a functioning building that properly serves downtown is much more important.

That said I’m glad I don’t live downtown anymore. I can’t imagine how much a demo and new build will gum up traffic on Portage.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by wani

I’m still so sad about the loss of the atrium since I always thought that feature made PP so much prettier than all the other malls in the city, but turning it into a functioning building that properly serves downtown is much more important.

That said I’m glad I don’t live downtown anymore. I can’t imagine how much a demo and new build will gum up traffic on Portage.

It's an iconic feature nonetheless, but it's also a time capsule stuck in 1987.

Had Cadillac Fairview still owned Portage Place, along with other factors that could have made the whole area more vibrant, we could have seen the mall renovated at least twice for almost 38 years of its existence.

Like many malls in this day and age, they're a decaying and dying breed.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by The Jabroni

It's an iconic feature nonetheless, but it's also a time capsule stuck in 1987.

Had Cadillac Fairview still owned Portage Place, along with other factors that could have made the whole area more vibrant, we could have seen the mall renovated at least twice for almost 38 years of its existence.

Like many malls in this day and age, they're a decaying and dying breed.

It seems that PP was built before there was enough of a downtown residential base to support it. With more people coming to live downtown I wonder how retail will change? Do downtown residents want a mall-type atmosphere for their products and services, or will they prefer a more "stand alone" shopping/dining experience?

[Biff]

Hey cheswick, can you swing your camera around the other way and give us an update on The Bay roof.

Thank you

[Jeff]

i would love if one of these projects broke the bank for a live construction camera..

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by Biff

Hey cheswick, can you swing your camera around the other way and give us an update on The Bay roof.

Thank you

They’re breaking apart some sort of something.

[Biff]

Thanks cheswick

...I think that is the old elevator penthouse they are taking down.

[bussche]

Originally Posted by pspeid

It seems that PP was built before there was enough of a downtown residential base to support it. With more people coming to live downtown I wonder how retail will change? Do downtown residents want a mall-type atmosphere for their products and services, or will they prefer a more "stand alone" shopping/dining experience?

Portage Place was built at a time when suburban malls were hurting the traditional Downtown retail sector, large and small. The idea was that if malls are stealing retail customers from Downtown, we'll build a mall Downtown. Easy peasy.

This is a very silly idea, obviously. Why would a suburbanite come all the way Downtown, deal with traffic, parking, etc, just to do something they can already do in their own neighbourhood? The failure of this thinking was realized very quicky, less than a year after opening there were already news reports that PP had failed to meet expectations.

As far as the current day and the increasing population downtown, if there is a demand for a mall type format there's plenty of empty store fronts in Winnipeg Square and CityPlace.

[Hecate]

Why portage place failed was because of the demographic that lived in the area. I remember when it opened. It was beautiful. It was a destination shopping centre that had things nowhere else in the city had. It had a holt renfrew, marks and Spencer’s, and club Monaco, the imax which was huge at the time for winnipeg. They had heated underground parking annd live theatre.

other downtown malls do well in other cities, Toronto, Ottawa have lively downtown malls, so does Regina. Montreals underground city is all malls.

Who wants to buy a $1500 purse and then get harassed in the mall for cigarettes. Portage place sunk because it became a hangout for shitty people and downtown was way more of a dump back then, just remember the bums on main street holding up traffic, sitting in the hotel entranceways junking it up.

[Authentic_City]

To be fair, The North Portage redevelopment also included a substantial amount of new housing and office space behind the mall connected to Portage Place (e.g. Place Promenade). Obviously the project didn't succeed, but they were on the right track, in a way, with mixed use. In the early days when the mall was full, it was quite a thing to live in the apartments with everything attached via climate controlled walkways. But it wasn't enough to sustain the mall, for sure.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by Authentic_City

To be fair, The North Portage redevelopment also included a substantial amount of new housing and office space behind the mall connected to Portage Place (e.g. Place Promenade). Obviously the project didn't succeed, but they were on the right track, in a way, with mixed use. In the early days when the mall was full, it was quite a thing to live in the apartments with everything attached via climate controlled walkways. But it wasn't enough to sustain the mall, for sure.

But they were poorly run and ended up feeling more like state housing. Not what you’d want attached to a destination top tier mall. Again safety was a big issue. Bums sleeping in the corridors, or drunk people hanging out lots of kids running around constantly pulling fire alarms, I helped do some stuff for a friend doing a display at portage place a couple years ago and the fire alarm was pulled twice while we were there and nobody reacted.

The city set that mall up for failure.

[bomberjet]

.

[Sheepish]

PP was spun out of the Core Area Initiative. It was at a time when down town was still an important shopping and entertainment space, but was threatened by the burbs. Eatons and the Bay stores were still active and there were movie theatres downtown. BUT, at the same time Cadilac Fairview upgrade Polo Park, and that created a lot of concern with Portage Place. The other issue was that there was concern that while Portage Place may have addressed the decline of NORTH Portage, it completely turned its back on the 3 blocks of SOUTH Portage between Eatons and the Bay. As I recall, stores that wanted in to the expanded Polo were required to sign a lease in PP. And once that lease expired, they were free to leave. The dominos began to fall.