Winnipeg | Downtown Developments & Discussions

[Wpg_Guy]

New restaurant coming to downtown Winnipeg Keg location
Charles Lefebvre
Published: August 07, 2026


Greta Arcade Bar on July 22, 2026. (Curtis Goodrum/CTV News Edmonton)

The site of the former Keg location in downtown Winnipeg will not be empty for long.

Greta, an arcade bar with locations in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, confirmed to CTV News they plan to open their first location in Winnipeg on Garry Street in the former Keg location, which closed at the end of July.

“We think it’s a great location,” said Chris DeCock, president and CEO of Hudsons Canada’s Pub and Greta. “We think that it hopefully will bring some intrigue and something a little bit different to downtown Winnipeg.”


DeCock said he has been trying to bring a restaurant or bar to Winnipeg for close to a decade, noting his family is originally from Manitoba.

He said work is underway to get the space ready for Greta and said he wants to preserve as much of the building as possible.

“We will keep the essence of the building itself there; it’s a beautiful heritage building, but it’ll certainly add in our sort of flair of our millwork and our sort of fun colours and our truly interactive space,” he said.

The goal is to have the space open by November 2026. Decock said Greta will have a patio space open and be participating in Le Burger Week in Winnipeg between Sept. 1 and 7.


As for The Keg, the company said it will be moving to a new location on Donald Street later this year.

CTV News Winnipeg

[Wpg_Guy]

No worse for wear
Graham Avenue street art gets a refresh
By: Zoe Pierce
Friday, Aug. 7, 2026


SUPPLIED

Before and after photos of a design on Graham Avenue, retouched this year 12 months after it was first laid down.

After a year of weather, wear and foot traffic, the colourful murals that brightened Graham Avenue have been given a refresh — but the artists behind them say the fading was not necessarily a failure.

The Graham Avenue murals were installed as part of the city’s pedestrian plaza pilot project, funded through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative. The city said the murals created a temporary pedestrian plaza to test how people would use the downtown space.

Shortly after the street art was completed in July 2025, paint began chipping away from the designs between Carlton and Garry streets.

At the time, Cool Streets Winnipeg organizer Stéphane Dorge told the Free Press that the wear appeared sooner than expected, and cited challenges including the condition of the street, oil embedded in the pavement from decades of bus traffic and the quick timeline for completing the project.

Street artist James Culleton, who created one of the eight asphalt murals installed on Graham Avenue last summer, returned in June with a team of artists to repaint his Parcheesi-inspired design.

“It was a repaint, like the exact same design just repainted,” Culleton said. “The first time round we had to do all the measuring and scale and everything, and then this time it was faded, but you could still kind of see it.”

“Murals don’t last, but they offer a beautiful moment in art,” he said.

The city confirmed seven of the eight murals were touched up in June, saying the paint used on street surfaces is temporary by nature and wears down under Winnipeg’s climate and road conditions.

It said crews took additional steps this year to help the commercial-grade paint adhere better, including thoroughly cleaning the pavement before reapplying the artwork. Mural locations were also adjusted.

Culleton said he was approached by Dorge to submit a design for the project on the former bus mall. He’s worked on street murals and other public art projects for years, including a crosswalk mural at The Forks.

He said having to repaint street murals is common. Some of his murals at The Forks, for example, are refreshed every year because of the amount of foot traffic, winter conditions and street maintenance.

“It just sort of fades away,” he said. “And if it didn’t fade away, you’d probably end up using a paint that was too toxic.”

For Graham Avenue, he wanted to create something interactive.

His mural is based on the board game he remembers playing as a child, with the idea that people could interact with the artwork rather than just walk past it.

“I thought, well, hey, we should try to do some games so that if people want to play them, then that might be fun,” he said.

The original mural took weeks of planning and design, followed by about a day of installation with a team of artists. The repainting took about a day as well, Culleton said.

He said projects such as the Graham Avenue murals provide valuable paid opportunities for local artists.

“It’s hard as an artist to get any paying gigs.”

The city said the murals are part of a larger effort to reimagine Graham Avenue, and it is exploring the future of the space with CentreVenture Development Corp. and Downtown Winnipeg BIZ.

For Culleton, the temporary nature of the artwork doesn’t diminish its impact.

“Sometimes you make a beautiful piece of art, and it’s like dropping a feather in the wind,” he said. “Maybe you’re the only one who sees it, but it’s still beautiful.”


MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES

Artists create the murals at the start of the project in 2025. Today, some of the painting is getting replaced, as expected for outdoor art, an artist says.

Winnipeg Free Press

[neutroniks]

Just drove down Main st. Theres a fire truck on site at Boujees, and they're starting to demolish the building.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Looks like the goal of turning this into a gravel parking lot is almost accomplished.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Mr Tall Forehead

Looks like the goal of turning this into a gravel parking lot is almost accomplished.

Actually I was thinking this might make it easier for a larger residential or commercial development to go on there.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Until you realize that the only way the owner of the lot and adjacent lots would sell to a developer would be if they offered to pay 3x the market rate for some reason (à la Sky City crooks).

[biguc]

The city should expropriate all the parking lots east of Main between St Mary and the Assiniboine as staging space for rapid transit construction. When that's done, release the land for development.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

Geekery is a massive industry and growing. I’m betting against Wags assessment and setting a 6 month reminder. The wager is one donut.

deal! now is it a $0.50 donut or fancy schmancy $8 donut? (that also blows my mind how bakery selling $8 donuts survive)

[Wpg_Guy]

Arcade bar to open in former downtown Keg
By: Gabrielle Piché
Monday, Aug. 10, 2026


SUPPLIED
The Winnipeg location is expected to include new-to-Greta arcade machines, including a competitive Slurpee-filling challenge.

Smash burgers and Skee-Ball will replace steaks as the former downtown Keg transforms into an arcade bar.

Greta, a Canadian chain, aims to open this November.

“On a high level, I feel like Winnipeg is misunderstood by a lot of the national brands,” said Chris DeCock, president of Greta.

“I think it’s a sneaky good market that a lot of the national brands miss.”

Greta leadership had been scouting Winnipeg locations for a couple years, DeCock said, but they hadn’t found the right fit. The bars have opened in heritage buildings in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver; the spaces are often 100 years old.

Before The Keg Steakhouse and Bar occupied 115 Garry St., it was a Hudson’s Bay Company garage. It was built in 1911.

“Just a beautiful building,” DeCock said. “We love the brick and steel structure, or beam structure.”

Still, the inside requires extensive renovations, DeCock said. The Keg’s last day was July 29; construction will happen over the next couple months.

Once finished, Greta’s Winnipeg locale should be similar to Toronto’s. Greta advertises more than 50 arcade games — including air hockey and Mario Kart — and a swath of food and drinks.

The Winnipeg site will hold new-to-Greta arcade machines, including a competitive Slurpee-filling challenge.

“This game is ridiculously fun,” DeCock said, adding he questioned the concept before trying.

He plans to open Greta’s patio for Le Burger Week, running Sept. 1 through 7, ahead of the bar’s official opening.

The patio seats 100 people. Another 400 can fit inside, DeCock said.

The company has hired a handful of Winnipeg managers and a chef. Greta will likely hold a job fair in early October; DeCock expects the site will need roughly 100 staff.

Door hosts are among the job descriptions.

“We were really pragmatic about what location we chose,” DeCock said.

He’d looked elsewhere downtown but was worried about security. The Keg’s former location, near Broadway, was “close enough to action… but far enough away that that security issue became not as significant,” said DeCock, whose family is from Winnipeg.

Greta has a sister company — Hudsons Canada’s Pub — with sites in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Its leadership phoned the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ this spring to discuss the area, said Kate Fenske, the BIZ’s chief executive.

“It’s really clear they see a role and an opportunity to be part of the downtown community, to bring more activity,” she said.

Many places have been busy this summer, Fenske noted — The Forks, the Exchange District, patios and Hargrave St. Market. However, the core lacks “that densification” of a destination street, she said.

She’s hoping Greta will bolster activity near Broadway.

Fenske noted 115 Garry St. won’t remain a vacant ground-level business. The number of businesses leaving downtown didn’t exceed openings this spring, she added.

“Two things can be true at once… there is so much investment and so many great things happening with new businesses opening,” Fenske said.

“At the same time, we know what’s happening on our streets… is becoming more and more challenging. We’re seeing more folks struggling.”

Tavern United closed its Graham Avenue locale; Giant Tiger plans to shutter its Donald Street store in November.

Greta is opening ahead of construction ending at major downtown projects, such as the redevelopment of Portage Place, Fenske said, adding the core will look different in three years.

Greta’s arrival should bring “more energy downtown” and adds to tourists’ and residents’ Winnipeg experiences, said Amanda Macdonald, Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism’s chief operating officer.

The Keg is moving to the ground floor of DSM, an apartment block at 185 Donald St. Its management cited more space as the reason for the move.


SUPPLIED
The arcade bar chain Greta is coming to Winnipeg.


SUPPLIED
Greta leadership had been scouting Winnipeg locations for a couple of years before landing on the downtown site.


SUPPLIED
Greta aims to open this November.

Free Press

[Wpg_Guy]

Frustrated owners won’t rebuild demolished Boujee
Fires, subsequent break-ins sour restaurateur on downtown
By: Nicole Buffie
Monday, Aug. 10, 2026


MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

An emergency demolition of the property at 191 Main St. took place on Saturday after two fires last week.

The co-owner of a former Main Street restaurant vows he will not rebuild in Winnipeg’s downtown, owing to constant crime and vandalism in the area.

Kanish Sood, who is one of three partners of the now-demolished Boujee Restaurant and Bar, said he did everything he could to keep the building safe from vandals after it was hit by arson last October.

“After that (fire), there is about already 15, 20 times there has been break-in in the property,” Sood said Monday. “We have been informing police continuously that there is continuously break-ins. People are trying to go inside the building and stealing things, but there was no action.”

After Boujee was torched, Sood and his partners locked the building and boarded it up. They also hired private security to monitor it. The break-ins continued.

The building, located at 191 Main St., in a high-traffic area near the entrance to The Forks, was again set aflame — twice — last week. That led to an emergency demolition of the property on Saturday.

In the first instance, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were sent to the restaurant at 5:38 p.m. on Aug. 2 and extinguished a fire. The building sustained significant fire and water damage.

On Saturday — six days later — crews were back at Boujee just before 6 a.m., for another fire. The city arranged an emergency demolition of the building later that day.

The 29-year-old business owner says he and his partners have no desire — or money — to invest in another property downtown. They are awaiting an insurance payout from the first fire.

“We were planning to rebuild the restaurant … we’re like young entrepreneurs. This is our first business, right? We invested everything in it, now we have nothing now,” Sood said.

“I would not even recommend (opening a restaurant) to anyone with all that is happening in downtown. Like that particular area, this is the biggest corner of the city, the main corner where a lot of vehicles pass every day, yet police or legal authorities cannot even protect that.”

Sood said he had also reached out to the mayor’s office about his concerns about downtown safety and the viability of owning a restaurant in the area.

A spokesperson from the mayor’s office couldn’t confirm late Monday afternoon if it had received correspondence from Sood. In a statement, a spokesperson said the property has “huge potential and is an excellent redevelopment opportunity for an owner prepared to invest in it,” noting hundreds of new homes being built next door at Railside at The Forks.

Boujee opened in April 2024, in the spot that has housed a restaurant for decades. It was previously the Friskee Pearl and, for many years, an Earls.

Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association chair Jay Kilgour called Boujee’s demolition heartbreaking.

The only way to ensure more downtown spots don’t suffer the same fate, he said, is to create safe spaces for business owners to set up shop. He mentioned patrols and better lighting as possible security measures.

“We need to focus on deterrence, and I think that we need to focus on getting people downtown,” said Kilgour, a restaurant owner himself. “Any barrier to a restaurant opening is our concern, and I think that you’re not going to have a vibrant downtown without restaurants willing to open there.”

Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Pat Saydak confirmed police are investigating both of the recent fires at Boujee. Police did not answer further questions about the blazes.

The man accused in the October 2025 blaze is set to be tried in a judge-only trial in May 2027, court records show. Jesse Wheatland is accused of setting fires at multiple downtown businesses, including Commonwealth Kitchen and Bar, Johnny G’s, the Palomino Club, Boujee, La Roca and Tipsy Cow.

He remains in custody.

In May, the province announced $2 million in funding to five community organizations to bolster safety in the downtown core. The province said at the time the money would be used to build community partnerships, as well as pay for security upgrades like cameras and alarm systems for the organizations’ offices.

— with file from Malak Abas


MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Prior to the demolition of Boujee, the building housed a restaurant for decades.


AARON EPP / FREE PRESS FILES
The interior of Boujee Restaurant and Bar, pictured early Saturday afternoon. The building has been vacant since October 2025, when it was damaged by the first of three fires.

Free Press

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

Frustrated owners won’t rebuild demolished Boujee
Fires, subsequent break-ins sour restaurateur on downtown
By: Nicole Buffie
Monday, Aug. 10, 2026
Free Press

I hope that f*cker Jesse Wheatland never walks free again. The damage he has inflicted on businesses, the local business environment, and the public perception of downtown is immense. Thankfully no one was hurt or injured in his reckless acts. He remains an enormous threat to society and deserves to stay incarcerated for the rest of his life.

[trueviking]

^ he will be free in two years.

That being said, I'm not sad they aren't going to build another one storey restaurant with a giant parking lot in downtown Winnipeg.

[neutroniks]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

Free Press

To be honest, they should've opened Greta where Canad Inns was. 2 levels of bars and games. Rooftop Patio. Would've been better than Broadway.. Activates Graham. The comment about security is telling. Unfortunate that had to be a factor, but understandable.

[trueviking]

^ media needs to stop using Tavern United as an example of a failed business that closed.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ media needs to stop using Tavern United as an example of a failed business that closed.

They should start talking about Canad Inns in general. All of their properties are literally falling apart.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

They should start talking about Canad Inns in general. All of their properties are literally falling apart.

Some of them have been getting pretty scuzzy. Nevermind the Tavern United plummet in quality and skyrocketing cost.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by FactaNV

Some of them have been getting pretty scuzzy. Nevermind the Tavern United plummet in quality and skyrocketing cost.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a headline really any day that they've sold off the entire chain.

My gut feeling is Canad Inns are starved for capital and have no money to fix anything or really even do basic expected maintenance.

They'll sell out to a multinational chain (yeah I know they have a spot in Grand Forks too so technically multinational).

[trueviking]

Not cheap to stay in either.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

Wouldn't be surprised to see a headline really any day that they've sold off the entire chain.

My gut feeling is Canad Inns are starved for capital and have no money to fix anything or really even do basic expected maintenance.

They'll sell out to a multinational chain (yeah I know they have a spot in Grand Forks too so technically multinational).

Typical unfortunately. Like in many well to do families, the kids inherit what Leo built and spend it all with little interest to grow or even properly maintain what there is.

[The Jabroni]

The rise and most likely fall of Canad Inns in the near future?

They've eliminated all the night clubs in each of their locations years ago, so that was a good chunk of their profits almost every weekend, gone. On the upside, much less headache with various incidents occurring at those clubs, which is probably why they shut down the clubs in the first place, because of liability and other factors.

What a shame. They're already coasting and the signs are already obvious. It's only a matter of time before they start shutting down or sell off some hotel property locations to another company. Tavern United downtown was totally a sign of what's yet to come.