Winnipeg Construction

[mrchristian]

Originally Posted by good_dude

Birks too? I sometimes wonder how they are doing on Main

True, Birks. They did a downtown move in Vancouver as well and in Montreal decided to rehab their flagship store. They seem to think that a downtown banking space is where a high end jeweller should go.

[1ajs]

well having a safe already there is a pluss

[1ajs]

wow didn't know they finaly got the mpi thing going...

anyhow winnipegs dowtown a&b outlasted calgarys

[1ajs]

Student residence no sterile setting...Things have changed, says donor McFeetors
By: Nick Martin
Winnipeg Free Press
Feb 17, 2009

Luxurious digs in the heart of downtown?

If you’re 18, moving out and looking for a new place to live, McFeetors Hall is turning out to be pretty darned spiffy.

The new six-storey, $17.5-million student residence at the University of Winnipeg is swiftly taking shape for its Aug. 1 opening.

The building has an undulating design inside and out, so corridors twist and turn, and each room configures slightly differently — no long, long, long institutional hallways here.

"Pretty good compared to what I had as a student," Ray McFeetors chuckled as he took a tour Thursday through the working construction site. "I was in residence in Grade 12 on top of Wesley Hall."

The chairman of the board of Great-West Life, McFeetors donated $1.67 million and the company another $1 million to McFeetors Hall: Great-West Life Student Residence. He graduated from U of W in 1968, when the university still had some residences on its main campus two blocks east.

Located along Langside Street just north of Portage Avenue, the residence will be immediately north of the university’s new science complex, and will be flanked by U of W’s new day-care centre on the Furby Street side of the property.

Project manager Justin Bova of Man-Shield Construction explained that the two lower floors will be family units, while floors three through six will have one- and two-bedroom units for 168 students. The whole thing is 74,000 square feet.

U of W vice-president of finance Bill Balan said that the university and Manitoba Housing have arranged that 19 of the 25 lower units will go to single mothers and their kids. "They all have to be students, but it can be any post-secondary institution" that they attend, Balan said.

U of W will rent the other six units at market rates.

The university has been eager to find a residence as close to campus as possible for international, rural and aboriginal students.

Balan said that the residence’s capital fundraising campaign has covered much of the residence’s cost, but it includes a special pitch — donors can name each of the individual dorm rooms for $3,000 apiece.

Bova said that each student room has a bed, a desk, and a private bathroom and shower. In two-bedroom units, there are also a sitting area and kitchenette.

A highlight is the full-glass lounge and atrium at the building’s south end on the fifth and sixth floors, facing south and overlooking the science complex. That one’s up for naming rights too.

Balan said that the science complex and residence will connect to the main campus by a green corridor path, which he hopes would eventually connect into a bicycle route running west along St. Matthew Avenue.

"This would become the inner-city bicycle hub," Balan said. "We’re (also) looking at putting in a sweat lodge, a community feature."

Room rates will be $2,340 per student per term. U of W is finalizing a mandatory meal plan at the main U of W cafeteria at additional cost, and will be taking applications soon.

[sledhead35]

the residence and science building will make a huge impact on the area when its finally complete. remember what it replaced?

all this public spending HAS to spawn private investment sooner or later. with many cities watching their real estate going — up, investors should be begging to bring their money to our town. here's to hopeing anyway

[rgalston]

Originally Posted by sledhead35

all this public spending HAS to spawn private investment sooner or later.

It's gotta. It's just gotta. It hasn't worked for 50 years, but sooner or later...

[1ajs]

lol ^ true

[flatlander]

^^ not entirely true. public investment is essential, along with good public policy and private investment.

[sledhead35]

only problem is that when it comes around, our gov takes it to the people and they slaughter the idea.

[rgalston]

Originally Posted by flatlander

^^ not entirely true. public investment is essential, along with good public policy and private investment.

But Winnipeg has far too much of the first one (if half of it could be called "investment"), and (consequently) too little of the last two.

[flatlander]

^cant argue with that.

[The Jabroni]

I wouldn't say less public investment. I would say however that there should be more EMPHASIS on private investment, and this city lacks of it.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by mrchristian

Yeah but the A&B Sound chain went — up and had to offload all of it's locations outside of a couple of core stores. That was too bad.

I always wondered why a men's retailer like Tip Top isn't downtown. Seems like a bit of a no brainer considering a majority of the men who wear suits/ties/dress shirts and pants in the downtown is probably equal to the entire rest of the city. I seem to recall that in a lot of of cities, even smaller centres like S'toon and Regina, there's a Moores downtown.

Good point ... there are some very nice suit stores in the downtown, but none of the major chains. Could be an interesting prospect.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by rgalston

That's major. So far, American Apparel is the only popular retail chains have opened up on a traditional urban street in years, maybe even since the 1950s.

what about staples, giant tiger and dollarama? ....and warehouse one.

good point about the suit store.

i wonder how long it will take to find a tenant for the beautiful building that the royal bank is in on portage, once they move to the hydro building....

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by trueviking

i wonder how long it will take to find a tenant for the beautiful building that the royal bank is in on portage, once they move to the hydro building....

If that Royal Bank/former CIBC building isn't grabbed right away I'd be shocked. With the Hydro Tower and MTS Centre across the street ... I'd look for another chain restaurant move in. If you can add a roof-top patio ... it could be a really nice place to dine. I could see a Tony Romas or something of that nature.

I'd love to see a nice jazz club move in there.. but I don't know if downtown is ready just yet. But I'm hoping.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by trueviking

what about staples, giant tiger and dollarama? ....and warehouse one.

good point about the suit store.

i wonder how long it will take to find a tenant for the beautiful building that the royal bank is in on portage, once they move to the hydro building....

would not surprize me if it became a restraunt again

[rrskylar]

I hear that the new Hydro building is in tough finding tenants for their commercial space.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by newflyer

If that Royal Bank/former CIBC building isn't grabbed right away I'd be shocked. With the Hydro Tower and MTS Centre across the street ... I'd look for another chain restaurant move in. If you can add a roof-top patio ... it could be a really nice place to dine. I could see a Tony Romas or something of that nature.

I'd love to see a nice jazz club move in there.. but I don't know if downtown is ready just yet. But I'm hoping.

a jazz club would be kinda cool though

and newflyer there was a restraunt in there befor royal bank

[rrskylar]

UN-CITYING OUR CITIES ChristopherLeo

It started as a sensible idea: workers' housing shouldn't be located next to smoke-belching heavy industry. But it has turned into an obsession with separating everything and everyone from everything and everyone else, a denial, on a massive scale, of community and of the bedrock urban reality of mutual interdependence.

Today we find ourselves with, not only separate neighbourhoods for the rich and the poor, but a fetish for spatial segregation that defies rational explanation: One area for $250,000 houses, another one for $350,000 houses, a third for $450,000 houses. Housing for old people where young people aren't welcome, family neighbourhoods where housing for the elderly isn't welcome. No housing where there is commerce, no factories (even clean ones) and no offices where there is either housing or retail trade, wide swaths of wasted land to ensure that everything is well and truly separated from everything else.


More here; http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/ChristopherLeo/archives/2009/02/uncitying_our_c.html#more

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

UN-CITYING OUR CITIES ChristopherLeo

It started as a sensible idea: workers' housing shouldn't be located next to smoke-belching heavy industry. But it has turned into an obsession with separating everything and everyone from everything and everyone else, a denial, on a massive scale, of community and of the bedrock urban reality of mutual interdependence.

Today we find ourselves with, not only separate neighbourhoods for the rich and the poor, but a fetish for spatial segregation that defies rational explanation: One area for $250,000 houses, another one for $350,000 houses, a third for $450,000 houses. Housing for old people where young people aren't welcome, family neighbourhoods where housing for the elderly isn't welcome. No housing where there is commerce, no factories (even clean ones) and no offices where there is either housing or retail trade, wide swaths of wasted land to ensure that everything is well and truly separated from everything else.


More here; http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/ChristopherLeo/archives/2009/02/uncitying_our_c.html#more

It started as a sensible idea: workers' housing shouldn't be located next to smoke-belching heavy industry. But it turned into a marketing obession, where peoples wants were catered to. Governments and developers found that people would pay more to live in a location which met there tastes and wants.

More here; http://managementhelp.org/mrktng/mrktng.htm