Winnipeg Construction

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by lilwayne

again i ask what was the about

is it about a project none of us is aware of?

Patience child. Patience.... The more a child asks for chocolate the more the parent is inclined to say no. If you keep pestering people for information like this we will loose some of our most valued posters. As soon as they are able to, they will reveal the information to us. This stands true for any development.

[Mininari]

Noticed Lipstixxx is advertising 'last beer: Oct 6'

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by Mininari

Noticed Lipstixxx is advertising 'last beer: Oct 6'

More like "last lappy"

[rgalston]

Originally Posted by headhorse

from: http://www.canadianarchitect.com/news/lm...n-convention-centre-projects/1001727342/

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by rgalston

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

Yet I would much prefer this over a parking lot. Because even if pedestrians wouldn't go to the Convention Centre on a normal day, hundreds of thousands of people are going to be brought to the city over the years, potential deals, and business will come to the city that would have otherwise been loss due to the outdated centre we currently have.

I would much rather that, than have the hundred some odd people who get to park their cars closer to work throughout the year.


And the Hotel projects (key being plural) surrounding the development, are certain to bring people to the area. I hope you are being sarcastic.

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

Yet I would much prefer this over a parking lot. Because even if pedestrians wouldn't go to the Convention Centre on a normal day, hundreds of thousands of people are going to be brought to the city over the years, potential deals, and business will come to the city that would have otherwise been loss due to the outdated centre we currently have.

I would much rather that, than have the hundred some odd people who get to park their cars closer to work throughout the year.


And the Hotel projects (key being plural) surrounding the development, are certain to bring people to the area. I hope you are being sarcastic.

He's not being sarcastic, he has a different view of what downtown should look like compared to you.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by rgalston

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

Right... because the area would be much better served if they built some indie record stores, old school barbers, pretentious coffee shops and haberdasheries instead.



In reality. I look forward to the additional thousands of people that will converge on our downtown on a regular basis to attend conferences, stay at hotels and eat at restaurants while getting rid of a surface parking lot in the process.

I noticed that most of the surface parking lots are now more expensive as a result of the recent WCC parking lot closure.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by rypinion

He's not being sarcastic, he has a different view of what downtown should look like compared to you.

Empty and full of parking lots?

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

Yet I would much prefer this over a parking lot. Because even if pedestrians wouldn't go to the Convention Centre on a normal day, hundreds of thousands of people are going to be brought to the city over the years, potential deals, and business will come to the city that would have otherwise been loss due to the outdated centre we currently have.

I would much rather that, than have the hundred some odd people who get to park their cars closer to work throughout the year.


And the Hotel projects (key being plural) surrounding the development, are certain to bring people to the area. I hope you are being sarcastic.

Read this if you require some context and background on Rob Galston.

http://uniter.ca/view/6244/

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

Empty and full of parking lots?

You need to pay more attention to what individual people write here, or look at his twitter.

He'd be able to put it better, but put simply, his downtown looks more like the West Exchange.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by rypinion

You need to pay more attention to what individual people write here, or look at his twitter.

He'd be able to put it better, but put simply, his downtown looks more like the West Exchange.

Ah. I have no problem with that ideology. But at the same time, this development is not at all take what you can get. It isn't something that Winnipeg is settling for. It is something that it desperately needs. The undeniable part is that the WCC isn't replacing a development that is more in tune to what Mr. Galston wants. It is replacing nothing. Quite literally.


And who knows, with a development such as this, a future of coffee shops, restaurants, art galleries, etc. could be plausible. However they would more than likely sit within the podiums of mid rises.

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by rgalston

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

While I love the idea of a walkable downtown as much as the next forumer, we have to pick our battles. No matter how many people live downtown, there will never be the critical mass to support small shops and services, fronting the street, on every downtown street. Not even Toronto, in their highly, highly populated CBD has that. Rather, the walkable, pedestrian streets are generally on the periphery of downtown (as are ours, like the exchange, Osborne, etc.).

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

It is something that it desperately needs.

That's where you two would differ.

[headhorse]

I don't think what Rob is saying is incorrect... Convention Centre's have shown time and time again to not have the economic or urban renewal impact that they claim. As the taxpaying public is paying for this (because the CC doesn't make nearly enough money to pay for itself, let alone an expansion) you could probably classify it as a waste of money. I had hopes that they would have the foresight to integrate the building with the street and include other uses (residential...), but judging by that rendering and what others have said, it doesn't look like that will be the case.

As a new resident to Winnipeg, I spent the summer walking around downtown and exploring the Convention Centre/skywalk. Even when events were happening inside, the area surrounding the CC was dead. I don't think doubling the size and empty wall effect along Calrton and Edmonton will change that. We might get a hotel or two, but if everyone is just walking through the skywalks between their hotel and the CC it won't do anything to improve the walkability of the area or the dreariness (and sometime eerieness) that persists right now.

The millions we're paying to build this would be much better spent encouraging developers to build walkable, mixed use buildings in the area with a more human scale than this beast.

I think Rob could offer some valuable insight into urban design in Winnipeg, especially to a lot of us who do not have the experience and knowledge he has. I hope the posts here don't dissuade him from posting more and hopefully offering some ideas about what we, as a like minded group, could do and demand to make Winnipeg's downtown more vibrant. That's what we all want, and I think we should welcome different ideas to achieve that...

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by headhorse

I don't think what Rob is saying is incorrect... Convention Centre's have shown time and time again to not have the economic or urban renewal impact that they claim. As the taxpaying public is paying for this (because the CC doesn't make nearly enough money to pay for itself, let alone an expansion) you could probably classify it as a waste of money. I had hopes that they would have the foresight to integrate the building with the street and include other uses (residential...), but judging by that rendering and what others have said, it doesn't look like that will be the case.

As a new resident to Winnipeg, I spent the summer walking around downtown and exploring the Convention Centre/skywalk. Even when events were happening inside, the area surrounding the CC was dead. I don't think doubling the size and empty wall effect along Calrton and Edmonton will change that. We might get a hotel or two, but if everyone is just walking through the skywalks between their hotel and the CC it won't do anything to improve the walkability of the area or the dreariness (and sometime eerieness) that persists right now.

The millions we're paying to build this would be much better spent encouraging developers to build walkable, mixed use buildings in the area with a more human scale than this beast.

I think Rob could offer some valuable insight into urban design in Winnipeg, especially to a lot of us who do not have the experience and knowledge he has. I hope the posts here don't dissuade him from posting more and hopefully offering some ideas about what we, as a like minded group, could do and demand to make Winnipeg's downtown more vibrant. That's what we all want, and I think we should welcome different ideas to achieve that...

Well said.

[dpenner]

http://dirtamericana.blogspot.ca/2012/07/enticing-visitors-downtownand-then.html?m=1

good article worth a read

[dpenner]

i have been stuck in the middle in regards to whether or not i like the construction of the convention centre expansion. I don't accept the argument that it is better then the surface lot currently there as valid, since building one massive project spanning the whole area makes it rigid and not flexible to the future growth and direction of the city. What happens if in twenty years we want a different use for the space in the area. Normally I oppose massive projects that are not residential in nature for this reason, they limit the organic growth of the city in that particular area. That being said I feel like in this particular case in Winnipeg, that there is a market for additional space and feel as if the expansion can provide an extra economic boost to the area and secure some serious tax revenue.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by rgalston

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

The reality of the current situation downtown is except for a narrow strip of Portage most of downtown is a no-go zone for pedestrians. Take north of Portage for example, with the walled off effect caused by Portage Place most people remain blissfully unaware that they are merely two blocks from Central Park. I have spoke with a number of people that say that is a real no-go area for them even by car.

While we could all come up with alternate uses for the site of the Convention Centre expansion the reality is that it will ultimately take a surface lot out of the available pool for downtown development which in turn will push redevelopment into other areas which really need the same ammount of help if not more...

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by rgalston

The Convention Centre expansion is a waste of money and will solidify South Portage as a vacant-feeling no-go zone for pedestrians no matter what the design. But holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 is this bad.

What makes you feel its a waste of money? (edit - I can see headhorse's tax payer argument as entirely valid, but the full details of this project have not been disclosed yet ..we don't know if there will be an additional tower that might offer residences/mixed use as well, and with the price tag pegged at $300MM it seems to me more than just an expansion and hotel will be included)

No doubt it isn't as pedestrian friendly as an open market or something like that, but would that parking lot ever have been given up for something like that?

[headhorse]

If were going to devote $180,000,000 in public funds to revitalizing downtown, I'd rather we give 18 local developers $10 million dollars to each build one mixed-use project. Those developers could then pass those savings onto the residents/businesses who move into those buildings.