Winnipeg Construction VIII

[buzzg]

I hope that maybe my some gift from the heavens 360 would make the main entrance to Scotiabank in the Atrium and help out P&M for (if/) when people can frolic there again.

I'm curious as to CentreVenture's discussions with the 4 main building owners in terms of possibilities for making them more people friendly and oriented to the corner. Like that wind tunnel at 201 Portage is a waste of space, maybe Starbucks could rearrange and get its own door right at the corner...

[Urban recluse]

Originally Posted by Bovell007

I am glad that 360 is being recladded, Portage and Main no longer has a building that looks like it is covered in dirty snow year round. Also does the Richardson building have to be recladded or is it so old that it does not have to meet the energy code.

I wish it would be. The downtown needs more sparkle and less concrete. Dreary, drab and depressing describes downtown in my opinion.

360 Main announcement in March. It will look different.

[buzzg]

Unless I missed this, I think this flew under the radar. News "TOD" townhomes going up in Fort Rouge with the option of making the basement a separate rentable unit. Funny though that they have a picture of Osborne Village when this is South Osborne.

http://parkline.streetsidedevelopments.com/

[oftheMoon]

The P&M forum on Feb 4 from 5:30 - 7:30pm is open to the public. This should be interesting.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/portage-main-winnipeg-downtown-biz-1.3429614

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

Really? IMO that is the most hideous (prominent) building in the city.

You really couldn't do much to make it worse.

For what it's worth, I didn't mind the way it looked when it was newer... it just didn't age very gracefully.

Recladding it along the lines of the original would be OK for the first little while, but if the owner did that would we be looking at a repeat scenario where it's looking shabby again 25 years later (as compared to the other Portage and Main towers which still look good). Then again, maybe materials have improved since 360 Main was built nearly 40 years ago?

Back in the day:

Source: wbi.lib.umanitoba.ca

I know I've seen better photos of 360 Main in the 80s, but I can't seem to find them online now.

[Charleswood]

360 Main Street
I heard a different cladding story from Flynn staff last fall. They told me they were re-cladding the Scotiabank portion of the tower in 2015 and re-cladding the tower portion throughout 2016. Both jobs were to be the exact same colour as the original cladding. I hope the workers were wrong but the work they did last year resembles the original colour and materials so I'll believe it when I see it.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by oftheMoon

The P&M forum on Feb 4 from 5:30 - 7:30pm is open to the public. This should be interesting.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/portage-main-winnipeg-downtown-biz-1.3429614

So we are still talking about opening Portage and Main in Winnipeg like its a cure all for all of this city's woes, wow!

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

So we are still talking about opening Portage and Main in Winnipeg like its a cure all for all of this city's woes, wow!

Yeah reality is in order for it to have a big impact on the area the 4 corners will have to find away to orient more toward the corner. I see the main users of it right now as Fairmont guests in the summer, and drunk people from Whiskey Dix going to Johnny G's. That being said I am definitely all for it hahaha!

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Unless I missed this, I think this flew under the radar. News "TOD" townhomes going up in Fort Rouge with the option of making the basement a separate rentable unit. Funny though that they have a picture of Osborne Village when this is South Osborne.

http://parkline.streetsidedevelopments.com/

I assume this is separate from the rest of the Mike Holmes development going in right next door. Sort of funny they label a driveway tot eh station as transitway.

[CoryB]

Realities of the P&M corner is that the BMO banking hall on the main floor and the telecom relays at 201 Portage are never moving. The giant valet parking loop/lot in front of the Fairmont is going to be painful to have changed. That leaves 360 Main as having the most potential. The bank end ScotiaBank operations really don't need to prime main floor space and could (relatively) easily relocate to a vacant floor in the tower. That space could then potentially become a restaurant/bar with a patio on the corner, etc. That said the development on the east side of Main from Portage to York is so limited in terms of builds that can be converted or lots that can be built on it should really call into question the need to even consider opening up the intersection to pedestrians. I agree with buzzg, the pedestrian traffic will be tourists from the Fairmont and the occasional person later at night.

[bomberjet]

Just as information. In the RFP that was released last week, pretty sure the City had noted they will only be opening 3 of the 4 crossings to pedestrians at P&M. Leaving one closed. And I think it was the east crossing between BMO and Richardson that would be closed. I may have read that wrong.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Just as information. In the RFP that was released last week, pretty sure the City had noted they will only be opening 3 of the 4 crossings to pedestrians at P&M. Leaving one closed. And I think it was the east crossing between BMO and Richardson that would be closed. I may have read that wrong.

Really? The funny thing is that is by far the easiest part of the intersection to cross right now with the barricades up, given the relatively light traffic flow on Portage Ave. E. If they're opening up the rest of the intersection they might as well open this part up too.

[bomberjet]

Sorry it's the north crosswalk. But that is only 1 of 3 options being looked at right now, option 3 below. The first two have pedestrians crossing all four sides. Also, there will be no scramble. They've eliminated that option. I like option 2.

A bit confusing. They go through the traffic signal cycle, that's what the phasing indicates. With each movement then described. Vehicles first, then pedestrians.


(a) The Administration Report can be found on the City Clerk’s Department website
http://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/dmis/ViewDoc.asp?DocId=13427&SectionId=&InitUrl=

(b) Option 1 Phasing:
(i) Phase 1: NB Through + Right Turn and SB Through + Double Right Turn Pedestrian
Crossings on East and West Side
(ii) Phase 2: WB Through + Right Turn and EB Through + Double Right Turn
Pedestrian Crossings on North and South Side
(iii) Phase 3: SB Double Right Turn with EB Left Turn overlap and EB Through + Double
Right Turn No Pedestrian Crossings

(c) Option 2 Phasing:
(i) Phase 1: NB Through + Right Turn and SB Through Pedestrian Crossings on East
and West Side
(ii) Phase 2: WB Through + Right Turn and EB Through Pedestrian Crossings on North
and South Side
(iii) Phase 3: SB Double Right Turn with EB Left Turn overlap and EB Through + Double
Right Turn No Pedestrian Crossings

(d) Option 3 Phasing:
The City of Winnipeg Supplemental Conditions
RFP No. 73-2016 Page 2 of 6
Template Version: SrC120150806 - Consulting Services RFP
(i) Phase 1: NB Through + Right Turn and SB Through + Double Right Turn Pedestrian
Crossings on East and West Side
(ii) Phase 2: WB Through + Right Turn and EB Through + Double Right Turn
Pedestrian Crossings on South Side
(iii) Phase 3: SB Double Right Turn with EB Left Turn overlap and EB Through + Double
Right Turn Pedestrian Crossing on South Side

Source: http://winnipeg.ca/MatMgt/FolderContents.asp?FOLDER_NAME=73-2016&YEAR=2016

[cheswick]

Anyone know what's going on at the smaller lot just NW of 145 pacific? Looked like there was some heavy machinery on there doing something as I rode by on the bus.

[oftheMoon]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Anyone know what's going on at the smaller lot just NW of 145 pacific? Looked like there was some heavy machinery on there doing something as I rode by on the bus.

They've started work on the Sport Manitoba training centre addition.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Realities of the P&M corner is that the BMO banking hall on the main floor and the telecom relays at 201 Portage are never moving. The giant valet parking loop/lot in front of the Fairmont is going to be painful to have changed. That leaves 360 Main as having the most potential. The bank end ScotiaBank operations really don't need to prime main floor space and could (relatively) easily relocate to a vacant floor in the tower. That space could then potentially become a restaurant/bar with a patio on the corner, etc. That said the development on the east side of Main from Portage to York is so limited in terms of builds that can be converted or lots that can be built on it should really call into question the need to even consider opening up the intersection to pedestrians. I agree with buzzg, the pedestrian traffic will be tourists from the Fairmont and the occasional person later at night.

You miss the point. It's not about what is at the corner specifically. It's about connectivity between areas of downtown.

Design a city from the driver seat of a car and you get a shit city. Take your big box power centres, fine but downtown is not about moving traffic as quickly as possible. It's about people.

When you design the downtown from the sidewalk out, having a freeway interchange at its heart becomes ludicrous.

There is only one reason to close the intersection. That is to speed up car traffic. That is not an acceptable reason.

13,000 people work at portage and main every single day. The entire population of Steinbach. To suggest opening it to pedestrians is for tourists is simply wrong.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by trueviking

You miss the point. It's not about what is at the corner specifically. It's about connectivity between areas of downtown.

Design a city from the driver seat of a car and you get a shit city. Take your big box power centres, fine but downtown is not about moving traffic as quickly as possible. It's about people.

When you design the downtown from the sidewalk out, having a freeway interchange at its heart becomes ludicrous.

There is only one reason to close the intersection. That is to speed up car traffic. That is not an acceptable reason.

13,000 people work at portage and main every single day. The entire population of Steinbach. To suggest opening it to pedestrians is for tourists is simply wrong.

Except in the case of Winnipeg there really aren't alternative routes, sure 13K may work down but I bet 4X that travel through that intersection everyday by car. Before that intersection was closed Winnipeg was closer to 500K than the 800K it is now, it was a bottleneck then and I could only imagine the gridlock if was opened to pedestrians now.

[DonaldSmith]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Except in the case of Winnipeg there really aren't alternative routes, sure 13K may work down but I bet 4X that travel through that intersection everyday by car. Before that intersection was closed Winnipeg was closer to 500K than the 800K it is now, it was a bottleneck then and I could only imagine the gridlock if was opened to pedestrians now.

Why isn't there gridlock when all other intersections are open to pedestrians?

You also understand that other lanes are open when people are crossing. The whole intersection doesn't stop for pedestrians. Pedestrians would cross when people would be sitting in their cars at red lights anyways. The change would have a minimal impact.

[oftheMoon]

Originally Posted by DonaldSmith

Why isn't there gridlock when all other intersections are open to pedestrians?

You also understand that other lanes are open when people are crossing. The whole intersection doesn't stop for pedestrians. Pedestrians would cross when people would be sitting in their cars at red lights anyways. The change would have a minimal impact.

Agreed. I don't think Portage and Memorial is far off the size of Portage & Main. Traffic and pedestrians flow well at that intersection.

Main and Broadway.

Broadway and Osborne.

This list goes on - P&M is not much unlike the others.

[esquire]

^ Exactly. I don't know why people think that downtown will suddenly become one giant gridlock zone on account of one intersection.