Winnipeg Construction VIII

[rrskylar]

Wow, looks like everyone is in agreement with tearing down the PSB and adjoining parkade, pretty rare in these parts!

Good idea as others have already mentioned and something good there could be a catalyst for the area!

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

I would be thrilled to see the original colours for the Scotiabank and 360 Main buildings. They were supposed to be cream/ off white with a green tint glass so even just a cream off white clad or grey or black or anything but Khaki and beige.. Dreadfully Dreary and Drab in a winter city where no leaves on tress 7 months of the year and winter almost half a year... I sure hope one day soon the second tower can be built as well as the Lot where Westin was going to build @ Main St... One of them should be a hotel, other office. I could not find the colour version..
Also, notice how much nicer The ScotiaBank portion is in the proposal?
Winnipeg Square by Trizec proposal l1974... http://www.winnipegarchitecture.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/360-Main-Street.jpg

Where do you live that it's 7 months of winter? Or are you just another negative hater of winnipegs weather.
I work outside year round. Winter these days is usually 3 months and sometimes 4. But I guess spring with all its flowers and green grass and budding trees is winter to you. And I assume fall with its green grass and falling leaves is winter to you also. Guess that leave June through July. Must be working on a summer school break mentality.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

Where do you live that it's 7 months of winter? Or are you just another negative hater of winnipegs weather.
I work outside year round. Winter these days is usually 3 months and sometimes 4. But I guess spring with all its flowers and green grass and budding trees is winter to you. And I assume fall with its green grass and falling leaves is winter to you also. Guess that leave June through July. Must be working on a summer school break mentality.

Bang on. That assessment couldn't be further from the bloody truth.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Wow, looks like everyone is in agreement with tearing down the PSB and adjoining parkade, pretty rare in these parts!

Good idea as others have already mentioned and something good there could be a catalyst for the area!

I'm not thrilled with tearing down the PSB, but I just don't know what choice there really is in this case...

[BigG]

I can envision an extension of the RRC campus some retail and residential with a plaza that can be used for a "night market" for businesses in Chinatown and surrounding area during the summer months. The area can also be used for a hub during the Fringe Festival.

[lilwayne]

so in the last 2 years Winnipeg is adding

u of w residence 14 stories
d condos
heritage landing
true north square tower 1
tower 2
Sutton hotel
Sutton hotel residents
alt hotel
sky city condos
u of w expansion
opening of Winnipeg human rights museum
wclcc expansion on graham

cant wait to here what other projects are on the pipeline... we might not have the massive skyscrapers of Toronto and Vancouver but I can still see us adding 3 - 4 more new tallest type buildings in the near future.. the collection of new buildings around the graham and portage, hargrave area is really something that I am excited to see

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm not thrilled with tearing down the PSB, but I just don't know what choice there really is in this case...

To me it really depends what is going in its place. If there is going to be city offices, then there needs to be a serious and honest evaluation of the current building and its potential to be rehabbed. As Bartley Kives pointed out on Twitter, the evaluation done during the police HQ debacle was so dishonest that it is effectively useless.

If the space is to be completely repurposed into something more 'people' public (as opposed to 'service' public), then the PSB is likely unsuitable as a building. The interesting question is, what should it be?

I've heard some talk of making it a public market, but I don't feel that works for a couple of reasons. First of all, we already have a publicly-owned public market downtown at the Forks, so building an amenity that directly competes with another publicly-owned amenity doesn't make a lot of sense. Secondly, given the state of the city coffers, having a public amenity that loses money on an ongoing basis is not feasible. Remember that the Forks site itself loses money every year, needing the revenue of the Portage Place parkade to support it. Yes city offices cost money too, but this would be a reallocation of an existing expense, as opposed to adding a new one.

And please, please, please, no green (aka. dead) space. We have enough of that, this is downtown, not some rural pasture.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by lilwayne

so in the last 2 years Winnipeg is adding

u of w residence 14 stories
d condos
heritage landing
true north square tower 1
tower 2
Sutton hotel
Sutton hotel residents
alt hotel
sky city condos
u of w expansion
opening of Winnipeg human rights museum
wclcc expansion on graham

cant wait to here what other projects are on the pipeline... we might not have the massive skyscrapers of Toronto and Vancouver but I can still see us adding 3 - 4 more new tallest type buildings in the near future.. the collection of new buildings around the graham and portage, hargrave area is really something that I am excited to see

Glasshouse too.

[esquire]

Good points all, TimeFadesAway. Downtown Winnipeg has a good amount of gathering places and especially "green spaces", what it could use is more people to populate and animate them.

The concern I have with keeping the PSB intact is that it means the northern 2/3 of the block will no doubt continue to be used for underground parking with nothing but a falling-apart parkade on top which I'm sure would be replaced. Not really a great use of the site.

I'd love to see something get built that would put the whole block to use. I'm sure parking would be a component, but it wouldn't be the dominant one. I'm not sure that RRC has the means (given the cost overruns of the Union Bank Tower project) to do anything, but what are the other options? More importantly, what are the options that are acceptable in the context of the caveat on part of the site?

There are a lot of big questions that have to be answered first, but there is certainly a lot of potential for the PSB site.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by trueviking

No plan yet...consultation process to begin.

Will it be used by the city or is the family that owns the land willing to sell it to developers?

[oftheMoon]

^^^ The caveat really limits the use of the property. Love the building(s) or hate it, restore it or tear it down, put in a condo or a dog park - it's all going to be limited be the caveat.

Is that family willing to remove it for possible development? If so, then the sky's the limit. It's proximity is like a gateway from the west Exchange to Chinatown. Doing something right could meld the areas together.

[bomberjet]

Can the City just buy them out with a juicy offer? Or expropriate for the good of the City? Or something like that.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

Where do you live that it's 7 months of winter? Or are you just another negative hater of winnipegs weather.
I work outside year round. Winter these days is usually 3 months and sometimes 4. But I guess spring with all its flowers and green grass and budding trees is winter to you. And I assume fall with its green grass and falling leaves is winter to you also. Guess that leave June through July. Must be working on a summer school break mentality.

Did you read what I wrote? I Never said 7 months of winter. Re Read please...I happen to like it here and am a huge supporter of this city.. My family has been here for 110 years.
I said no leaves on trees for 7 months....Mid October to Mid May...That is a reality... I am not incorrect on that. Our visitors and city residents alike need to se some colour on buildings.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by h0twired

Will it be used by the city or is the family that owns the land willing to sell it to developers?

The family doesn't actually still own the land, but has some power over its use due to the caveat. When this issue first came up a few years ago, someone from the media contacted the family, who, IIRC, said that the caveat would still be in force, but that they were fairly lenient on what would constitute 'public' use.

Keep in mind that the caveat only applies to the portion of the site south of where Market used to run (roughly the southern 1/3 of the site). Anything goes with the rest.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by esquire

The concern I have with keeping the PSB intact is that it means the northern 2/3 of the block will no doubt continue to be used for underground parking with nothing but a falling-apart parkade on top which I'm sure would be replaced. Not really a great use of the site.

I my opinion, anything that forces us to keep that falling apart parkade there is unacceptable.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by TimeFadesAway

I my opinion, anything that forces us to keep that falling apart parkade there is unacceptable.

Parking will have to be addressed one way or another because, at the very least, there will be a need to provide councillors, senior staff and run of the mill civic employees with at least some parking spaces. They can't all do the Phil Sheegl Mercedes-in-the-fire lane thing.

The existing parkade will have to be demolished, but whether that means replacement with underground parking or a parkade on another lot I don't know. But I would think that replacement of the PSB will certainly include parking as part of the equation.

[Cyro]

Let's here what the newly not yet formed city commitee, comes up with when Bowman creates it. It's a long way off at this point, Kinda like a mayoral pledge, post election..

[buzzg]

I wonder if there was retail CRUs all along William, but they were part of/attached to and in front of a greater big new building of some sort of public use, if that would satisfy the caveat. Like hey your direct caveat land has retail but its supporting this awesome bigger redevelopment of the property.

In my mind, Willam HAS TO be lined with retail there, a lot of potential to connect to OMS, and continuing it north on Princess would be great too, especially with the new RRC building on Elgin coming.

I fear if we allow that block (east side) of Princess to remain useless as it is now, or build something that continues to make it dead for years, the area north of RRC will have a tough time redeveloping.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I wonder if there was retail CRUs all along William, but they were part of/attached to and in front of a greater big new building of some sort of public use, if that would satisfy the caveat. Like hey your direct caveat land has retail but its supporting this awesome bigger redevelopment of the property.

In my mind, Willam HAS TO be lined with retail there, a lot of potential to connect to OMS, and continuing it north on Princess would be great too, especially with the new RRC building on Elgin coming.

I fear if we allow that block (east side) of Princess to remain useless as it is now, or build something that continues to make it dead for years, the area north of RRC will have a tough time redeveloping.

It should be an extension to china town. Park on the 1/3 that has to be public. Parkade above or below and like you said retail on the ground floor. But catered to the Asian community to keep the areas unique shopping in tact.

[BubberMiley]

Originally Posted by TimeFadesAway

The family doesn't actually still own the land, but has some power over its use due to the caveat.

As I recall, that deal with "the family" was made in 1875. Wouldn't that mean this family would now likely number over 100 people? Would you need agreement from all of them? If they really want to have a say in its development, let them have it back and let them cover the cost of demolishing the PSB.