Winnipeg Construction IX

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

I think unique spaces (warehouse conversions) are more appealing to people than boring new construction, especially young professionals who are more than willing to jump on the bandwagon to live downtown. Will the growth fee on new rentals outside of downtown prohibit construction, compelling developers to look at downtown? I hope so!

I agree and hope so as well.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by robertocarlos

There's so much noise downtown. I want quiet. I don't care if it's new or old construction.
Right now at 7am the guy next door is power washing the building. Good grief.

What's then noise by-law say? I think it's 8am for noises over a certain decibel. Report him to the City. Same with the garbage pick-up.

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

What's then noise by-law say? I think it's 8am for noises over a certain decibel. Report him to the City. Same with the garbage pick-up.

Neighbourhood liveability by-law prohibits excessive noise within 150m of residential properties between 9pm and 7am weekdays. Goes to 9am on weekends/holidays.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by oftheMoon

Haha yeah, the 4am crashing of bottles and cans being dumped out of BFI bins into trucks shocks me every single Monday morning.

It's the truck that wakes.me sits right out my window at times..

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by robertocarlos

I am used to the 4am garbage so I never wake up to it. Downtown is nice and quiet most weekends.

Generally yea it is.

I also hear allot of birds I mean allot and see allot around yet ur surrounded by concreat and glass

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by drew

There is a lot of blame to go around regarding buildings that remain underused in the Exchange - but I will reiterate that you cannot develop a building that someone isn't willing to sell, or at least sell for a reasonable amount.

Delinquent owners are a big issue in the Exchange.

SO sad. Albert Street was like a mini Osborne Village but even more interesting, right in the Downtown.
Until Mr Zaifman is forced to do something or sell the St. Charles, it will be a tough go for some reason.
Why has nothing been done here> Despite past threats by the city?
He wants to allow it to be so deteriorated like The Reiss family allowed the 4 storey former red brick building on King @ Banatyne to become non salvageable. They were forced to rebuild it in order to go ahead with he parkade on King st. It is now a facade resembling the early 1900's structure in a beige brick.
Once that hotel can be restored, it hopefully will be a domino effect.

[wags_in_the_peg]

all the scafolding is down from the Fortune block now, windows and facade not all done? have they pulled the plug on finishing the work?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

all the scafolding is down from the Fortune block now, windows and facade not all done? have they pulled the plug on finishing the work?

The scaffolding was only needed for the masonry repointing and repairs. The rest (windows, etc.) can be done from inside and with a lift.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The scaffolding was only needed for the masonry repointing and repairs. The rest (windows, etc.) can be done from inside and with a lift.

good to hear!

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

SO sad. Albert Street was like a mini Osborne Village but even more interesting, right in the Downtown.
Until Mr Zaifman is forced to do something or sell the St. Charles, it will be a tough go for some reason.
Why has nothing been done here> Despite past threats by the city?
He wants to allow it to be so deteriorated like The Reiss family allowed the 4 storey former red brick building on King @ Banatyne to become non salvageable. They were forced to rebuild it in order to go ahead with he parkade on King st. It is now a facade resembling the early 1900's structure in a beige brick.
Once that hotel can be restored, it hopefully will be a domino effect.

Owners like Zaifman are an issue. But they're not all like that.

Hence why I ask the questions below:

Originally Posted by Wolf13

1) How much $/sq ft does it cost to make such a building appealing?
2) What's the typical street level retail rental rate? What's the typical exchange office rental rate?
3) Do these cover cost of renovation (for a holding owner) substantially? Do these adequately offset cost of purchase (for new owner)?

Anyone know some answers to these? There are some lazy owners but it's not always that simple.

[drew]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

Owners like Zaifman are an issue. But they're not all like that.

Hence why I ask the questions below:

Anyone know some answers to these? There are some lazy owners but it's not always that simple.

Development costs IMO in a lot of cases are inconsequential as the owners purchased the buildings for a very small investment. Just selling the buildings at current market value would net an impressive return - never-mind trying to develop them.

I get that the costs to re-purpose the buildings are high - but if you can sell for a profit (and most of these owners most certainly can) - just get out of the way and let someone else do the heavy lifting.

It's almost as though there are an abundance of property "hoarders" in this City who just like acquiring stuff for their portfolio - and hang on to it until the day they die.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

It's almost as though there are an abundance of property "hoarders" in this City who just like acquiring stuff for their portfolio - and hang on to it until the day they die.

Seems that we're stuck in an awkward in between zone where you can still get a tidy profit with your somewhat underwhelming downtown property (e.g. surface parking, class C office space used for storage, shabby old apartment), but there isn't enough demand to create an obvious incentive to develop into a better use.

[1ajs]

well i got the photo ive been wanting for a few yrs now finaly











my take cool idea but somethings missing i dunno if it was cause it was full of people taking selfies on the first wensday or what i dunno cool space though i need to go back when its not full up like that

[buzzg]

Still drives me nuts CMHR isn't lit up all night. Just a giant dark blob coming over the beautiful Esplanade at night. So dumb.

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Still drives me nuts CMHR isn't lit up all night. Just a giant dark blob coming over the beautiful Esplanade at night. So dumb.

I'll just be a happy camper when this white elephant is turned into a giant water slide.

[bomberjet]

http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/pedes...r-EastExchangeCorridor.stm#tab-documents

Opportunity to provide some input on the cycling network. I had a quick look at the options and the drawings are a bit hard to follow..

[Gm0ney]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/pedes...r-EastExchangeCorridor.stm#tab-documents

Opportunity to provide some input on the cycling network. I had a quick look at the options and the drawings are a bit hard to follow..

The PDFs for Option 1, 2 and 3 are pretty detailed if you zoom in. I took the online survey here http://www.winnipeg.ca/PublicWorks/pedestriansCycling/walkBikeProjects/default.stm for the West Alexander to East Exchange Corridor project. Looks like most respondents so far prefer Option 1 far more than 2 or 3. Option 1 is protected bike lanes on McDermot and Bannatyne. Option 2 is putting both directions of protected bike lanes on Bannatyne and Option 3 is a hybrid that is Option 1 from Sherbrook to Arthur and then Option 2 from Arthur to Waterfront. Bannatyne's a mess between Rorie and Waterfront in this option with 2 bike lanes on either side going opposite directions, and two lanes of car traffic going opposite directions in between. And there's no parking on Bannatyne from Main to Waterfront.

Why are Bannatyne and McDermot not one-way at that end anyway, even now, bike lanes or not?

[bomberjet]

It appears Hargrave next to MTS Centre will be restricted to buses and cyclists only. It says shared use lane, but has a note saying bus and bicycle travel only.

Page 3 of this PDF.
http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/pedes...eCorridor/Phase2-ECH-DetailedDrawing.pdf

[esquire]

^ I didn't know that there were any buses that went up that block of Hargrave. Cutting it down to one lane for cars there will really gum things up at rush hour.

[bomberjet]

There wouldn't be any cars allowed from my understanding of the drawing. That must not be right, as that would wreak havoc with the street system. Hargrave between Graham and St. Mary would have no where to go. They'd be trapped at Graham. Must be one lane still for traffic.