Winnipeg | Exchange District | Developments & Discussions

[bomberjet]

That's a fair comment. 11am is the noise bylaw. I'm just sick and tired of NIMBY'ism... Piss off already. People are scared. I find lots of people are just scared of everything for no good reason.

Did you really think moving into the exchange would be like living in Sage Creek? You moved into an urban area, which is typically more noisy than living in Charleswood from my experience. What do they expect?

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Did you really think moving into the exchange would be like living in Sage Creek? You moved into an urban area, which is typically more noisy than living in Charleswood from my experience. What do they expect?

I don't know, I haven't lived in Sage Creek or the Exchange. And yes, I do live in an urban neighbourhood but if I knew then what I knew now I would have bought in the burbs.

[bomberjet]

It really grinds my gears that type of stuff.


http://techcabal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/med_1409216767_1381620939_00003-e1456140816833.jpg

It wasn't like they were proposing a 20 storey tower next to a 3 storey condo building. It's a bar, in a basement, downtown.

[esquire]

It sounds to me like both sides need to give a little bit here. Bars have to realize they're in an increasingly residential area. You can't have the giant speakers pumping out bass that rattles windows at 2 am as if it were still 1996 and nobody else was around. At the same time, residents have to provide a little leeway for businesses to operate.

But really, I think this is on the business operators more than the residents. You go to any heavily urbanized European city and the nightspots tend to be low-key places designed to coexist with the neighbours. The days of joints like Wise Guys with doors open blasting music into the surrounding streets are gone and they aren't coming back.

[Authentic_City]

If the proposed business was supposed to be a lounge (not a bar or dance club), I'm not sure why they would be forced to close at 11? Would a lounge generate that much noise, or are the residents concerned about the noise and mayhem generated by drunk patrons spilling onto the street at 2 AM? This seems to be the concern expressed in areas like Corydon. But really, can't there be a compromise? Can the city allow the lounge to stay open later, but simply enforce the noise bylaw to ensure there isn't a dance party on the patio between 11 and 2 am?

[urbanretail]

why is it some people living downtown complain about safety issues don't understand that having businesses open later in evening creates eyes on the street and a safer environment.
it brings foot traffic( patron and employees), cabs, more people at bus stops, maybe a convenience store,coffee shops can stay open later and so on.

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by Hecate

The same can be said for people buying condos in the exchange, don't like the nightlife don't live near it, but now we have no music on patios after 11:00pm. Super lame. If you think the rail side at the forks is gonna be any different... ha. My guess is most of the seniors living in the exchange right now will up and move to the rail side because they'll be the only ones who can afford it. You will not have the vibrant diverse population of an organically grown community. You'll have old people with money and affluence who'll want to be at the "centre of it all" and have their peace and quiet after 9:00pm too!

I'm not sure the forks parcels are geared towards anything late regardless. The layouts and locations seem to be good fits for neighbourhood restaurants or cafes, not destination restaurants or bars.

Originally Posted by CoryB

Re parking on top of residential. Aren't ground level residential units more difficult to rent out in urban areas like the Exchange which is why most of them try to do something like retail units on the ground level?

Also how will access to/from the upper parking decks work? If you run ramps on the outside you lose windows on one side of the building and ramps in the core of the building seems like a bad idea trying to force the situation.

I can't imagine that this idea gets a lot of traction.

It's a stupid idea that maybe is forced onto them by the city. I don't know how or why.

I think the parking floors are structurally more demanding, so now you have to over-engineer all floors, not just the lower floors (had the parking been put there).

Losing a windo side is comically dumb

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Run ramps up the one side of the building. Still have windows on three sides. Seems fine to me.

"seems fine" works in an overflowing city. Much like keeping portage and main closed, you don't make bad moves because it would "still be fine". Toronto can, Vancouver can, we can't.

Originally Posted by Riverman

There was a bar it there before and it was pretty rowdy. Can't remember what it was called but it was during the Marble Club era.

It doesn't matter whether you live downtown or in the burbs, you have to be able to sleep.

True, but you move downtown for what a downtown is and offers. If you don't like the bright lights and late nights, why move downtown? It's not exactly cheaper or safer.

[bomberjet]

^That's why I don't work for the planning department. Seems fine to me means exactly that.

[headhorse]

building a bunch of high end condos has really killed that neighbourhood. for years, the residents living in the neighbourhood were fine with noise at night. now a bunch of rich people have moved and have been able to completely dictate development in the area.

[bomberjet]

From what I know of the discussions on SSP, it's a bunch off snow bird retirees who either stay in the suites or are down south. So why do they care anyways.

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by headhorse

building a bunch of high end condos has really killed that neighbourhood. for years, the residents living in the neighbourhood were fine with noise at night. now a bunch of rich people have moved and have been able to completely dictate development in the area.

That's not entirely true. There was a lot of conflict between the residents in the Ashdown and nearby bars like Wise Guys or the Marble Club. Even recently, when I lived there, there was strong opposition to a planned expansion of Hermanos. You wouldn't believe the wild rhetoric from the residents of Ashdown. I think the difference now is that there are a lot more residents in the area. Anytime you have people worried about property values, there will be conflict.

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by headhorse

building a bunch of high end condos has really killed that neighbourhood. for years, the residents living in the neighbourhood were fine with noise at night. now a bunch of rich people have moved and have been able to completely dictate development in the area.

Yeah. All development in the area should have been done by Manitoba housing and it should all have been given to people on welfare.

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

From what I know of the discussions on SSP, it's a bunch off snow bird retirees who either stay in the suites or are down south. So why do they care anyways.

Because in the summer people like to sleep with the windows open?

[bomberjet]

So sleep with the windows open then.

[oftheMoon]

Originally Posted by headhorse

building a bunch of high end condos has really killed that neighbourhood. for years, the residents living in the neighbourhood were fine with noise at night. now a bunch of rich people have moved and have been able to completely dictate development in the area.

"Killed that neighbourhood" is far from the case. Also, before Waterfront and the recent warehouse conversions, the only people living in the East Exchange were those in Ashdown and I'm not sure they were fine with the noise either.

I think the issue here stems from the problems the previous club in that spot caused. There were lots of issues with patrons drinking outside of the venue and causing problems in the area. It would seem those opposed to this "lounge" don't want that to happen again.

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by headhorse

building a bunch of high end condos has really killed that neighbourhood. for years, the residents living in the neighbourhood were fine with noise at night. now a bunch of rich people have moved and have been able to completely dictate development in the area.

Yes and no.

It's a problem with Winnipeg as a whole, where we told ourselves about how shitty and unsafe our city was so we all avoided downtown. High end condos on Waterfront ultimately were only left to the older, wealthy demographic (as it was removed enough from "problem areas") because of our city's attitude.

Any other major downtown and it would have included younger well-heeled people who understand what an urban life looks like.

But let's blame rich people.

Originally Posted by bomberjet

So sleep with the windows open then.

^

[buzzg]

Go to any major city in NA and there's bars and restaurants and people everywhere. People make noise. We talk about wanting more businesses growth downtown, that requires people – unless we want to be like Cleveland and have no people in sight after work. But you can't just pick and choose the type of business (read: people) that you have in a neighbourhood. If you don't like it "loud" – live in the suburbs, no one forced you to move downtown - you made that choice.

[buzzg]

So apparently the development where Bodegoes was is cancelled. Has something to do with heritage of the building, wouldn't let them tear it down. Somehow the city is involved in whatever is going on and the city begged Bodegoes to reopen, they pretty much told them to F off and have found another location in the Exchange.

I get that it's an old building, but it has ZERO value to it IMO. It's ugly, and a such a waste of a prime space. When will this idiocy stop?

[esquire]

^ Really?! Good grief.

[Portmanteau]

I just want to chime in quickly about living in the Exchange. I moved here because it's a historic neighbourhood, and I wanted to live in a cool loft. I didn't move here because it's a party/bar district. In fact, as a 40something I DID party here "back in the day" and 90% of that has been shut down for years. (Please see previous posts re: changing hospitality scene etc...).

The most recent bar to operate out of 110 Market was Union Sound Hall. They allowed patrons to wander the neighbourhood with open liquor. Patrons urinated on cars and buildings in the area, drank heavily in the local parking lots, vandalized property, got into bloody fights on the streets, smashed bottles everywhere.

The new prospective owners wanted to open a hookah lounge with a dj, street promotion team, gogo dancers etc... and it looked like a shit show all over again. A local resident and WPS member raised the concern that this would be a front for serious drug activity. So, they switched gears and said it would be a restaurant. There's no kitchen. I guess those plans fell through too.

Residents support businesses that enhance the area. There are what... three breweries/distilleries in operation/planning stage within a handful of blocks? Opened with no protest.

Perhaps residents of Excelsior on Waterfront are wealthy and older, but that's only part of the demographic of the area now. I have families, young professionals and retired people in my building. The Exchange is a neighbourhood now.