Winnipeg Construction IX

[Gm0ney]

What is the parking situation at 185 Smith? They have a few spots in the back I think, but will Edison buy or build something nearby?

[peg]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

If, and only if, replacing this highrise with another was the scenario, I'd take the new one any day. This thing is likely a huge environmental nuisance as is anyway, as new construction is far more efficient.

But I'm happy this will be re-freshed. I was just asking the fun questions

I'm sure it is haha, but I suspect in the long-run retrofitting it may be better. But yeah lets hope this turns out nicely!

[pollswpg]

Originally Posted by Gm0ney

What is the parking situation at 185 Smith? They have a few spots in the back I think, but will Edison buy or build something nearby?

Not great. There's that lot to the south by La Roca too. But even if Edison had bought it, parking would still be pretty lacking.

If it's kept low-income or as a seniors complex there'd be less of a need for parking I'd assume

[buzzg]

Unless they plan on doing absolutely massive reno's – it's currently all bachelor or 1-bedroom units, nothing with 2 or more bedrooms. Means it likely will lend itself to lower income/young/seniors and singles, who are less likely to need parking.

They expect it to be two years to market though, so there is obviously some big plans.

[DowntownBooster]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Without a TIF in place anymore, the economics of building a new residential building in downtown Winnipeg do not work. The only new residential we will see is redevelopment of existing buildings....that's why they bought it. If you are starting with a $20m cost (acquisition and demo) for the property, before you even build anything, you will lose your shirt.

What was the reason for doing away with the TIF? It doesn't seem logical to cancel the program if it causes private development of new builds to dry up.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Unless they plan on doing absolutely massive reno's – it's currently all bachelor or 1-bedroom units, nothing with 2 or more bedrooms. Means it likely will lend itself to lower income/young/seniors and singles, who are less likely to need parking.

They expect it to be two years to market though, so there is obviously some big plans.

It will take that long just to get the bed bugs and cockroaches out. The place was disgusting.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by DowntownBooster

What was the reason for doing away with the TIF? It doesn't seem logical to cancel the program if it causes private development of new builds to dry up.

Current provincial government.

anti-TIF.
indifferent to downtown.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Unless they plan on doing absolutely massive reno's – it's currently all bachelor or 1-bedroom units, nothing with 2 or more bedrooms. Means it likely will lend itself to lower income/young/seniors and singles, who are less likely to need parking.

That's not a bad thing.

But would combining units be that massive a reno? My understanding is that the Holiday Towers conversion to apartments involved combining a lot of small units into larger ones.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by dmacc

It will take that long just to get the bed bugs and cockroaches out. The place was disgusting.

If they're not out already. Bed bugs can go two years without feeding, making them nearly impossible to eradicate once they go back into the walls, appliances and whatnot of an older building. But this building has a few things going for it:

- It's been empty for three years, and it'll be empty for a couple more. The bed bugs may have starved to death.

- With all the belongings removed - and likely stripped down during renovations - spraying can be MUCH more thorough.

- They'll have had three winters to do the most effective way of getting rid of bed bugs: Drain the pipes and let the building freeze for a couple weeks.

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by trueviking

current provincial government.

Anti-corporate welfare.
Indifferent to my personal financial interests.

fify.

[trueviking]

Ah yes. Ha ha. The black and white of conservative ideology. Labels are so easy.

Not sure what personal financial interests you are referring to. Swing and a miss there my friend.

Government subsidizes suburban development far more than any TIF program ever has. I prefer my taxes to be lower, deficits to be reduced and roads to be smoother. I understand those are not conservative values though.

Id rather have my tax dollars be invested wisely to grow the economy and make the city more economically sustainable. I get some would rather have their tax dollars be given to corporations through larger infrastructure. That’s their choice. But it’s also corporate welfare. Just poorly invested corporate welfare.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's an old legion hall. It probably closed sometime in the early/mid 2000s.

I don't recall for sure but I seem to recall that a Chipman company owns the site as I believe it was pitched as a possible Manitoba Hydro HQ site many years back.

Thanks for the info. You are correct, it's owned by the Stevenson Group (a Chipman company). A quick search of the Free Press archive shows that in 2010 and 2011 they were talking about redeveloping it, but nothing seems to have come to fruition yet. I wonder if they will sell it to Edison or co-develop a parking structure there for 185 Smith.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by TimeFadesAway

Thanks for the info. You are correct, it's owned by the Stevenson Group (a Chipman company). A quick search of the Free Press archive shows that in 2010 and 2011 they were talking about redeveloping it, but nothing seems to have come to fruition yet. I wonder if they will sell it to Edison or co-develop a parking structure there for 185 Smith.

I suspect that site is probably more valuable a redevelopment site now than it was in 2010... the social issues associated with 185 Smith probably scared a lot of potential tenants away, but that won't be an issue anymore. Now that block of Smith has two nicely renovated apartment towers with a third on the way, and the location is pretty good... just a stone's throw from the SHED and all the stuff in there.

But that said, I would think there is fairly pent-up demand around there for parking what with all the cops and their cars, as well as the incoming residents of 185 Smith. At some point there likely will be a parkade going up around there.

I wonder if something similar to Rupertsland Square (aka 444 St. Mary) might be in the cards? Something along the lines of one small or mid sized tower (either residential or office) along with a fairly substantial parkade.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wonder if something similar to Rupertsland Square (aka 444 St. Mary) might be in the cards? Something along the lines of one small or mid sized tower (either residential or office) along with a fairly substantial parkade.

It would be a good spot for a parkade along the lines of what we had hoped the Centrepoint parkade would be. Ground floor CRU with parking above.

[wardlow]

Longboat owns a lot of land here (shown in red). Lots of room to develop one day.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wonder if something similar to Rupertsland Square (aka 444 St. Mary) might be in the cards? Something along the lines of one small or mid sized tower (either residential or office) along with a fairly substantial parkade.

It's unfortunate the horrific parkade attached to 160 Smith wasn't built much larger – if you're going to kill half a block with a giant solid black box for cars, at least make it 10 storeys and get lots of spaces out of it. Would have much preferred to see this parkade go much taller than add yet another parkade to the area.

Hopefully if they do try and build one the city for once grows a pair and forces it to be mixed-use. This will be the 4th major rental block on Smith from York to St Mary – I'm sure it can support more commercial units. Antares only has one more unit left to fill. So good to see.

[esquire]

^ That site probably could accommodate a fairly substantial parkade with the apartment towers and police HQ nearby. And if Longboat develops its own office or residential tower there too, then you have an awful lot of cars to store. I get that no one likes parkades but having one there would relieve some pressure and perhaps encourage development on the current surface parking lots around there.

I would be quite happy with a large parkade that has the Skycity-style CRUs at grade, along with, let's say, a 15 to 25 storey condo building on the corner of York and St. Mary. That does not strike me as that audacious of an idea given the growth in downtown residential. It would really build up the critical mass of residential around there too.

[buzzg]

^Definitely. It's too bad the city has decided Smith & Donald should just be thoroughfares with no bike lanes, because that's where all the people are (going to end up) living and needing to commute on.

[pegcityfan]

Taylor Mccaffrey moving into TDS's space at 201 Portage which is getting gutted & redone.

[esquire]

^ Donald and Smith definitely have a stroad sort of feel that kills whatever residential vibe those towers might otherwise lend to the area. It's unfortunate.