Winnipeg Construction X

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by esquire

And on that note, I wonder what will happen to the MMF's current building on Henry, the former Canadian Pacific Telecommunications office building? The building dates back to 1960 and the location is not great (the MMF is reportedly tired of all the issues related to that located), so with the MMF moving out it will be interesting to see what happens to it next.

Here's a thought. Convert the MMF's current building on Henry into housing for the homeless. It's a big building, there would probably be room for at least 50 rooms, maybe more?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by pspeid

Here's a thought. Convert the MMF's current building on Henry into housing for the homeless. It's a big building, there would probably be room for at least 50 rooms, maybe more?

It's a huge building, there is room for way more than 50 rooms. But that would be a mammoth undertaking ($$$) when you consider all of the staffing and social work supports that would be involved. You can't just put up a bunch of drywall to divide an office building into rooms and tell the residents to have at 'er.

[1ajs]

mmf building can also have floors added to it and has a major fiber opitc cable that feeds across canada runing through it

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

mmf building can also have floors added to it and has a major fiber opitc cable that feeds across canada runing through it

Well, if it's not feasible to redo as homeless housing, then demolish it and reroute the fibre cable. Build a new building or maybe just leave that land fallow for a few decades.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

Speaking of the MMF, I was under the impression that they would be turning the Bank of Montreal into a museum/cultural centre type facility, but the recent Free Press series about homelessness and the encampment near the MMF's building on Henry Avenue implied that they were apparently planning to move the entire operation to Portage and Main.

That was always the plan, the first public announcement was about moving all the offices to BMO (there's lots of space) then eventually turning the banking hall into a cultural centre.

[dam_well]

Originally Posted by buzzg

That was always the plan, the first public announcement was about moving all the offices to BMO (there's lots of space) then eventually turning the banking hall into a cultural centre.

Speaking of that announcement, shouldn't we have seen the results of that design competition by now?

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

Well, if it's not feasible to redo as homeless housing, then demolish it and reroute the fibre cable. Build a new building or maybe just leave that land fallow for a few decades.

that wont happen. if sport manitoba couldnt get it moved what makes u think they can

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by esquire

I suppose it would be nice to see the building remain occupied one way or another, but on some level it would be a bit depressing if the owners of a relatively modern office tower at Portage and Main decided that the downtown office market was so hopeless that turning it into an apartment building is the most logical thing to do.

I'll also lament the missed opportunity of combining a vacant MTS Place with former Bank of Montreal next door to turn it into a spectacular hotel. Lobby and dining in the old bank, rooms in the tower. Could have been spectacular!

Thet Hotel idea sounds so logical, would have been a game changer for sure

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

Speaking of the MMF, I was under the impression that they would be turning the Bank of Montreal into a museum/cultural centre type facility, but the recent Free Press series about homelessness and the encampment near the MMF's building on Henry Avenue implied that they were apparently planning to move the entire operation to Portage and Main..

not accurate. The building is way too small to do that. Cultural centre, some small amount of office space.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

not accurate. The building is way too small to do that. Cultural centre, some small amount of office space.

OK, thanks, I wasn't sure about that. Like I said, the article from last week implied that the MMF was moving to Portage and Main but I realize the main thrust of the piece was about homelessness and not the MMF's operations so I wasn't sure how accurate that part was.

[buzzg]

What I was told by someone there was that they're moving their (not right terminology) "corporate offices" (ie: government) to P&M but that service delivery will stay on Henry.

Even though they have "Federation" in the name, they are technically a government, so they want to make sure they have a nice prominent building like a legislature or parliament to run the government operations out of.

[GreyGarden]

Looks like the big crane outside the RWB residences on Edmonton came down today.

[bomberjet]

A federation is a form of government. Canada is a federation, hence why we have a federal government.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

Looks like the big crane outside the RWB residences on Edmonton came down today.

Drove by there yesterday, seems they've gotten a bunch of the old parkade out, hard to say if they've done anything aside from that

[peg]

I saw a pile driver hanging on the crane the other day. It looks like they drove some steel beams in.

[trueviking]

its weird true north didnt make any kind of public announcement about this.

[trueviking]

do we know anything about the death of the hotel site?

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by trueviking

its weird true north didnt make any kind of public announcement about this.

They are in the process of making some important repairs and upgrades to the parkade to support ‘future developments’.

[buzzg]

I wonder if TN is waiting for RWB to make the announcement? If that's the case I know RWB just had a mass exodus of all their comms people so they could just be behind haha.

[GreyGarden]

It also seems like downtown development in Winnipeg typically attracts a really negative response from lots of Winnipeggers. I could see wanting to avoid all of the negative press and attention from the public and proceed without any big announcement. Its also possible that those opinions are just the loudest and aren't representative at all.