Winnipeg Construction X

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

I'll go on record (again) and say tall buildings in Winnipeg downtown are a huge investment risk. "Near" downtown is much more preferred like OV, St.B, Stradbrook, etc. WFH is hugely affecting this and majority of people I know, which are low to middle class working professionals who have late teen kids have no interest in moving downtown. their kids which are either late high school or early university says the same thing. sorry to burst many of your "live downtown" bubbles, but demand is not there.

downtown will have more units open in the next two years that ever in its history.

I do agree though, the surrounding neighbourhoods are much more livable. I see it all as one strategy. Its kind of like closing the hole in a doughnut by filling in around the inside edge....soon it will all be a nice sugary Danish.

I also think work from home wont be the long term seismic shift many predict.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by esquire

I finished university in 2005 and the downtown housing stock in that era was not great... there were a few condo projects in the Exchange but they were priced on the high side for a fresh graduate. Most of the rental stock was tired 60s/70s/80s construction. I ended up buying an 80s built condo in the Riverwalk. It was OK but it was so far from the heart of downtown that I felt I was halfway to the suburbs.

The selection is much more enticing today. Although I am concerned about the long term impact of covid on downtown. It is a very different place today compared to 18 months ago, and my fear is that it will take a long time to regain all of that lost ground.

You don't necessarily need huge piles of office workers to have a successful downtown. Look at any city outside North America. We're the only continent where we build our downtowns to be mainly commuter office districts and generally our downtowns are worse because of it, we cater to commuter traffic and parking at the expense of downtown being an true mixed-use, livable neighbourhood. All those people driving in everyday from East St Paul and Fort Richmond generally contribute a lot more to traffic and parking than to actual vibrancy on the street. They obviously weren't shopping at the Bay during lunch hour, they were hitting up the mall on their way home.

Young people in particular will still want to live where they can walk to events and their favourite bars and restaurants. Sorry wags but anecdotally polling your friends and family isn't indicative of the entire market. If anything this will ease up the traffic congestion and parking demand downtown, turning some surface lots into apartment buildings and traffic lanes into AT making the downtown more liveable. If we play it right, downtown can be a a real neighbourhood and destination again instead of being a glorified business park. A better balance between the office crowd, residents, and events/concerts/Jets crowds.

A lack of business travellers in downtown hotels is I think one of the biggest concerns as they tend to spend a lot of money in the immediate area. But companies could have been doing video-conferencing this whole time, well before covid and they obviously still saw some benefit in sending people face-to-face, so I think most of that will rebound as well.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

yeah I agree....i was trying to learn from Esquire and be nice.

just looking on the bright side!

[trueviking]

^ I agree. Now more than ever downtown growth must focus on creating livable neighbourhoods. Diversity of use is the future. Get rid of the one way streets. Take a lane off every single street between Portage and Broadway. Widen sidewalks, build bike lanes, plant trees.

[T'Cona]

This makes it look decent.

[EndoftheBeginning]

Looks like 447.0' (136.2 m), which would be 2nd tallest, only behind 300 Main.

[optimusREIM]

Looks ok, but I hope that it does get refined a bit before construction. Maybe 5 to 10 storeys more would be ok too

[T'Cona]

Yeah, I just have to believe that rendering is not a true sense of what will be built.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

Looks ok, but I hope that it does get refined a bit before construction. Maybe 5 to 10 storeys more would be ok too

Yeah, honestly. Only 18 feet off the top spot... why not go for the gusto and schlep another few storeys on top. You'd think there would be some marketing value in having the tallest building in town.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by T'Cona

This makes it look decent.

I suppose a signature tower was what I hoped for when I broke this news few weeks back..
However, even though it is not 50 but more like 40 floors total and bland, having it will boost the skyline and encourage more development afterwards.
I still have hope that there will be some tweaks & changes on the design for the better. For people that would consider a move in, it has to be more attractive.

[esquire]

Love it or hate it, that tower will really build up the urban canyon feeling of Smith Street.

[BAKGUY]

On thing is certain.
If this goes thru, along with 300 Main, TNS & Medical arts conversion, owning or having a business on Graham and nearby such as eateries, shops, services should be a guaranteed success if you are a savvy business person. So many more people living working oin the area. We need a spillover to Portage avenue as well.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by drew

I am personally working on projects under construction or in design that will add about 500 units to the Exchange over the next 3 years or so.

exchange i agree with, but "downtown portage / garry / ellice" not as desirable. this is my opinion and if i was investing in a company building a 40 story residential, i'd decline and prefer to invest in one building at the Forks or OV or St.B.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by esquire

Love it or hate it, that tower will really build up the urban canyon feeling of Smith Street.

True. When you come over Midtown Bridge heading north downtown, there are many residential mid/hi-rises. This will add to that & the entire city skyline.
My hope is for a few tweaks to the finish, design parkade and a few more floors.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ I agree. Now more than ever downtown growth must focus on creating livable neighbourhoods. Diversity of use is the future. Get rid of the one way streets. Take a lane off every single street between Portage and Broadway. Widen sidewalks, build bike lanes, plant trees.

Not sure every single street needs bike lanes, but I agree with everything else. I think it would be difficult to convert Donald and Smith back to two way streets, and probably St. Mary and York, but all of the rest, Fort, Garry, Hargrave, Carlton, Edmonton and Kennedy should be two way. With Vaughan I suppose we'll have to see what happens with The Bay building.

[esquire]

Just mulling over this tower a little more, I will say that design shortcomings aside, it is a decent consolation prize in the wake of SkyCity falling apart. Obviously this is not as tall, nice or in any way as impressive as the SkyCity plan was, but considering we were wondering about the possibility of a huge surface parking lot around there for years to come, this is not bad.

I would imagine that this plan leaves room for another such development on Garry Street? If so, there is potential for even more action on Graham in the years to come.

So is someone going to start a thread for it or are we just going to confine the discussion to this thread for now?

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by esquire

Just mulling over this tower a little more, I will say that design shortcomings aside, it is a decent consolation prize in the wake of SkyCity falling apart. Obviously this is not as tall, nice or in any way as impressive as the SkyCity plan was, but considering we were wondering about the possibility of a huge surface parking lot around there for years to come, this is not bad.

I would imagine that this plan leaves room for another such development on Garry Street? If so, there is potential for even more action on Graham in the years to come.

So is someone going to start a thread for it or are we just going to confine the discussion to this thread for now?

Yeah it looks like the development takes up the old St Regis and the parking lot to the south? To me, the building proposed looks like it wouldn't even encroach the land that Skycity was to be built on. I wouldn't be mad if someone swooped in and actually built Skycity as proposed. Or maybe something even taller, who knows?

[Peggerino]

Going back to the talk of where people want to live in Winnipeg... Among my friend group, pretty much everyone lives in or wants to live in downtown or a downtown-adjacent neighbourhood. Since the pandemic, I think many of us are even more hesitant about starting families and have gained a new appreciation for taking walks around the neighbourhood and going on bike rides. The allure of the single-family home in the suburbs has never been lower for many of us, I think.

[GreyGarden]

I just hope it doesn't look so cheap - this looks like its going to have less window coverage than 300 Main. I find the small windows really makes a building look drab and cheap. The actual shape is not great, but I'd take and even be happy with it if the materials were nice.

I'd have less of a problem with the cheap materials and small windows if it was going to be just a filler project, 10-15 floors. But this being the second tallest in the city really makes me nervous.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Peggerino

Going back to the talk of where people want to live in Winnipeg... Among my friend group, pretty much everyone lives in or wants to live in downtown or a downtown-adjacent neighbourhood. Since the pandemic, I think many of us are even more hesitant about starting families and have gained a new appreciation for taking walks around the neighbourhood and going on bike rides. The allure of the single-family home in the suburbs has never been lower for many of us, I think.

I agree. Once I left my parents suburban home, I moved near downtown and still live there. I wanted to be close to everything that appealed to me.
To each their own but there are markets for many different groups of people.
I am doubtful I would want to ever live back in the suburbs.
Should this proposal come to fruition, there will be others to come in the area.
This is a good thing. Safety in numbers & more options for things to do.