Winnipeg | St Boniface | Developments & Discussions

[Wigglez]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

Plan for Esplanade Riel space faces critics but gets approval from Winnipeg city council committee
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/...taurant-technology-accelerator-1.6175637



St.B Nimby's at it again.

I hate to be the one to say it, but if it were Enterprises Riel moving in they would be all for it.

Their 'issue' is with a non-francophone organization in a hallowed St.B space.

Like the Old St.B City Hall, the 'community' would rather keep the space abandoned than have someone who isn't francophone using it.

I worked in St.B for a little while about a decade ago, my one take away from my time there was how much of the community hates being part of Winnipeg, hates having to speak English, and would rather have the community fail than change.

Note - not everyone there has that attitude, but I came across that attitude so often I'd consider it a majority do.

[plrh]

I would argue to Enterprise Riel that the space is not in St. B. It's closer to downtown. They should have interviewed Sherri Rollins.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

Restaurants kept failing, they clearly need to try something else.

Yeah but filling it with cubicles and making it an office building? That’s a brutal solution.

[bomberjet]

At least someone's using it. Otherwise it will sit empty. This isn't an OMG we can never go back, we lost a heritage building type thing. It's a cool albeit ill conceived space in the middle of a bridge. In which it seems there is very little interest at this point in time, for obvious reasons.

I went to Sal's twice. The only times I've ever been in there. I actually go to the Forks, St. B, walk that bridge, all the time. I guess I am part of the problem.

[Wigglez]

Should toss in some sort of Winnipeg owned tourist trap thing where you can buy pointless "I heart Winnipeg" tshirts and the profits fund *insert city charity here. Something where the lack of profitability doesn't matter and whatever money it does make goes to something good.

[Temperance]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

At least someone's using it. Otherwise it will sit empty. This isn't an OMG we can never go back, we lost a heritage building type thing. It's a cool albeit ill conceived space in the middle of a bridge. In which it seems there is very little interest at this point in time, for obvious reasons.

I went to Sal's twice. The only times I've ever been in there. I actually go to the Forks, St. B, walk that bridge, all the time. I guess I am part of the problem.

I'd honestly rather have it sit empty for another year to get a better public-oriented use. I understand the problems with that site, but I still think we could do better. Ah well, not a disaster.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Yeah but filling it with cubicles and making it an office building? That’s a brutal solution.

perhaps the city needs to rethink what it charges for rent then

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

perhaps the city needs to rethink what it charges for rent then

Yeah view the space more as a subsidy to a deserving vendor. That place will never make money for the city.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

perhaps the city needs to rethink what it charges for rent then

It's not the rent that is the issue, it's the operating costs, the restaurants were seasonal yet the building and all the piping under the bridge have to be heated through the winter which is a 20K expense in addition to other costs.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Wigglez

Should toss in some sort of Winnipeg owned tourist trap thing where you can buy pointless "I heart Winnipeg" tshirts and the profits fund *insert city charity here. Something where the lack of profitability doesn't matter and whatever money it does make goes to something good.

I agree. Just subsidize it to public use. Make it a tourist kiosk. A pop up library. An artist space. Whatever. Not an office space.

Pull the walls off and make it an outdoor space.

[buzzg]

I've heard that the whole Manitoba Possible development is a pretty big mess. It's extremely pie in the sky and has no real concrete plans for development or what programs the site. They are just approaching a ton of different businesses and institutions to build or move offices there, but make them accessible, and that's about it.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I've heard that the whole Manitoba Possible development is a pretty big mess. It's extremely pie in the sky and has no real concrete plans for development or what programs the site. They are just approaching a ton of different businesses and institutions to build or move offices there, but make them accessible, and that's about it.

That’s a lot different than what I heard. But I’m not in the know I’m just a guy who knows someone who use their services

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

That’s a lot different than what I heard. But I’m not in the know I’m just a guy who knows someone who use their services

Well if MP's own portion is really solid that's great, but from what I heard a lot of the buildings are planned to be for third parties, but they're just asking anyone who might want to build a building. I hope what I hear is completely wrong, but heard from a few places.

[bomberjet]

http://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/permalink.asp?id=A20211026(RM)RC-12.pdf

[Jeff]

finally marion is catching up to the urban vibe of stephen street in morden! ^^^

[peg]

Pulled the images out:







Great filler, I do enjoy the balcony design it's more playful than other similar builds.

[buzzg]

Awesome. I thought that lot was owned by WRHA or the hospital and that it'd never get developed.

Question though – is the city making a lot of these urban mixed use buildings put all those shrubs along the sidewalk? It's so dumb and suburban feeling – that space would be much better used for patio seating or just more breathing room on the sidewalks, especially on Marion where there's no boulevard/buffer and the sidewalks are really narrow.

[biguc]

Yeah, Viking has posted about that before. Buildings outside of downtown are required to have some kind of landscaping along the sidewalk. Just another zoning holdover from the '50s. Somehow Scam Katz never identified them as an impediment to development--probably because Shindly never minded.

The bushes do look like shit though. Skeletal trash catchers half the year.

[thebasketballgeek]

The bushes definitely look shitty but I don’t mind landscaping on the street. I think Downtown not having those requirements is one of the reasons the area feels so drab. Like please plant a few trees in there and add some greenery. The real problem is that 80% of the site is still a surface parking lot.

[bomberjet]

The City should be planting trees in the boulevard/sidewalk. Not shitty bushes that will die in the crack along the building front.

Throughout the entire City. We've been through this with the recent road re-construction projects. Re-building roads to a 1950 concrete only standard. Too many lanes, o pedestrian/cycling, no trees.

Some areas look like complete shit because the roads are trash. When they get replaced, it actually makes the entire area look better. Plant some damn trees.