Winnipeg | Portage and Main - Page 69

Biff · #**1361** Posted **Aug 23, 2022, 5:10 PM**

I have posted these before, but why can't south Main and the area around the rail line have this type of development? This is Oslo, all these buildings back onto a rail yard - 15 to 20 tracks wide and a major street 4 lanes wide with centre running LRT.

These are not 60-80 storey Toronto towers, but 15 to 20 storey Winnipeg sized buildings.

T'Cona · #**1362** Posted **Aug 24, 2022, 4:34 PM**

Biff, yes....YES YES YES!

T'Cona · #**1363** Posted **Aug 24, 2022, 4:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biff

Something Number Ten (Viking) did as a "what if" on the Richardson Centre, Functional Foods & Neutraceuticals site.

Concept aside, I cannot for the life of me understand why those lots around the Forks and the ball park don't have this type of development on them. Seems like these locations in other cities are teeming with development and life.

Yes, very depressing when travelling and coming home to see the lack of this.

esquire · #**1364** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:00 PM**

The Portage and Main convo in the Wawanesa Building thread got me wondering... what is going on with 200 Portage (AKA the short Winnipeg Square office building)?

At one point there were renderings of a grandiose renovation floating around, but nothing seems to have happened. Scotiabank left for TNS leaving the main floor vacant. G3 (former CWB) is in there I think, but is anything else? Are there still any plans for renovation?

This building has potential but it looks kind of sad and forlorn now, it never got the recladding that the rest of Winnipeg Square did, and the empty main floor makes it look neglected.

bomberjet · #**1365** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:05 PM**

I believe all the proposals fell through. The latest was Kidthink IIRC. And that's not happening.

I guess it's owned by someone else separate from Winnipeg Square. It got new glass, but the old gold paneling was staying.

T'Cona · #**1366** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:13 PM**

The city's most famous intersection and it looks and feels depressing.

esquire · #**1367** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:18 PM**

It looked nicer when it was a matching set IMO.

200 Main is the one building at P&M that could be easily converted to storefront operations to inject some life into the intersection... I'm not expecting a Lululemon location, maybe a bank branch to start. If human life ever returns to the sidewalks at P&M that would be a prime location for that kind of development.

J.OT13 · #**1368** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:48 PM**

Anyone still floating the idea of making P&M open to pedestrians again? Or did the referendum a few years back kill that possibility for the next few decades?

Wpg_Guy · #**1369** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 5:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

The Portage and Main convo in the Wawanesa Building thread got me wondering... what is going on with 200 Portage (AKA the short Winnipeg Square office building)?

At one point there were renderings of a grandiose renovation floating around, but nothing seems to have happened. Scotiabank left for TNS leaving the main floor vacant. G3 (former CWB) is in there I think, but is anything else? Are there still any plans for renovation?

This building has potential but it looks kind of sad and forlorn now, it never got the recladding that the rest of Winnipeg Square did, and the empty main floor makes it look neglected.

The exterior renovations are slated for this fall (2022).

Ando · #**1370** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 7:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Anyone still floating the idea of making P&M open to pedestrians again? Or did the referendum a few years back kill that possibility for the next few decades?

It hasn't come up in the mayoral race, but I have to think it is at the back of Murray's mind if he gets elected.

T'Cona · #**1371** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 9:15 PM**

Yeah, I feel like he would push for this. let's hope

thebasketballgeek · #**1372** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 11:26 PM**

Speaking personally with Murray I’ll paraphrase that he believes that the closing of Portage and Main to pedestrians is the single biggest factor holding back investment into the Downtown core and that closing it was one of the biggest mistakes Winnipeg made in the 20th century.

Not sure how valid that claim is, but that should highlight his views on P&M.

Wpg_Guy · #**1373** Posted **Sep 7, 2022, 11:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ando

It hasn't come up in the mayoral race, but I have to think it is at the back of Murray's mind if he gets elected.

If you follow him on Twitter he’s mentioned it already, he supports the opening.

Ando · #**1374** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 1:52 AM**

Good to know. I hadn't seen any reporting on it and I don't follow him on twitter. I had guessed that it was too controversial an issue for anyone to bring it up pre-election. Good for him.

esquire · #**1375** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 1:59 AM**

Glen Murray was fairly enthusiastic about reopening P&M during his original stint as mayor, I believe he was the one behind the City Crossing design initiative aimed at reimagining the corner.

At the time the conventional wisdom was that the property owners would never agree to reopening the corner to pedestrian crossings because they wouldn't want to lose the traffic in the underground system, but that thinking eventually changed to at least some degree over the years with some (if not all?) of the owners becoming supportive of the idea.

T'Cona · #**1376** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 2:27 PM**

Yes, if only we could go back in time.

bomberjet · #**1377** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 2:48 PM**

Without Twitter, I don't know how I'd get any of my news. I do not watch TV except for sports. Tuning into to CTV at 6 isn't my thing.

Re: the mayoral race, I follow the few candidates I'm interested in on Twitter.

T'Cona · #**1378** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 3:54 PM**

P&M would benefit tremendously if the lots on the east side of Main were replaced with midrise residential. We need people here 24/7, and this will create the vibrancy we all want for our downtown as a whole. 300 Main is a great start. Now let's open the intersection.

esquire · #**1379** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 4:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by T'Cona

P&M would benefit tremendously if the lots on the east side of Main were replaced with midrise residential. We need people here 24/7, and this will create the vibrancy we all want for our downtown as a whole. 300 Main is a great start. Now let's open the intersection.

Main Street is really in horrendous shape for most of its length through downtown.

Near Assiniboine there is a useless park instead of buildings. Then there is a large swath of surface parking from Broadway right up to William Stephenson.

Once you get north of Main, it's empty lots on the east side and unused/underused buildings on the west. The Bank of Commerce should be a prestigious banking hall or a corporate headquarters, but it has been vacant since 1969 except for being an occasional wedding venue the last 20 years.

Then lots of missing teeth right up until Logan, and then it's just downhill from there.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of beautiful and well used buildings along Main and 300 Main will certainly help, but there are way too many empty lots and unused buildings that destroy any continuity.

T'Cona · #**1380** Posted **Sep 8, 2022, 5:03 PM**

I agree. For our "main street", it is embarrassing.