Hudsons Bay Building (Winnipeg) Redevelopment - Page 16

drew · #**301** Posted **Apr 15, 2021, 3:01 PM**

^ City money is usually in the form of property tax breaks and the like.

drew · #**302** Posted **Apr 15, 2021, 3:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomberjet

We're talking about all this stuff. Donut holes and such. Are there any actual plans at this point (beyond Pallister's $25 mil) or we're still just thinking about it?

Any plan that doesn't include the "donut hole" or other forms of floor plate reduction of the upper floors ( at least 3 through 6) - isn't a plan.

EndoftheBeginning · #**303** Posted **Apr 19, 2021, 6:33 PM**

Province's $25 million will only fund heritage preservation for key building elements (exterior limestone, outside canopy, curved elevator lobby, etc.). The building owner has 10 years to access the preservation money before it reverts to a general heritage endowment fund for other provincial buildings. The money is not to facilitate a redevelopment project, but to protect the heritage elements.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...erve-1.5993194

trueviking · #**304** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 1:17 AM**

I don’t understand how a bank of normal elevators can be heritage protected.

peg · #**305** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 1:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

I don’t understand how a bank of normal elevators can be heritage protected.

I forgot what they looked like... they are quite normal... Even the original doesn't look all that special. They removed the mural for the MB Museum. So I don't really see why this is protected?

bomberjet · #**306** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:46 AM**

Haha the elevators are heritage? Or just the curvy wall?

cllew · #**307** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 4:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Haha the elevators are heritage? Or just the curvy wall?

I believe it is the curved wall that is protected. The elevator shafts are in the wall.

esquire · #**308** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 12:47 PM**

I always thought it was weird that HBC went to the trouble and expense of removing one of the curved banks of elevators. It's not like it increased the floorspace by all that much. Does anyone know when that happened?

Biff · #**309** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 1:40 PM**

My bet is, that if a developer came in and said we will develop the building into mixed-use, donut hole it, glass roof, apartments, 2 floors of retail and offices, keep and clean up the facade but we will have to lose the elevators...it would be allowed.

They would look cool though, rising up in the centre of an atrium with bridges connecting them to the main floor plates of the building.

EndoftheBeginning · #**310** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:04 PM**

The short form and long form heritage reports don't really say why the curved elevator lobby is protected. Maybe it's just an example of a unique form, not necessarily construction materials or elements.

The full list of elements that require approval prior to alteration include:

Exterior
1. Limestone clad, six-storey structure filling the north portion of the block on Portage Avenue between Memorial Boulevard and Vaughan Street, its three main facades facing west (Memorial Boulevard), east (Vaughan Street) and north (Portage Avenue) and its rear facade partially hidden by a parkade.
2. Canopy running along the east, west and north facades.
3. Metal base of beacon on roof.
4. Its main floors with large display windows protected by a canopy, rounded northwest and northeast corners, five bronze framed entrances, upper floors with bays created by unfluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals, windows on all levels in rectilinear openings, cornice between fifth and sixth floors and parapet with balustrade.

Interior
1. Examples of reinforced concrete structural system.
2. Examples of the curved elevator lobby.

cllew · #**311** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I always thought it was weird that HBC went to the trouble and expense of removing one of the curved banks of elevators. It's not like it increased the floorspace by all that much. Does anyone know when that happened?

From what I can find online, the 2nd bank was removed in 1948 when the escalators were installed.

esquire · #**312** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cllew

From what I can find online, the 2nd bank was removed in 1948 when the escalators were installed.

Thank you... that is longer ago than I would have thought.

Interesting that The Bay apparently didn't have escalators when it opened... escalators were already starting to pop up in department stores in the 1920s.

EndoftheBeginning · #**313** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:42 PM**

Quick blurb on CJOB this morning noting that proposals received so far include an aquarium, a casino and some unspecified mixed use developments.

Wpg_Guy · #**314** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 2:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EndoftheBeginning

Quick blurb on CJOB this morning noting that proposals received so far include an aquarium, a casino and some unspecified mixed use developments.

An aquarium? From who?? Mrs Stevens 7th grade class?

CoryB · #**315** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 3:46 PM**

With the $25 million focused on preservation and restoration it would seem the "donut" was dunked into the recycling bin.

Also who is pitching a second casino for downtown? Considering the hurdles that would need to clear it seems like a complete non-starter, even less so that a combo aquarium/waterpark.

bomberjet · #**316** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 3:51 PM**

The Province said they had zero interaction with anyone on the $25 million. Not HBC, not some other developer, nobody. They're staying out of it. The money is there to support the heritage parts.

Highwayman · #**317** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 4:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomberjet

The Province said they had zero interaction with anyone on the $25 million. Not HBC, not some other developer, nobody. They're staying out of it. The money is there to support the heritage parts.

You would think HBC would jump on the $25 million. That's takes care of all the restoration money issue. They could honestly with their portfolio do something big with this building and make it a flag ship for their company. You know Hudson's.Bay Towers. .

Imagine a skinny modern metal and glass tower sticking out the center where the planned atrium would go. The. The HBC logo 50 stories, oh heck let's to 60,. And have it shining over the city. Great marketing IMO lol

esquire · #**318** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 4:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoryB

Also who is pitching a second casino for downtown? Considering the hurdles that would need to clear it seems like a complete non-starter

I wonder if that is a quid pro quo that Manitobans might find acceptable? It's no secret that First Nations have been trying to establish a Winnipeg casino for quite some time... what if the deal is The Bay gets renovated and becomes a casino/restaurant/hotel/entertainment centre?

It wouldn't be the most ideal use for that space in my eyes, but it would keep the building lit and intact for another generation.

bomberjet · #**319** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 4:36 PM**

Not that I'm for another Casino.. But it would fit the building. Large floors, tall ceilings. They could carve out interior space for amphitheatre type set-up.

bomberjet · #**320** Posted **Apr 20, 2021, 4:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Highwayman

You would think HBC would jump on the $25 million. That's takes care of all the restoration money issue. They could honestly with their portfolio do something big with this building and make it a flag ship for their company. You know Hudson's.Bay Towers. .

Imagine a skinny modern metal and glass tower sticking out the center where the planned atrium would go. The. The HBC logo 50 stories, oh heck let's to 60,. And have it shining over the city. Great marketing IMO lol

They seem to be dieing a slow death and have no interest in doing anything. They have/had all these prime properties across the country. Doesn't make any sense to me.