Winnipeg Construction X

[Labroco]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

*cough* 98 albert

*cough* St. Regis

[thebasketballgeek]

Back to construction updates.

Nice little 10 unit infill development in Shaughnessy Heights (criminally underrated neighbourhood btw) on Magnus replacing the church.

1493 Magnus

[thebasketballgeek]

Also a few projects in Kildonan appear to be taking shape.

Concordia and Molson 60 unit mixed use building








465 Edison Avenue








420 Chrislind Street 76 unit infill development

[esquire]

Nice to see some of this kind of infill.

[Malcsta]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Nah.

No building downtown can be demolished without an approved building permit in place for its replacement. This why we haven’t seen new parking lots other than the hydro switcheroo on Notre Dame, since the Katz era. If you could just demolish to evade taxes the zaifman’s, reise’s and others of the world would have done that long ago.

Parking lots in the downtown are a conditional use and must be approved by council. That will not happen.

It is actually more likely to be redeveloped than a parking lot because it doesn’t have the guaranteed revenue of a parking lot to overcome.

Red River College has stopped expanding in the downtown. They will not be buying or building anything new for a long time. Even if they were lecture halls that are several city blocks from their campus isn’t logical.

Yeah as an RRC student whos at the Roblin center every day I can agree that wouldn't make sense at all. There's less than 10 minutes between classes down here, imagine hundreds of students trying migrate up and down princess at the top of the hour.. every hour from 8 to 4

[peg]

Thanks for sharing those BBG, its always nice to see good infill happening. I'm glad that even one of them is sporting a CRU!

[post_man]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

I'm not saying that there is no activity downtown. However I was referring specifically to SHED. In responding to my comments you can't discard what this actually is, and the specified boundaries. This is from the Stantec Site:

"The Sports, Hospitality and Entertainment District (SHED) is the focal point of the revitalization of Winnipeg’s downtown. The attractions in this 11 block area will be connected together in a meaningful way and infused with new life by residential and commercial development."

So most of what you included is NOT in the SHED. My point is that the concept of District - geographically specific, connected and homogeneous - has not been fulfilled. Either drop the moniker or actually commit to this purpose and make it happen.

Fair points from you and Esquire.
I'll take it as an opportunity to voice my indifference to Stantec's attempt at "making fetch happen" vs. how it'll happen in real life, and I do agree with you that they haven't succeeded at all. It's not a design firm that's going to drive a downtown revitalization, it's supporting the businesses that dare to make a go of it, and creating the conditions for them to succeed and show that it's viable.
On this board I fulfill the role of the layperson so I don't know how Stantec came to the conclusion that those 11 blocks are the ones that should make up their SHED™, but it doesn't align with how SHED (no ™) businesses have been or are opening in the central area. TNS is the one real win within those boundaries so far, and not at all an insignificant one.
Given this, I don't think the [lack of] success of SHED™ so far is a good representation of how things are going or going to go Downtown.

[NewIreland]

I want my theatre back ������

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Labroco

I think that’s EXACTLY what will happen! Stay tuned for some lovely aspirational renderings… a demo permit… and then nothing…

Why can’t we hope for more growth for RRC? The new building is beautiful! Money on urban educational architecture is always well spent. Way better than more suburban roadways to no where!

Nope. Won’t happen. Will never be a parking lot ever. 98 Albert was already a parking lot for 80% of the site. I’m not defending it. The whole thing is illegal and the city should at the very least shut down the few parking stalls that were added to the existing parking lot on the footprint of the old building. but to suggest it is anything like an entire block sized building being demolished and approved to be parking is ridiculous. It doesn’t happen anymore despite you claiming it will happen every time a building goes up for sale. St. Regis will also never be a parking lot. Ever. It was purchased by the government and is working through a redevelopment. If that development fails, a new development will be undertaken. It in no way has been demolished to evade taxes or to become a parking lot.

Who doesn’t want post secondary expansion downtown? It’s awesome. You can hope all you want though. I can tell you with first hand certainty that RRC will not be building anything downtown for a while.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

West kildonan. The shower literally overflows. So you need to shower first or just dont shower cause you're ankle deep in disgusting water.

I play there a few times a year. That shower set up is so gross. The urinal right beside it.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by post_man

On this board I fulfill the role of the layperson so I don't know how Stantec came to the conclusion that those 11 blocks are the ones that should make up their SHED™, but it doesn't align with how SHED (no ™) businesses have been or are opening in the central area. TNS is the one real win within those boundaries so far, and not at all an insignificant one.

I am definitely not an industry insider but it sure seemed like the official lines of the SHED tax zone were drawn to heavily favor properties that were owned by Chipman family companies. It is definitely hard to ignore that TNSE and their associates seem to have their hand in your pocket from the time you get near the arena, from parking, to pre-event and post-event food and drinks, to all the captive audience sales inside the building. Sure the Jets audiences are dipping this year but this also isn't year one for the Jets either without most to the TNSE controlled SHED built out to bring in other revenue sources.

I also think that the deal for Jets ownership between Chipman and Thompson basically gives Thompson a big share of profits each season but at the same time if there is excess money Chipman can pay additional revenue to Thompson to slowly buy his position out over time. It has been clear from the beginning that Thompson is very hands off as long as things are going well but Chipman is basically in the trenches making day to day descensions.

[bomberjet]

Does the SHED exist anymore? Or did it exist just long to provide the benefits outlined above?

[Winnipegger]

The city's tax increment financing policy has been a mish-mash of things that aren't really coherent or consistent across geographies, and the SHED was just marketing-speak to get the point across to the public and try and build some momentum near the Canada Life Centre.

The current TIF policy is basically "do anything, something, PLEASE just do something of substance within downtown and we will give you a tax break of some kind".

The problem is, TIF has become a race to the bottom. Developers just expect a property tax break for 20 years by virtue of building something new downtown at this point, and the policy isn't exactly a stimulus. Given the higher vacancy rates and lower rental rates on multi-family in downtown versus other parts of the city, yeah it's a bigger risk to build downtown but offsetting your operating costs by $100,000 to $500,000 per year doesn't exactly swing the math in a developer's favor when choosing city or location since property tax is such a small fraction of overall capital and operating costs. Planning/construction/permit costs and ongoing maintenance and operations make up by far the largest portion of costs for a developer, and location will be highly influenced by desirability and ability to charge higher rents. Downtown hasn't exactly reached the stage where premium rents can be commanded.

[esquire]

I would love to hear Mark Chipman's frank thoughts on the decision making behind putting the arena, TNS and Centrepoint developments where they are. If he could go back in time, would he still have done it the same way?

On one hand the area is becoming flat-out distressed and it may have been easier to attract fans and tenants in the long term had it all been built at, say, Polo Park. But on the other hand, all the subsidies wouldn't have materialized out there. Plus the Eaton's factor brought Thomson into the fold.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by esquire

I would love to hear Mark Chipman's frank thoughts on the decision making behind putting the arena, TNS and Centrepoint developments where they are. If he could go back in time, would he still have done it the same way?

On one hand the area is becoming flat-out distressed and it may have been easier to attract fans and tenants in the long term had it all been built at, say, Polo Park. But on the other hand, all the subsidies wouldn't have materialized out there. Plus the Eaton's factor brought Thomson into the fold.

To be fair Jets fans taking over Donald St in the playoffs looks a lot cooler then taking over St. James Street.

[bomberjet]

I think we'll just need to give some time again, unfortunately.. pandemic sure did a number on downtowns everywhere.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

To be fair Jets fans taking over Donald St in the playoffs looks a lot cooler then taking over St. James Street.

We'll see if Jets fans in TNS this fall will be as cool as Jets fans on Donald. I don't think so. The Donald st views looked awesome.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

To be fair Jets fans taking over Donald St in the playoffs looks a lot cooler then taking over St. James Street.

Ha. Fair. But imagine that TNS existed on St. James Street. Having a bunch of fans in the courtyard watching on the big screen would have delivered pretty well the same effect.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

We'll see if Jets fans in TNS this fall will be as cool as Jets fans on Donald. I don't think so. The Donald st views looked awesome.

I wonder if that level of 2018 excitement will be reached again to the point where we will need blocks and blocks of space downtown?

That was the first time that Jets 2.0 really had a significant playoff run and I think there was a lot of pent-up demand for something like that. But it's the kind of thing you do once or twice and that's enough... I don't see how a hockey fan would prefer standing outside for three hours watching the game on a screen 200 feet away rather than just watching from the comfort of home. I guess for the handful who do enjoy that (I'm assuming mainly in the teenager and twentysomething cohort), TNS will do just fine.

[bomberjet]

With the Met and the narrow cannon look on TV, I think Donald St would be better than a wind swept parking lot in St. James. Just my opinion.

I think TNSE may block out the area between TNS and the arena. Like Hargrave/Graham Ave. and leave Donald open this time. We'll find out in a few short months!