Canadian City Proposals

[isaidso]

Great news for regarding that Winnipeg Hudson's Bay but only if the building is kept fully intact. There are very few buildings like it in the whole country. Not that Winnipeg lacks places to put a condo, but if they want an addition, a 3-5 floor office addition for a WeWork space would be more suitable.

Just don't compromise the interior or exterior.

[logan5]

It looks as if the Bay building in Vancouver will eventually have a tower built over top.

[J.OT13]

The way they define historic buildings has changed a lot. Even if deemed "historic" it is still considered disposable. Tear it down and only re-build the facade, either using original bricks and windows, or replicas. Or maybe the location is inconvenient to future development, so go ahead and move it across the street, a few blocks of even kilometers away.

The steel structure, the foundation, the interior spaces that have seen millions walk through, nope, not historic.

[isaidso]

Heritage in Canada is a colossal joke. 99% of the building could end up at the city dump. If there's a replica of one exterior wall to remind us of what once stood there it's considered preservation. People call it 'preservation' so they can pretend they do it and avoid blame. Why play games? Just take a photo and call it what it really is: demolition.

It's akin to walking up to this heritage car and realizing its only an inch wide and there's nothing beyond the shell. The interior, engine, tires, other 3 sides, everything was discarded. Maybe even this one panel isn't original but made on a 3D printer with pellets.


Courtesy of bestcarmag

[Urban recluse]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Great news for regarding that Winnipeg Hudson's Bay but only if the building is kept fully intact. There are very few buildings like it in the whole country. Not that Winnipeg lacks places to put a condo, but if they want an addition, a 3-5 floor office addition for a WeWork space would be more suitable.

Just don't compromise the interior or exterior.

Nothing pisses me off more than when interiors are gutted. How disgusting it is walking into what should be a heritage building only to be presented with anything but.

[isaidso]

Yes, its a sham.

[zoomer]

If only there was an example of a Bay building being converted to a new use - wouldn't that be helpful! Oh wait.. there is! In a far off remote village founded by the Hudson Bay.

The village allowed three towers in the former parking lot to compensate for the historical preservation cost, including one far exceeding height limits at 25 storeys (under construction) making it the village's tallest. Townline also just completed two other condo buildings across the street making it part of the Hudson District.

The Hudson District

First two are my pictures:

[IMG]The Hudson - Douglas and Fisgard by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr[/IMG]

this backside is the only side that is not original as it was connected by a parkade anyways way back in the day.

The Hudson Condos on Douglas Street by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr

They obviously cut a light well in the centre:

Courtyard by Keira Morgan, on Flickr

Some pics from VRBO:







The main floor is a small public market, but with lots of amazing food choices.

The first of the new buildings that was completed a few years ago in the former parkade:


And the 2nd of 3 towers currently under construction, first the back side, then the side facing the Hudson building and finally the top floor view over the historic quarter. Photos from Newcondosbc

[isaidso]

Looks like they gutted it.

[mistercorporate]

Those Victoria projects look stunning, such a beautiful landscape!

[SpongeG]

I like that one in Victoria.

[GeneralLea]

Good to see the Bay building in Victoria reused....but that backside is fugly. At least there is that public market .

[GlassCity]

Wow that is terrible. Anything but that for the Winnipeg Bay.

[zoomer]

An original proposal was for the Bay building in Victoria to be the main branch for the public library and office space, but the huge costs and risks associated with the restoration/conversion and seismic considerations kiled that. Still, to have a busy building that has shops and businesses on the ground floor, in the main floor, a very detailed and immaculately preserved historic facade on three sides, what more could you ask for? Sure, the back side, but that was compromised decades ago when they attached a multi level parade. They could have replicated that side, but that would be ridiculous and no one does that, or they could have gone super constrasting avant garde modern, but those are hit and miss and can be disastrous after the flavour of the decade passes.

If you want public access to all floors of the Bay building in Winnipeg, what would give you that? Won’t be retail obviously.. office space won’t, a library or other six floor public space not likely either.

Sure the guts have changed, but this Bay didn’t have any redeeming historical features on the inside, it was a department store, and didn’t have any massive original columns on the interior.

[GlassCity]

I'm less concerned about the insides of the building, but I think seeing the balconies on the other site broke my heart a little. If it was already compromised beforehand it makes more sense, but I do wish they kept it closer to the original.

So yeah, I'm not worried about maintaining public access to the inside so much in Winnipeg. If the bottom 2 storeys stay Hudson's Bay and the rest become offices, other stores or whatever, I'd be fine with that. Just don't change the exterior, and don't carve a hole in the middle of it either.

[GeneralLea]

I understand the hole in the middle and all, but I just fine the architecture of the backside to be rather grotesque and very conflicted with the original form and structure of this building. If they chose more warm or neutral hues, it would be more cohesive to the general design. At the same time, this is an area where design isn't a very big motivator for developers, and office markets don't justify filling this building with offices (unless it was medical offices perhaps). but the residential market would.

[zoomer]

I agree, they could have done more Juliet style balconies that were less contemporary on that back side and kept the modern balconies for the interior. In the long run for Victoria at least converting this to housing has been a good decision, revitalizing that end of downtown as it's on the northern fringe. Hundreds of rental and condo units have been added, and the total investment will be 900 million according to Rick Ilich from Townline.

I think they did get away with cheaping out on the back side, but 900 million over four buildings ain't pennies either.

Victoria has the third highest condo prices in the country so there is no excuse to build cheap, and overall I'd say that Victoria has some really solid designs, although no city touches Vancouver or Toronto in terms of high end luxury.

Current MLS stats:

The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core in July 2017 was $834,200, while the benchmark value for the same home in July 2018 increased by 5.5 per cent to $880,000, slightly lower than June's value of $889,600. The MLS® HPI benchmark value for a condominium in the Victoria Core area in July 2017 was $442,100, while the benchmark value for the same condominium in July 2018 increased by 12.1 per cent to $495,700, slightly higher than June's value of $496,500.

As for office, I can't see any company maintaining the integrity of a large historic building for office space. Even with the old post office in Vancouver - that'll just be a shell. One developer in Victoria just finished in 2018 420,000 sq ft of LEED platinum government office space downtown - much easier to build new high tech office buildings with all the bell and whistles, and especially in BC - earthquake proof.

[TorontoDrew]

They did a nice job but it's still sad it's no longer a department store.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Wow that is terrible. Anything but that for the Winnipeg Bay.

Those condos would have been far more value if they kept as many of the interior walls/details as possible. I've been in a ton of warehouse conversions and they're all gorgeous with their brick walls, high ceilings, and beams. I even lived in one for a couple years.

That Bay conversion in Victoria is a lost opportunity and quite sad.

[zoomer]

I believe the interior images above are the modern setback addition above the fourth floor - which you can't really see well from street level.

Remember this was a department store.. wide open spaces, the only historic interior elements that could be shown is the outer perimeter walls and windows, everything else had to be created from scratch. The floors were all concrete, the original Bay department stores weren't built with wood beams. There are high ceilings, brick walls, the windows obviously are all still there. This could never look like a traditional loft style or smaller heritage renovation that you see on HGTV unless they faked those elements on the interior.

If I find some photos of the reno I'll post those later - although probably heading off topic at that point.

[Coldrsx]

Looking forward to what this will bring...

http://wexforddevelopments.com/location/10420-103-avenue/