Winnipeg | Hudson’s Bay Building | Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn | U/C

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by Tfc99

How about bring it down and repurpose the stone like mts centre

I actually don't mind that option.

But again what will the cost be to demo that building vs. providing a reasonable subsidy to a developer to do something with the building.

I think that at some point the building will be purchased, handed over, whatever to a government/agency and that's where it'll end up.

Didn't HBC value the building at $0? So on that basis they should just give it up right? Ya right haha

[drew]

Originally Posted by Tfc99

How about bring it down and repurpose the stone like mts centre

That would be even less economical than trying to save the building.

It costs mucho $$$ to dismantle a mortised stone facade with the hopes of re-purposing said stones in the future.

[bomberjet]

So the red brick is not re-purposed but brought in new? I had thought it was from the old building. Just an homage I guess?

[1ajs]

the bay is a solid building e should fine multiple uses for it

[esquire]

Hard to imagine using 100+ year old brick in a new arena... can that even be done?

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by esquire

Hard to imagine using 100+ year old brick in a new arena... can that even be done?

yes its recyled all the time by the truck load

[esquire]

In the case of MTS Centre the bricks definitely looked new.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

In the case of MTS Centre the bricks definitely looked new.

MTS Centre bricks are not reclaimed.

[1ajs]

bay building is pushing 500,000 sqft is it not?

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

bay building is pushing 500,000 sqft is it not?

One of the posters above said 650,000 SQFT I think.

[BAKGUY]

1 - The Former Bay Building 450 Portage Ave = 651,000 ft 2...Yes, Eatons was more.

2 - MTS Place..not any reclaimed brick used whatsoever! The Eatons bricks were mostly sold individually as a souvenir of sorts.

[Jeff]

the vaughan side has been bad for awhile now.. even before the closing with an easy place to scale off the parkade.

[CoryB]

Assuming the "canopy" of whatever it is over the sidewalk can support a person it likely won't be long until the west side near the north corner has graffiti. That is a pretty prominent place to get your tag.

[Gravity Wins]

Well said Kelly. A WeWork or another large co-working space would be a wonderful use of some of the Hudson Bay building. It would instantly become a hub for the start up / creative industries in Winnipeg. And that sort of environment would pay dividends for many decades to come.

[esquire]

A lot of food for thought there... something like that would be a best case scenario next to possibly a large out of town corporation buying it and setting up a huge corporate office in there. But how much tech incubator space could Winnipeg hope to absorb? I'd be amazed if we could fill a single floor of the building with that type of use.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by esquire

A lot of food for thought there... something like that would be a best case scenario next to possibly a large out of town corporation buying it and setting up a huge corporate office in there. But how much tech incubator space could Winnipeg hope to absorb? I'd be amazed if we could fill a single floor of the building with that type of use.

This could be more possible than you think:

Winnipeg rounds out the list of Canadian cities in the Next 25 list, at No. 22, boasting a total tech labour pool of 15,400 workers and having produced 378 tech graduates in 2018.

CBRE Article

All we would need to do is invest a bit into tech startup culture in Winnipeg, and subsidize the Bay building for tech office use. A larger office floorplate is actually more desired by the tech industry as opposed to working from taller towers with smaller office floor plates - which the Bay building would offer. Examples include the Googleplex in San Francisco (which is an extreme comparison) or the Post in Vancouver which has 33% of its space pre-leased out to Amazon and eerily shares similar historical architecture lol. Btw, I'm not suggesting that we touch the architecture of the Bay building at all to attract tech start ups.

Sure, Winnipeg doesn't have the established tech culture that other Canadian cities have but it definitely has a building that has the right bones to house tech companies if the city chooses to take the steps necessary to attract tech companies. Just working off of the 2018 grad stat, if you could theoretically relocate them to work in the Bay building leading it to have 1-2 floors worth of daily use that is economical for the city.

[Jeff]

not to mention that new Smart Park Innovation Hub building that was just opened anchored by Bold last year by the U of M.. don't know if that is fully occupied even.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by Jeff

not to mention that new Smart Park Innovation Hub building that was just opened anchored by Bold last year by the U of M.. don't know if that is fully occupied even.

It's fully occupied and Bold is likely going to be moving out in the not too distant future. They're already over capacity at their main office and will likely build another building very soon (they also have people in the Shindico office on Taylor). Undecided if they expand near their current building, or perhaps build a satellite office downtown.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by buzzg

It's fully occupied and Bold is likely going to be moving out in the not too distant future. They're already over capacity at their main office and will likely build another building very soon (they also have people in the Shindico office on Taylor). Undecided if they expand near their current building, or perhaps build a satellite office downtown.

Ohhhh this wins post of the week! Very good news I wonder if anyone's told them there's a 650,000sqft. building downtown that has space if they need it?

[1ajs]

what about something like this

https://westbeth.org/


you dont bring the whole thing online at once