Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Brizzy82]

Winnipeg

(2018)

Downtown Winnipeg by yankeelima, on Flickr


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[zoomer]

As csbvan said - the 2019 federal election saw the NDP and Greens get a combined 63.2% of the vote in Victoria.

Unlike the other PNW cities I’d say that Victoria more strongly values order, perceived fairness, non-violent protests - so while more left/green leaning, less radical if that makes sense. Still a strong traditional element of keeping things clean, orderly and polite. A broad generalization to be sure, but you’ll see that displayed in the endless protests in the city vs. angrier demonstrations in larger cities. You’re likely to see just as many hippy seniors at the protests as there are youth.

[Chadillaccc]

Excellent Winnipeg set. It's this weekend a year ago that I was there for my first time. Still such good memories from Nuit Blanche and the Assiniboine Zoo.

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Excellent Winnipeg set. It's this weekend a year ago that I was there for my first time. Still such good memories from Nuit Blanche and the Assiniboine Zoo.

Glad you enjoyed your stay! I actually checked out the zoo with my fam yesterday - first time I've been there since they opened the polar bear exhibit.


There's a good Winnipeg aerial in this video




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySQ7VgBKBNw&app=desktop&ab_channel=TourismWinnipeg

[zoomer]

Nice Winnipeg shots - trying to find 300 Main Street in there - are these older pics? Where’s the newer residential construction centering around, or is it evenly distributed throughout the downtown?

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Only destroyed about half, but that's pretty good as far as Canadian city's go, lol. Now that pretty much all the parking lots have been built on new developments are on lots with non-historical one or two story buildings. In the last couple months a church, funeral home and printing shop have been torn down to make way for new residential mid-rises.

Victoria has a historic core that was always dense - and even now the scale is smaller buildings with a smaller footprint which does makes for an interesting jumble of buildings not overly dominated by one style and makes for a great walking experience throughout the downtown core. Just take an overhead look in Google Earth, it's really quite a crazy patchwork.

Anyways, happy that I discovered some drone accounts on Instagram, here's another new one - not a fan of these two 20 storey buildings but they add more residents. The lose rises in front have been purchased by another developer so we'll see what they propose.



https://www.instagram.com/p/CFVCwkhj5tn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Finally here's a pic I took last year - downtown will continue to densify within it's current core and expand outward - so it could be insanely dense in 10-20 years for a relatively small city (now 400,00 perhaps growing to 550,000 -575,000 in twenty years).

October 10 Victoria BC by JohnnyJayEh, on Flickr

I can't get over how good Victoria looks. Absolutely incredible.

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Nice Winnipeg shots - trying to find 300 Main Street in there - are these older pics? Where’s the newer residential construction centering around, or is it evenly distributed throughout the downtown?

300 Main is just starting to poke out from certain angles, not easy to see in those images posted. In that drone shot, you can see it directly to the right of the taller dark blue glass building near Portage & Main. The first aerial is 2018.

Wpg Guy shared these progress pics yesterday. I think there's roughly 14 more floors to go, give or take.






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[goodgrowth]

Originally Posted by Brizzy82

Winnipeg

(2018)

Downtown Winnipeg by yankeelima, on Flickr

a lot of grey/beige in this...

Winnipeg's skyline seems like Edmonton or Calgary 20-30 years ago.

[Coldrsx]

Winnipeg has so much potential.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Yes, and then some. It is a battleground between the Greens and NDP.

Yes, and UVIC was always a magnet for the most left-wing people I knew.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Winnipeg has so much potential.

In fifteen years, I believe the Exchange and a built up Forks will be equivalent to Gastown and even (in summer) the Distillery district or Montréal's Old Port. By then the floodgates should be open for loft conversions and continued new residential in there, and gentrification should flow up along Ellice and north along Main, as well as across in St-Bonface. Portage Avenue should have a consistent strip of attractive retail until at least the Legislature, and (please, please) the residents will see the light and think about reopening P+M. I travelled to there a lot before Covid and alwaus felt Winnipeg is just on the cusp of a city centre boom!

[Coldrsx]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EiYIbMHVoAAhh4B?format=jpg&name=medium

[zoomer]

Thank Brizzy for the updated pics - love the huge “20” storey sign on the building - someone seems to appreciate skyscraper fanatics, lol.

What’s the buzz in Winnipeg on where the market is headed after COVID? With more people being able to work at home will this result in less people wanting to live downtown, or is the commute not really a big issue to start with?

[Razor]

Nice Winnipeg shots..My favourite to date actually!..The Peg just oozes with character through it's skyline.

Originally Posted by zoomer

As csbvan said - the 2019 federal election saw the NDP and Greens get a combined 63.2% of the vote in Victoria.

Unlike the other PNW cities I’d say that Victoria more strongly values order, perceived fairness, non-violent protests - so while more left/green leaning, less radical if that makes sense. Still a strong traditional element of keeping things clean, orderly and polite. A broad generalization to be sure, but you’ll see that displayed in the endless protests in the city vs. angrier demonstrations in larger cities. You’re likely to see just as many hippy seniors at the protests as there are youth.

Okay, thanks for the description..I get it's vibe now, and I sort of figured that it may have been similar to how you described it.

[craner]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

It may have changed recently with Nexen (CNOC) moving there now, but Encana packed up and left for the States last year. Downtown Calgary has 40% vacancy but it’s even higher when you factor in empty leased space.

Is it really 40% now ??
Last I saw it was sitting around 26% vacancy.

[Coldrsx]

26 head lease 40 sublet included?

[J.OT13]

Meanwhile in Ottawa, our downtown vacancy rate was 1.8% last year and nothing has been built since the completion of the James Flaherty Building and Performance Court on Elgin in 2014 (about a million square feet between the two). None of the developers wanted to take the "risk" based on speculation even though high tech companies have been clamoring for downtown space.

I guess now the pandemic has shifted the market significantly. The feds are looking at increasing WFH, along with cramming more people into existing buildings (pre-pandemic policy that they seem to want to stick with). A new building for the Feds is u/c at Zibi (158,000 square feet) and Shopify is putting up its swanky 170,000 square foot Performance Court HQ on the sub-lease market and holding on to its more recent lease at Plaza 234 (325,000 square feet in a recently renovated early 80s building). Other high-tech companies are looking at reducing their foot-print.

Hard to tell what the full impact will be, but I imagine we won't see another office building go up until the dust settles and we get a better idea of the situation.

[MolsonExport]

40% vacancy sounds rather like Houston during the 80s

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by goodgrowth

a lot of grey/beige in this...

Yes it looks sooooo good. Hopefully Winnipeg values what has survived. The city needs to fight the current trend of destroying buildings from this era by re-cladding them in glass. I suspect if they can hold on for another 20 years the next generation will appreciate them a ton more than the current generation. Winnipeg might end up being one of the few cities in the country with a substantial inventory of quality 60s/70s buildings. Winnipeg's stagnation 1970-2010 has been a blessing in disguise.

Every era of architecture goes through a period where they are hated. I suspect the new glass buildings going up in Calgary/Edmonton (Brookfield Place, Stantec, etc.) will have their own period (2040-2080) where they'll be viewed as horrible blights and they'll be destroyed one by one. The trick is to get through those dark ages intact.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

40% vacancy sounds rather like Houston during the 80s

I never scrolled through that far back, but which city are we talking about..Calgary?..My cousin who lives there, told me that is was getting bad downtown, but I never imagined that much of a vacany rate?. Scary how tings can flip on a dime..Here's to it resiliently bouncing back strong!..It needs to catch up on some infrastructure from what I understand, so maybe some major construction stimulus will keep it going until things get good again.