Winnipeg Construction VIII

[CoryB]

My concern with the proposed new development levy is that it is only being applied to new home construction. Based on the last few years we know major projects like IKEA and Investors Group Filed require a significant amount of new infrastructure to support them. Will similar projects under the new proposal be having to contribute towards the infrastructure costs? How about new condo projects? What if you build a new house in Scottsdale, Az?

More info is needed.

[DancingDuck]

"Now , on to actual construction again : Is it just me or does Heritage Landing seem to be taking a lot longer than one would expect to get out of the ground ?

Also , when is that Fort Rouge yards going to see a shovel stuck into the ground ? Transitway's done...what are they waiting for?"

Most of the heritage landing site is above ground now.
When I bussed past fort rouge yards over the weekend it looked like they had most of the roads poured, but no building construction yet.

[steveosnyder]

Originally Posted by Andy6

But if you're talking infill, then it could be quite a different story. If you have 10,000 people to house and you propose to do so by building 200 50-person apartment buildings in vacant lots throughout the older parts of Winnipeg, each needing to be dealt with separately and each presenting unique design and logistics challenges and with the need not to disrupt existing neighbours etc., it sounds to me (just on an intuitive basis) as though it could be fairly costly in comparison with the economies of scale of greenfielding a 2,500 home suburban development on a a few hundred acres of empty fields.
If you're talking about replacing the 2,500 houses with 200 50-person apartments in the greenfield area, then yes -- quite possibly you're right, but that's not how your target market wants to live.

I, unlike most of the people here, don't think that the answer is large buildings to house everyone. I think people should be free to live where and how they want. If that means you want to live in the suburb you should be allowed to live in the suburb. But with the cravat that you would pay the full cost of your location choice.

I think an additional 1,000 people could live in my neighbourhood alone with an adjustment to zoning to fast-track things like secondary suites. Zoning along forces inefficient land-use.

That being said, I think the bigger challenge (and the bigger concern) is to build neighbourhoods that people actually care about.

[steveosnyder]

Originally Posted by Spocket

You get a net benefit from exurban dwellers working in the city. They don't get bus service , access to the city water supply , our fire department or police service and so on. They pay their own taxes for their own services.

How is it a net benefit from exurban dwellers coming into our city to work? Sure, they don't get those services, they pay for their own, but they use our services. And as they use our services they actually decrease the utility to city dwellers, forcing the civic government to expand services. Show me how me living in Winnipeg forces East St. Paul to expand their roads. Increases in traffic during rush hour causes exponential decreases in service levels, so once you hit a certain point service drops quickly. But the same can't be said for ESP. They don't have a rush hour -- they haven't hit that point where the curve increases huge, so adding cars to the streets there doesn't force them to widen.

I think what you are trying to say is exurban dwellers coming into our city is better than people who live on the edge of the City working downtown. But in both of these cases the person who lives downtown subsidizes them.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Winnipeg would soon lose as businesses relocated outside the city. That's particularly easy to do in a service economy such as we now have.

I find it unlikely that a business would take on the expense of moving their entire operation just to save their employees from paying a 1-2% tax on their income (especially if it was just offsetting another tax).

Add on a considerable commute to employees (and a lack of transit service) and you quickly eat up any cost savings and attractiveness to work for the company.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Spocket

Now , on to actual construction again : Is it just me or does Heritage Landing seem to be taking a lot longer than one would expect to get out of the ground ?

Also , when is that Fort Rouge yards going to see a shovel stuck into the ground ? Transitway's done...what are they waiting for ?

Heritage Landing is going full bore. The appearance of it taking so long is the work being done on the podium portion. The podium or town-home portion is huge. As they get further on the structural for the podium the tower will start to rise. The tower and core will be precast so it should rise quickly.

Fort Rouge Yards is also under construction full out. They are busy installing the services and street infrastructure right now and a sales office is on site. Actual building construction should start shortly if some foundation work hasn't already started. The site is very busy.

[esquire]

Anyone know what's going into the new three-storey building going up on South Osborne across from the Park Theatre?

There used to be a shoe store there, but it burned down a couple of years ago... I'm pleasantly surprised to see something going up so quickly (well, by Winnipeg standards) on that site.

[bomberjet]

It's kind of a funny thing. Heritage does cast in place base for the tower, and precast townhouses and the actual tower above floor 3.

Centrepoint is precast podium with cast in place tower. But the tower rooms are prefab and will basically be slid into place.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

It's kind of a funny thing. Heritage does cast in place base for the tower, and precast townhouses and the actual tower above floor 3.

Centrepoint is precast podium with cast in place tower. But the tower rooms are prefab and will basically be slid into place.

Do the rooms go in like this?

[Biff]

Originally Posted by esquire

Anyone know what's going into the new three-storey building going up on South Osborne across from the Park Theatre?

There used to be a shoe store there, but it burned down a couple of years ago... I'm pleasantly surprised to see something going up so quickly (well, by Winnipeg standards) on that site.

I believe it is a small residential building with main floor retail. Totally under the radar....just what this city needs more of. Looks like a great infill project and would be a kind of fun place to live.

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by Biff

Totally under the radar....just what this city needs more of.

On the same theme - St. Mary's had a lot of this type of thing going over the summer - small residential and commercial buildings with a little bit of height. I haven't been by (during the daylight) in a while, I assume they're finished up by now.

[Biff]

Glasshouse Model

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Do the rooms go in like this?

Lol something like that. Apparently the rooms come with chairs, beds, etc. fastened to the floor.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Biff

I believe it is a small residential building with main floor retail. Totally under the radar....just what this city needs more of. Looks like a great infill project and would be a kind of fun place to live.

That's what I figured it would be... the balconies on the upper levels made it look residential. I'm a bit surprised that that a building like this would be wood-framed, though... I wonder how quiet it will be up there?

But yes, I'd gladly take another 500 of these scattered throughout the city!

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Do the rooms go in like this?

There was an article on Canada AM this morning about a condo building going up in Ottawa. It has a robotic parking garage they referred to as "puzzle parking" that worked exactly like the puzzle pictured.

EDIT: Video!

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1038796

[Phil's neighbour]

Originally Posted by Biff

Glasshouse Model

According to this from CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/can-winnipeg-really-turn-around-its-downtown-1.2417756), Glasshouse is only 50 per cent sold:
"Construction is set to begin on their glass condominiums this winter, and about half the units have been sold."
Maybe it's just me, but I expected faster sales given the relatively affordable pricing. This puts it on the same leisurely pace as D Condos. Wonder how this bodes for the much bigger Fortress project down the street.

[ediger]

Originally Posted by Riverman

There was an article on Canada AM this morning about a condo building going up in Ottawa. It has a robotic parking garage they referred to as "puzzle parking" that worked exactly like the puzzle pictured.

EDIT: Video!

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1038796

that's pretty cool. Interesting that they say the construction costs are comparable to traditional parking structures. I wonder what the maintenance costs are like. That's a lot of moving parts.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by Phil's neighbour

According to this from CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/can-winnipeg-really-turn-around-its-downtown-1.2417756), Glasshouse is only 50 per cent sold:
"Construction is set to begin on their glass condominiums this winter, and about half the units have been sold."
Maybe it's just me, but I expected faster sales given the relatively affordable pricing. This puts it on the same leisurely pace as D Condos. Wonder how this bodes for the much bigger Fortress project down the street.

I see it differently, You say Glass House is only 50% sold, I see it as, Glass House is already 50% pre-sold before construction begins, a good bench mark to begin construction and needed by most developers to proceed. And reg: the article, we will need more people living Downtown with projects such as this one,fortress etc.. before we see a dramatic increase in sustainable buisness's and a decrease in vacancy rates. It's hard to have one without the other. Social issues are slowly being addressed but again will take time, more foot traffic and density before we see a noticeable change.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Phil's neighbour

According to this from CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/can-winnipeg-really-turn-around-its-downtown-1.2417756), Glasshouse is only 50 per cent sold:
"Construction is set to begin on their glass condominiums this winter, and about half the units have been sold."
Maybe it's just me, but I expected faster sales given the relatively affordable pricing. This puts it on the same leisurely pace as D Condos. Wonder how this bodes for the much bigger Fortress project down the street.

I'm actually pretty impressed that Glasshouse is 50% sold for these reasons:

1) It's pretty much right on Portage Avenue downtown. Even 5 years ago, who would have thought there would be a viable market for a highrise condo tower at Portage and Hargrave, of all places?

2) Compared to most other downtown condo projects including those on Waterfront Drive, it's a relatively big project. 209 units is nothing to sniff at and the fact that they've allegedly sold over 100 is a pretty decent accomplishment.

3) If I remember correctly, Glasshouse came into the market after D Condos started selling, so they definitely did not have a headstart when it comes to the relatively small market for downtown condos in Winnipeg.

On that last point, I have to wonder how Fortress can hope to sell 400+ units. I would imagine that there would have to be a lot of suites sold to out-of-town investors to make it a go... with many of the locals interested in downtown condo living already owning in the Exchange District or committed to Glasshouse/D Condo, I'm not sure that there would be 400 Winnipeggers left over who could be persuaded to buy in, however tall or flashy the building might be.

[drew]

Originally Posted by Phil's neighbour

According to this from CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/can-winnipeg-really-turn-around-its-downtown-1.2417756), Glasshouse is only 50 per cent sold:
"Construction is set to begin on their glass condominiums this winter, and about half the units have been sold."
Maybe it's just me, but I expected faster sales given the relatively affordable pricing. This puts it on the same leisurely pace as D Condos. Wonder how this bodes for the much bigger Fortress project down the street.

I talked to a project manager about Glasshouse last week. The haven't hit enough pre-sales to start construction, yet.