Winnipeg Construction X

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Winnipeg Grump

Nah, have you been to any of these stores lately? Online has been around long enough that it's a known option for people and they're still running out to those locations to do their shopping. They might trend to smaller footprints and downsize the onsite inventory but I can't see your forecast coming true.



To Headhorse's observation, the increase in traffic, emissions, and associated wear and tear on the infrastructure comes from asshats ordering a package of paper towels one evening and then some drain cleaner the next day and maybe a bit of groceries the day after instead of just making one shopping trip to a Superstore (or wherever).

Cory makes some good points but you have to be careful trying to draw a straight line between what happens in the US market versus what happens here. They're far more aggressive on the development side and have overbuilt their retail infrastructure.

Originally Posted by headhorse

online shopping relies on massive amounts of subsidized infrastructure for delivery + emissions increases by delivery of individual items to individual homes. it also relies on continued existence of cheap labour and goods. it's not going to last.

1. Traditional retail is notorious for paying near minimum wage and actively scheduling to avoid having benefits.
2. Not all good sold online are "cheap".
3. The net increase for delivery for online results in minimal actual increase in costs and emissions. Whether you buy from a store or online the impact of shipping is minimal. It still travels most of the same path regardless if it goes to your home or to the store where you buy it and then take it home.

[pegcity]

Does anyone have a rendering of the Sandman hotel expansion/sandman signature on Sargent?

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by pegcity

Does anyone have a rendering of the Sandman hotel expansion/sandman signature on Sargent?

Anything new is great..I can't find any details so what do u know about Sandman Signature and expansion? Any idea when? how many floors, # of rooms? Any new amenities or additional eatery?bar?

[Biff]

^^^ 6 storey, 222 rooms. Skywalk to existing hotel and a restaurant (don't know what)

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Biff

^^^ 6 storey, 222 rooms. Skywalk to existing hotel and a restaurant (don't know what)

Thanks

[Only The Lonely..]

Holy shit!

Portage Place to undergo up to $400-M retrofit, multi-income residential towers added

https://globalnews.ca/news/6317255/portage-place-development/

[1ajs]

shame they just made it even uglyer

[BAKGUY]

Portage Place enters the 2020's. Looks refreshed and so much better. These are primitive renderings and Imagine the final result will be spectacular.

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

shame they just made it even [sic] uglyer

Yeah, did someone at Shindico design that?

But it hopefully will make that stretch of downtown safer, shoo away the riff raff, "modernize" that awful crime-ridden Food Court into another Food Hall good for the suits and skirts crowd. I guess they can rename it "The Common No. 2" and bring in another "beer on tap" vendor. Haha.


I wonder if Eaton Place/cityplace would convert to a Food Hall too, then where would the poor go to eat?


I don't know what'll happen with Staples, PTE.

On the render, on the east end, they retain the former movie theatre building thingie. Wonder what they have planned there? Would be nice to see a movie theatre re-open in that space.

Am I right that they'll start construction in 2021 and that it'll take 5 years to complete? Wow, that's longer than it took to construct the original Portage Place.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Anyone who is negative about this, deserves a boot to the ass. I see nothing but positives, the existing mall is such a small component compared to 2 new mid size towers and 550 new suites.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

Anyone who is negative about this, deserves a boot to the ass. I see nothing but positives, the existing mall is such a small component compared to 2 new mid size towers and 550 new suites.

Being negative is the easiest thing in the world to be. It takes zero effort and the negative person usually rationalizes it with self-flattering illusions. I just "have the courage to be honest" or "I'm helping by pointing out flaws" or some other platitude.

Of course there's nothing wrong with healthy criticism or disagreement. However, the former should require that an alternate positive vision be offered (what would they do to make it better?) and the latter requires the acknowledgement that one's personal taste isn't the final arbiter of "good and bad" in the world.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

On the render, on the east end, they retain the former movie theatre building thingie. Wonder what they have planned there? Would be nice to see a movie theatre re-open in that space.

I agree, it would be nice to have a cinema back in there, but I wouldn't bet on that happening. It's not obvious to me from the rendering that they intend to keep the cinemas in place.

[drew]

^ I think the theatres are gone for sure - mostly so that they can claw back all that assembly load from the theatre spaces - and use it towards going higher on the residential towers.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

I don't know what'll happen with Staples, PTE.

Just a guess Staples will close. They have been heading that direction anyway and their model for supplying businesses has shifted from in-person retail to same-day/next-day from a warehouse on St James. But yeah, "in person retail isn't dying..."

PTE will likely remain in place but with some reconfiguration since the mall is effectively being removed with these plans. It is also interesting the fourth floor is gone in some of the renders. I think that may have just been design license and it is unlikely they will demo the existing office space.

Originally Posted by LilZebra

On the render, on the east end, they retain the former movie theatre building thingie. Wonder what they have planned there? Would be nice to see a movie theatre re-open in that space.

It is doubtful either Cineplex or Landmark would be willing to operate the space as a movie theater. That basically shifts it to being more of an independent operation. Based on what happened with The Globe it seems the customer traffic is too low to generate enough revenue to cover the rent costs. That ultimately pushes it back on the landlord to either reduce the rent or find an alternate use for the space.

The other one I am curious around is the plan seems to confirm the mall is dead under this new plan. The Portage Ave units will be refaced as street accessible retail. It is unclear what the plan is for the back half of the space though as they would be too deep to be attractive to retailers. With the move of the skywalk to the front of the building I would guess the second floor will be converted into office space.

I have long felt the food hall should basically be rebuilt but on the skywalk level almost directly over where it is now. Take a page from the Hargrave St Food Court Market and enclose the space with security on the outside. Also actively enforce that the space is for people buying product in the space, ie no outside food or drink and no loliterling if you are not a customer.

[esquire]

With the impending massive shrink in retail floorspace at Portage Place, I wonder if this might Cityplace's time to shine as it will really be the only thing resembling traditional retail mall space left downtown? Well, there's Winnipeg Square too, but I don't see it really changing at this point.

I could see some of the office space on the second level at Cityplace being converted back to retail and some of the shops in Portage Place moving over there, the Ricki's, Ardene, Warehouse One type clothing places. It could give Cityplace a small but criticall mass of retail.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

Anyone who is negative about this, deserves a boot to the ass. I see nothing but positives, the existing mall is such a small component compared to 2 new mid size towers and 550 new suites.

LOL! No kidding, tearing it down would be an improvement, proposal looks pretty solid and especially the addition of 550 rental suites!

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by esquire

With the impending massive shrink in retail floorspace at Portage Place, I wonder if this might Cityplace's time to shine as it will really be the only thing resembling traditional retail mall space left downtown? Well, there's Winnipeg Square too, but I don't see it really changing at this point.

I could see some of the office space on the second level at Cityplace being converted back to retail and some of the shops in Portage Place moving over there, the Ricki's, Ardene, Warehouse One type clothing places. It could give Cityplace a small but criticall mass of retail.

Not sure when people will start to get it, downtown retail in Winnipeg is DEAD Nothing will change that.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Not sure when people will start to get it, downtown retail in Winnipeg is DEAD Nothing will change that.

This is patently false, just look around you next time you're downtown.

Sure the days of downtown as a retail destination on par with Polo Park are gone, but there will always be some retail around. There is no way that we'll have a neighbourhood of 15,000+ residents and 40,000+ students and office workers and no retail whatsoever.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by Biff

I heard that there will be an announcement on Thursday regarding the Portage Place project. Big project, big money.

If what I know is true, the reactions on here will be "W T F" wow!

Originally Posted by dmacc

I can't wait to see what it is, hard to think it could be as impressive as Biff is letting on. The pads can accommodate 17 storeys I believe. Two 17 storey buildings is awesome but to get a wow factor would take something special.

Well I have to say, Biff was right. This proposal, if it resembles the renders in anyway after the value engineering, will be awesome.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Not sure when people will start to get it, downtown retail in Winnipeg is DEAD Nothing will change that.

Can we tone down the hyperbole? Downtown retail is far from dead. Obviously the retail scene is not thriving like it did decades ago, but there is lots of retail downtown. It's not a city-wide retail destination anymore, but there's still a broad selection of stores that serve the needs of the local area, pretty similar to the current state of Grant Park and Garden City. Just because it's not #1 doesn't mean it's going to die.

Originally Posted by CoryB

Just a guess Staples will close. They have been heading that direction anyway and their model for supplying businesses has shifted from in-person retail to same-day/next-day from a warehouse on St James. But yeah, "in person retail isn't dying..."

You might want to wait until Staples actually closes their Winnipeg stores before you start gloating about being right about the death of in-person retail.