Winnipeg | UofM | Southwood Circle

[bowling_ball]

Originally Posted by FactaNV

A refresher never hurts. Thanks for the digging. Any architects/developers or adjacents have an inside scoop on any movement on these lots?

I interviewed with a client who was looking at this site. I then pointed out that A) there's no services, and B) the per-acre cost is about 4x to 6x what we see elsewhere in the City. Oh and C) being tied to geothermal is required.

I don't want to discourage good work, and that property has sat vacant long enough, but the developer is out to lunch. There's a reason there's not a single murmur of this property among actual developers.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by bowling_ball

I interviewed with a client who was looking at this site. I then pointed out that A) there's no services, and B) the per-acre cost is about 4x to 6x what we see elsewhere in the City. Oh and C) being tied to geothermal is required.

I don't want to discourage good work, and that property has sat vacant long enough, but the developer is out to lunch. There's a reason there's not a single murmur of this property among actual developers.

So what do you recommend for getting movement on the site? The utilities are coming so that'll be handled. 4-6x cost could probably be reduced but at the end of the day, wouldn't this be considered a premium development opportunity? The land isn't cheap here but isn't that mitigated by building up anyways? Third point, is geothermal an issue for builders? Im hopelessly no baby out of my field when talking about geothermal heating haha.

[Biff]

Sitework underway. Should be some exciting news in spring, building stuff.

[zalf]

^ Fabulous to hear!

There's no one silver bullet but this, Railside, and the Polo Park project all have the chance to pretty impressively remake the city. Too bad all three are so chronically delayed, but at least we are seeing some early signs of movement on two of them.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by zalf

^ Fabulous to hear!

There's no one silver bullet but this, Railside, and the Polo Park project all have the chance to pretty impressively remake the city. Too bad all three are so chronically delayed, but at least we are seeing some early signs of movement on two of them.

Patience in all things!

[bowling_ball]

Originally Posted by FactaNV

So what do you recommend for getting movement on the site? The utilities are coming so that'll be handled. 4-6x cost could probably be reduced but at the end of the day, wouldn't this be considered a premium development opportunity? The land isn't cheap here but isn't that mitigated by building up anyways? Third point, is geothermal an issue for builders? Im hopelessly no baby out of my field when talking about geothermal heating haha.

Here's the thing about developers - time is money. That cannot be repeated enough. If Plot A still needs to be serviced, and Plot B is ready to go, then most developers will go with Plot B, most of the time.

This developer has dollar signs in his eyes, without regard to our local market. The proof is in the pudding - like I said, there is no development happening here for another decade, and that's only if he figures out to lower prices. He's already missing out on developers along Pembina, which says a lot.

[bomberjet]

Biffs saying news in the spring on development. Bowling ball says nothing for a decade. What is it?

[WinCitySparky]

Only the shadow knows

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Biffs saying news in the spring on development. Bowling ball says nothing for a decade. What is it?

We needs Esquire's voice of reason. I'm going to lean towards Buff myself, simply because I want to manifest something haha.

[Biff]

There are some details, but can’t be released yet.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by Biff

There are some details, but can’t be released yet.

Maybe it'll be a 5 story Dollarama, just to hit minimum height requirements.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by bowling_ball

I interviewed with a client who was looking at this site. I then pointed out that A) there's no services, and B) the per-acre cost is about 4x to 6x what we see elsewhere in the City. Oh and C) being tied to geothermal is required.

I don't want to discourage good work, and that property has sat vacant long enough, but the developer is out to lunch. There's a reason there's not a single murmur of this property among actual developers.

Don’t the buildings also need to be LEED Gold?

I personally can’t see how this development could attract a large number of developers to build such large scale projects in the current development conditions with all the added costs expected to be incurred. Residential development in Winnipeg is done on razor thin margins. I hope I’m wrong.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Don’t the buildings also need to be LEED Gold?

I personally can’t see how this development could attract a large number of developers to build such large scale projects in the current development conditions with all the added costs expected to be incurred. Residential development in Winnipeg is done on razor thin margins. I hope I’m wrong.

The answer is government subsidies. Lots of TIFs and probably a decent chunk of our federal housing inject.

[lbnevs]

Originally Posted by FactaNV

The answer is government subsidies. Lots of TIFs and probably a decent chunk of our federal housing inject.

And, as I understand it, on top of requiring LEED certification, no surface parking, height minimums, concrete/steel construction, etc., it's also on land that remains owned by the university on some sort of perpetual or 99 year lease arrangement.

People I've talked to all seem very confident that this will all happen; I'm pretty cynical.

[ColdRain&Snow]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

And, as I understand it, on top of requiring LEED certification, no surface parking, height minimums, concrete/steel construction, etc., it's also on land that remains owned by the university on some sort of perpetual or 99 year lease arrangement.

People I've talked to all seem very confident that this will all happen; I'm pretty cynical.

Yeah I saw something about a 99 year long land lease on the Southwood Circle website. Seems kind of weird.

[lotw_wpg]

The Forks is doing something similar, but those are smaller buildings.

[peg]

From what I have read/heard about this whole project is the land ownership has some legal contention.

Im pretty sure UM couldn't directly take the lands on, and had to make the UM properties corp. manage the lands. UM owns the lands but doesn't directly control them through its administration.

I think because of this arrangement, UM needs to own the land?

I am probably not explaining this 100% correctly so if someone is more familiar please correct me!

We will see how this all plays out though. I am excited to see what manifests.

[ColdRain&Snow]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/cana...ium%3Dsharebar

Hopefully this announced providers developers with enough incentive to get some construction started on this project.

[trueviking]

^ yeah, student housing will likely be most viable. I have heard some developers are talking to them....and there is one cultural building that will be built there.

[Wpg_Guy]

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation will be constructed here.