Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Corydon area

[wardlow]

I love the design all around! Good scale and great relationship with the street. Not everything needs to be award winning or ~*vIsI0nArY*~

[Jeff]

I wish the guy that built the new residential limestone bomb shelter on Sherbrook would get a crack at a lot in Osborne Village next! I'm still holding out hope for a boutique hotel in the village as well... In the meantime, this is a great project to inject some high-visibility progress and renewal into the area.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

If 160 Osborne is a new build isn't there still that roadway setback that TD had to put in place some years ago?

[buzzg]

I think it looks great, though I agree that the two smaller buildings will hinge on the materials looking as good and metallic as they do in the render. Nice that the Osborne building appears to be brick and stone. I do have to say though, a bit surprised they wouldn't have put a second floor of commercial (offices) in the Osborne building.

I love the art treatment and connected alleys there, think it's fantastic a really suits the Village area. Kudos there.

Osborne really needs a hotel now – not just because a hotel would be great for the area, but also so they can bring a vendor back. Boutique hotel with a nice, new vendor in it would be great (and rake it in).

---

In terms of the fire station, I remember someone on here a while back saying that the FD has said that is by far the best location for them in the area, and that when it came time for a new one, they'd want to rebuild on the same site, which sucks.

But yeah... there's no reason for the city to be hanging onto that tiny lot across from Happy Cooker. It can't be making a to of money anyway, sell it to someone. Maybe Private Pension Partners would buy it, they own half the strip now – they're the ones that bought and redid the buildings on the west side.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

If 160 Osborne is a new build isn't there still that roadway setback that TD had to put in place some years ago?

As I understand it, the (stupid) purpose of the TD setback is to accommodate a future left-turn lane from northbound Osborne to westbound River. That doesn't apply to the block of Osborne that the OVI sits on because there's nothing to turn left to, so no setback needed. Hopefully.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

In terms of the fire station, I remember someone on here a while back saying that the FD has said that is by far the best location for them in the area, and that when it came time for a new one, they'd want to rebuild on the same site, which sucks.

I remember hearing something to that effect... I think it may have been in the news a while back. The funny thing is that it seems like a very small site relative to what they've been building newer fire stations on. I don't see why something on Pembina couldn't do... for instance, put it on the Murray Dodge Ram site and you would still have easy access to the Village, South Osborne, down to Crescentwood/Fort Rouge and south on Pembina.

It's too bad because that would be the perfect site for a hotel.

I wonder if the Gas Station Theatre proposal will ever be resurrected?

[trueviking]

wow...I love it....it's f*cking perfect.

That everywhere please.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by esquire

Yeah, the more detailed renders are a little more flattering. Let's hope it gets built that way.

Extremely more flattering, IMO. Those funky balcony and patio spaces have just turned this into a very exciting project for me, and very appropriate for the area.

[Pinus]

Yeah, I think the design fits well with the area. Funky and hipster (which isn't as horrid like many people seem to think). Will be happy so see this progress.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

If 160 Osborne is a new build isn't there still that roadway setback that TD had to put in place some years ago?

I think GarryEllice is right that there's no 'future' turning lane to go here. Plus the the Osborne St. roadway is 9' wider in front of 160 Osborne than it is/was up the block where the TD strip mall went. 73' instead of 66'.

[trueviking]

^ is that really still a thing. That would make a good free press article. Where in the city buildings need to be set back to accommodate the 1970's.

I just found out there is a 6 storey height limit on regent out by the casino....

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ is that really still a thing. That would make a good free press article. Where in the city buildings need to be set back to accommodate the 1970's.

It's an absurd anachronism that deserves to be publicized and ultimately eliminated. As if the best thing for the city is to let Osborne in its entirety crumble to pieces so that the buildings can be demolished and rebuilt 15 feet away so that a turning lanes can be accommodated... it's nuts.

[trueviking]

I believe the project going in beside le garage on provencher needed a variance because there is a requirement that buildings be narrower to allow for the eventual widening of the back lane!

I wonder if there is a map that shows where these things are or if you just discover them randomly as you develop.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by trueviking

I believe the project going in beside le garage on provencher needed a variance because there is a requirement that buildings be narrower to allow for the eventual widening of the back lane!

I wonder if there is a map that shows where these things are or if you just discover them randomly as you develop.

This would make an excellent FP article.

And it's often the latter: you find out once you apply to subdivide or rezone. And there's no telling if these future widenings are considered currently needed, or if they're simply old holdouts from the Metro Government era that traffic engineers still point to out of habit.

A couple of ways to make an educated guess on where the City intends to do a future street widening is to look through the "Special Yards" section of the Zoning By-law -- if a busy street has a special yard/setback (eg, you can't build anything within that setback) of 7', 14, or 20', it's probably because there's a future road widening planned. Streets like this that come to mind are:
Broadway (Osborne to Maryland)
Stafford (Academy to Grant)
Corydon (all of the good part)
Academy (Wellington to Cambridge)
Osborne (River to Jubilee)

You can also look on the city's maps online with the parcel layer on, and see which streets have differing front property lines... for example, Roblin Boulevard. Some property lines are set back 10-15' from others, which suggests they're eventually all going to be set back.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by GarryEllice

As I understand it, the (stupid) purpose of the TD setback is to accommodate a future left-turn lane from northbound Osborne to westbound River. That doesn't apply to the block of Osborne that the OVI sits on because there's nothing to turn left to, so no setback needed. Hopefully.

Thanks. Hopefully that is correct. One wonders how many generations would have to pass before that left hand turn eventually happened. Likely all cars will be flying by then.

[trueviking]

Word is that Toad is moving to the Buccacinino’s space. Rent is too high in the existing space. Closing the cavern.

A shame.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Word is that Toad is moving to the Buccacinino’s space. Rent is too high in the existing space. Closing the cavern.

A shame.

That would be awful. The Cavern is a fantastic venue and always busy, whiskey bar is awesome. I'm pretty sure Buccacino's owns their building too IIRC. If this happened, that would pretty much spell the end of the old Osborne era... it will really need to figure out what its new identity is. I certainly hope Poutine King and Upstairs aren't the future.

Also, you'd be hard pressed to find someone wanting to run that entire main floor and basement space, it's huge. Likely would need to be re-divided.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by buzzg

That would be awful. The Cavern is a fantastic venue and always busy, whiskey bar is awesome. I'm pretty sure Buccacino's owns their building too IIRC. If this happened, that would pretty much spell the end of the old Osborne era... it will really need to figure out what its new identity is. I certainly hope Poutine King and Upstairs aren't the future.

Also, you'd be hard pressed to find someone wanting to run that entire main floor and basement space, it's huge. Likely would need to be re-divided.

The Toad and Cavern must be doing reasonably well so the fact that rents are too high even for them is rather telling of whoever owns that building. Aren't there basically only a couple building owners along that stretch of Osborne? I wonder if they're aware that they're slowly killing the area?

[buzzg]

Quite a few properties have changed hands in the last couple years. Basil now I believe only owns his old restaurant space and maybe one or two others, he sold his other buildings to PPP 2 years ago which is why they got renovated. Kai bought the L-shaped strip mall, which is why it got renovated. I'd really like to see 107 Osborne redone, as the third floor is fully exposed to the elements, it's sad. Meiji Sushi building has also been for sale for a couple years.

There's definitely still some borderline slum landlord holdouts, and just some small unsophisticated ones, but seems to be slowly changing. I agree though, rents on Osborne have become insane, especially considering it's not as much of a prominent standout location as it once was, with the developments on Sherbrook, Exchange, etc.

[michelleb]

Oh no, love Bucca's