West Broadway Area | Winnipeg | Development

[Urban recluse]

Please do. They are needed. Do you get inquiries from your clients?

[pmuhar]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Please do. They are needed. Do you get inquiries from your clients?

We build almost entirely on spec so no, and honestly nobody outside this forum(and me) has ever asked about downtown townhomes. Townhomes in suburban areas are very popular though. We're currently working on rezoning an infill property in amber trails for a 24 unit townhome development.

Id love to take a big risk and do a few townhomes downtown and hope if I build it they will come, but finding affordable land is always the hard part.

[Urban recluse]

Have you been in contact with Centreventure?

[esquire]

Land is probably too expensive for large numbers of townhomes downtown... the only newer project I can think of is Ship Street Village, and those went on the market 10 years ago for north of $500K, which at the time was huge dollars relative to what you could get elsewhere in the city for that kind of money. Probably a limited market for that kind of product. I guess there's the Heritage Landing project too, but that's not a standalone and I'm sure the economics are feasible mainly because of the tower next door.

While I'd love to see them downtown, townhomes seem better geared to shoulder neighbourhoods where land is a bit less pricy, e.g. Old St. B, West Broadway, Osborne Village.

[Urban recluse]

I disagree: many other cities have such developments downtown.

[esquire]

^ It all comes down to whether people are willing to spend at a price point that makes the development feasible. I'm not sure that you could really sell enough townhouse units at $750K a pop (or whatever the number is) to support a project in Bro-Ass.

I mean, it would be great if it were possible, but I'm not optimistic. I think the only way it could work is if there were some assistance provided, e.g. government surplus land sold at a discount. I guess the provincial government parking lots south of Broadway that Selinger promised to get rid of if re-elected might be one such place where it could conceivably work.

[crocket]

Originally Posted by esquire

Land is probably too expensive for large numbers of townhomes downtown... the only newer project I can think of is Ship Street Village, and those went on the market 10 years ago for north of $500K, which at the time was huge dollars relative to what you could get elsewhere in the city for that kind of money. Probably a limited market for that kind of product. I guess there's the Heritage Landing project too, but that's not a standalone and I'm sure the economics are feasible mainly because of the tower next door.

While I'd love to see them downtown, townhomes seem better geared to shoulder neighbourhoods where land is a bit less pricy, e.g. Old St. B, West Broadway, Osborne Village.

I think there is a severe shortage of high end townhomes / condos in Winnipeg, there is almost nothing in the 750 - 1 mil range that is compelling. Huge opportunity, large market there.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by crocket

I think there is a severe shortage of high end townhomes / condos in Winnipeg, there is almost nothing in the 750 - 1 mil range that is compelling. Huge opportunity, large market there.

Well, here's an example from 2012.Still Waiting..

A slice of the Big Apple
Brownstone condos planned for Wolseley area
Posted: 06/4/2012 1:00 AM

"It looks like something from the pages of a New York real estate magazine -- a row of historic-looking, brownstone townhouses stretching along a tree-lined street."

"The 12 units would be built on five residential lots on Woodrow Place, a little street that runs along the Assiniboine River west of Maryland Street.

The only thing standing in the way of the developers breaking ground is finding buyers for at least six of the spacious units, which are about 1,700 square feet and 1,800 square feet in size, and priced at $595,000 and $695,000 each."



http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bus...156942845.html

Not even in the 750-1M range?

[esquire]

^ I forgot about that proposal... feels like it was longer ago than 2012.

[Urban recluse]

Oh. I forgot about that as well; actually, I thought they had been built. They are beautiful.

[borkborkbork]

Anyone know what Ranjjan is going to do with the Flats on Westminster (Maryland/Westminster) after the fire? They were originally slated for occupancy this summer.

More broadly -- I wonder if there'll be any new pressure against wood-framed MFR because of this? Once they're actually built, I understand they're reasonably safe. But it seems there are some very serious fire risks *during* construction that are unaddressed.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

Anyone know what Ranjjan is going to do with the Flats on Westminster (Maryland/Westminster) after the fire? They were originally slated for occupancy this summer.

More broadly -- I wonder if there'll be any new pressure against wood-framed MFR because of this? Once they're actually built, I understand they're reasonably safe. But it seems there are some very serious fire risks *during* construction that are unaddressed.

Presumably insurance will cover this? To my somewhat murky recollection, the construction projects I can think of which have been hit by fire have been rebuilt.

For all of the gentrification of that part of West Broadway, there is still a bit of a rough element present and for whatever reason, someone decided to torch this building which destroyed it and the two houses next to it (hopefully those won't become perma-vacant lots). Given the prominence of the site, I wonder if a little more security is required than just the standard issue temporary fence? Same goes for the other projects on Sherbrook and Maryland.

[drew]

I doubt those lots will remain empty for long. Especially the one on Westminster (Raspberry Manor). I imagine both owners had insurance. And those lots are hot commodities right now.

I also hope the Flats recommences construction ASAP. I hope the foundation survived relatively unscathed, allowing a quick turnaround.

[drew]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

Anyone know what Ranjjan is going to do with the Flats on Westminster (Maryland/Westminster) after the fire? They were originally slated for occupancy this summer.

More broadly -- I wonder if there'll be any new pressure against wood-framed MFR because of this? Once they're actually built, I understand they're reasonably safe. But it seems there are some very serious fire risks *during* construction that are unaddressed.

One the drywall, floors and siding are on, it's usually pretty hard to torch a building as spectacularly and completely as that.

Going forward, they are just going to need to get a bit more serious about site security.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by esquire

For all of the gentrification of that part of West Broadway, there is still a bit of a rough element present and for whatever reason.

Still work to be done, the Crescentwood area alone had 1/2 dozen arsons last year..one bad seed in any area can accomplish quite a bit of damage if the motivation is there.

[Urban recluse]

Ranjjan will start rebuilding the Flats on Westminster in "a month or so", according to their comments in the FP today.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/m...ipeg-1.3553458

[EndoftheBeginning]

Corner of Maryland and Wolseley at the NW corner of Misericordia.

[Urban recluse]

Thank you very much for posting your pics. This building should be spectacular, how about a few dozen more.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Thank you very much for posting your pics. This building should be spectacular, how about a few dozen more.

Agreed. It's still a pretty simple box, but just offsetting that second floor makes a HUGE difference in the visual appeal of it. Good work.

[optimusREIM]

There's a lot on Sherbrook just north of Stellas that could use a project like this but with some street front commercial space.