WINNIPEG | Portage Place Redevelopment

[esquire]

Originally Posted by BigG

I realize that this is just the beginning of this exciting new project, to revitalize and re-purpose Portage Place, but I believe the exclamation point would be to have something done to The Bay. Perhaps another residential tower/hotel and mixed-use on the lower levels. To me, it makes perfect sense that the new Portage Place would connect its' western edge to something just as nice, not something old and depressing, looking like it's forgotten.

The old Portage Place was built to function as the spine that connected The Bay and Eaton's. The new Portage Place appears designed to function as a standalone entity...i.e., nothing rides on The Bay continuing to remain in business.

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

What will the actual mall part look like though? Was there any info on that? The east end will be separated and I resume used differently. Ie: the old mall space, so the corridor, food court, etc filled in and used as office or something else.

Will there actually be a mall in there anymore? Or will it be transformed into something completely different? With the skywalk moving to Portage Ave, it'll be fairly easy to just fill in what used to be the corridor and use it for something else.

For $400 mil, they can do a lot of things. We'll see what happens.

They were short on details on how the mall will be reconfigured. In one interview, much like every other major project downtown, they suggested they would like to get a grocer in there.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cheswick

They were short on details on how the mall will be reconfigured. In one interview, much like every other major project downtown, they suggested they would like to get a grocer in there.

I'm not expecting their results to be any better than those of the umpteen other people who've tried it before, but I will say that having more people and activity in the area will help bolster the existing grocery stores. I could see, for instance, Giant Tiger expanding their already decent grocery section even more.

[bomberjet]

Is anyone tracking the amount of new residential units, both built and proposed, in the downtown? And the amount of people living downtown. I suppose the census tracks the later.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Is anyone tracking the amount of new residential units, both built and proposed, in the downtown? And the amount of people living downtown. I suppose the census tracks the later.

I would think the various agencies like the BIZ and EDW must be?

There sure has been a lot of housing built or proposed over the last few years. The only annoyance is that as with everything about downtown, it is so spread out that there hasn't been much of a critical mass emerging. The closest thing to that will be around Portage and Carlton where we'll get the new Portage Place tower to complement the new TNS apartment + long term stay towers and Glasshouse. We almost got two highrises close by each other with 300 Main and Skycity, but we all know how that turned out...

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Is anyone tracking the amount of new residential units, both built and proposed, in the downtown? And the amount of people living downtown. I suppose the census tracks the later.

This report from the IUS (from a couple of years ago) has some data on population growth downtown. Is says that from 1986-2016 the downtown population grew from 11,060 to 16,800. Some of this growth in population was attributed to the original North Portage redevelopment under the Core Area Initiative, and some is more recent (post 2006). We are definitely heading in the right direction, so eventually the hope is that we will reach a critical mass of population downtown and real change will begin.

http://winnspace.uwinnipeg.ca/bitstr...=1&isAllowed=y

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Authentic_City

This report from the IUS (from a couple of years ago) has some data on population growth downtown. Is says that from 1986-2016 the downtown population grew from 11,060 to 16,800. Some of this growth in population was attributed to the original North Portage redevelopment under the Core Area Initiative, and some is more recent (post 2006). We are definitely heading in the right direction, so eventually the hope is that we will reach a critical mass of population downtown and real change will begin.

http://winnspace.uwinnipeg.ca/bitstr...=1&isAllowed=y

You can see that the downtown population was totally stagnant through the 90s and most of the 00s. Per your comment, there was a bump in the mid 80s after the North Portage development happened along with Fort Garry Place and one or two others, and then nothing but crickets until the late 00s when we finally started to see some new residential projects.

1986 11,060
1991 13,320
1996 13,215
2001 12,815
2006 13,470
2011 15,075
2016 16,800 projected

[Authentic_City]

^I think the takeaway from this report might be that government incentives are needed to encourage residential development. In the 80s and post 2006, government incentives were in play, whereas nothing in the 90s and early 2000s.

[BigG]

Originally Posted by esquire

The old Portage Place was built to function as the spine that connected The Bay and Eaton's. The new Portage Place appears designed to function as a standalone entity...i.e., nothing rides on The Bay continuing to remain in business.

I get that. It's just wishful thinking on my part to have that building saved and re-purposed for something grand just like the building itself.

[oftheMoon]

If this gets off the ground as proposed, a development of this magnitude will no doubt spawn more interest and development downtown. Nothing but positivity out of this.

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Is anyone tracking the amount of new residential units, both built and proposed, in the downtown? And the amount of people living downtown. I suppose the census tracks the later.

25,680 as at the 2016 Census

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Winnipeg

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

25,680 as at the 2016 Census

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Winnipeg

That figure is not correct.
The text of the wiki entry says the population is 13,470, and cites this report from 2011:

https://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/planning...20no.%2002.pdf

Not sure where the 25,680 figure came from, but it is way off.

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by Authentic_City

That figure is not correct.
The text of the wiki entry says the population is 13,470, and cites this report from 2011:

https://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/planning...20no.%2002.pdf

Not sure where the 25,680 figure came from, but it is way off.

It really depends on how you define downtown, which even in Winnipeg has many different geographical boundaries.

If downtown is defined by Winnipeg's "Downtown" Community Area, (Map Link), then the population in 2016 was 66,850 which is 4% higher than it was in 2001, and there are currently 30,930 dwellings in the area. Source: Link

If downtown is defined via the Downtown Zoning By-law (Map Link) then the population in 2016 was 14,685, which is 14.6% increase since 2001, and there are currently 9,050 dwellings in the area. Source: Link

As you can see, simply saying "what's the population of downtown Winnipeg?" doesn't have a straight forward answer as it depends on what area you define as "downtown".

[Authentic_City]

^I take your point, but when planners or most people talk about downtown Winnipeg, they aren't including the very expansive area encompassed by the city's "Downtown Community Area" (pop. 66,850) which includes all of the West End up to Polo Park and areas well north of Downtown up to the CPR mainline. The area encompassed by the Downtown Bylaw most closely approximates the true downtown area. In any case, the figure of 25,690 on the wiki corresponds to neither area, so it's clearly an error.

Also, on that "Community Area" map, look at the huge area encompassed by "Point Douglas" or "River Heights". Those areas don't correspond to the actual neighbourhoods, but are simply a convenient way for The City of Winnipeg to divide up areas for administrative purposes.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by esquire

The old Portage Place was built to function as the spine that connected The Bay and Eaton's. The new Portage Place appears designed to function as a standalone entity...i.e., nothing rides on The Bay continuing to remain in business.

True, but I am hoping the increased traffic from a re-imagined portage Place w/residential towers would make for more economic incentive to fill out more of The Bay building with a mixture of services/retail.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Is anyone tracking the amount of new residential units, both built and proposed, in the downtown? And the amount of people living downtown. I suppose the census tracks the later.

From the past couple years:

[trueviking]

population is about 17,500. Stalled big time since the end of TIF.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

From the past couple years:

that's awesome tracking, good job!

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

that's awesome tracking, good job!

Also, not every unit means one person occupancy. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 per unit.

[armorand93]

Well, as long as they don't pull any of that Fortress, "oh we'll get this done once you hand us your money!!!" bullshit... from a former Winnipegger that spent tons of time at Portage Place growing up - I definitely approve.

Now to just get that Burger King, back in there...