Polo Park Expansion

[Biff]

I don't think 24-7 Intouch needed all the space when they signed the lease in the former Target Building. Fast Growth.

[buzzg]

Assiniboia Community Committee voted in favour of approving the AVDP change to allow residential on a ton of properties along St. James, west and north of Polo Park. Now it will go to council. This file is kind of a mess, weird they're considering this separate from CF/Shindico's.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Biff

Highest percentage guess is Simons

Considering Winnipeg was the first market announced for Simons outside Quebec, as the lead anchor for the cancelled The Elms project on the stadium site. Simons has also continued to express interest in the Winnipeg market. They also have a track record of working closely with CF in other cities.

I would call Simons opening in Polo Park in the former Sears site "an extremely safe bet". Something else to consider - when Sears closed down operations in Canada, Simons was already fully committed to expansion for a couple of years to come. Notice how CF kept the Sears site dark for a couple of years and they bought out the property early from Sears? It's almost like they had a tenant lined up before Sears left...

Originally Posted by esquire

I still don't get why 24/7 wouldn't have just taken up more space in the former Target and pushed the Winners into Polo Park.

Just a guess but it would not be surprising if the Polo Park and St Mathews operations for InTouch 24/7 could be serving different clients. Perhaps one of those clients has security requirements that mean they could not co-locate.

Also if the St Mathews Intouch needed to expand there is still about 1/3 of the former Target space sitting dark between InTouch and Winners/HomeSense. If you go up the west entrance you can even see into the space near the east corner of the entrance.

[WinCitySparky]

Anyone heard anything about CF moving forward with their sea of residential on the Polo Park site, where all the fuss about the airport vicinity plan was made?

[cslusarc]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

Anyone heard anything about CF moving forward with their sea of residential on the Polo Park site, where all the fuss about the airport vicinity plan was made?

I really think that CF should've torn down the ex-Sears building and replaced it with a large residential tower — instead of renovating the 1950s Sears building.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by cslusarc

I really think that CF should've torn down the ex-Sears building and replaced it with a large residential tower — instead of renovating the 1950s Sears building.

They would have faced the same bureaucratic hurdle as the rest of their residential plans. The airport vicinity bylaw would have prevented it until the AV Bylaw gets modified, and they clearly leased the space to EQ3 and the call centre.

[CoryB]

Agree 100% the old Sears building needs to go but relocating EQ3 seemed to be a major concession to move towards a possible tear down of the building at St James and Portage. I actually thought that was what was happening when EQ3 but it has seemingly since turned into the slowest renovation Winnipeg has ever seen. Building the first mid to high rise of the planned development on that corner would definitely have been a nice statement piece even if they had to keep the height lower than planned. Interestingly the call center in the old Sears building could be a nice lead office tenant for the the new tall building and EQ3 would be a reasonable ground level anchor for an apartment building.

CF is definitely playing a long game here.

[bomberjet]

It's understandable there has been no actual work done. Pandemic, inflation. Costs have soared since they drew up their cartoons.

[esquire]

Monster proposal released today by Cadillac Fairview and Shindico... $1.5 billion, 10 year plan to redevelop the Polo Park parking lots from Portage right up to St. Matthews.










Source: https://twitter.com/SkylarAPeters

[esquire]

A few initial thoughts:

-Those ground level perspectives remind me of Railside
-It looks pretty very similar to the first iteration but with lower building heights (is the airport a factor?) but larger project overall, with the whole thing stretching well past the mall
-Looks like they are turning the mall into a true mixed use neighbourhood hub. Kind of what we see along the Skytrain line in suburban Vancouver, but on a smaller scale
-This is the kind of development you get when capital believes in an area. It's the polar opposite of HBC giving away its store for a tax writeoff.

[pegcityboy]

Like the mid rise development nearly fronting Portage Ave , will make that stretch of Portage look modern and active . I am waiting for the first person to chime in and say “ where is everyone going to park ? There’s no parking lol ! I guess any possible future expansion of Polo Park would be a third floor build .

[GreyGarden]

Woah that looks great. I’m so happy to see that there are plans to build up Portage Ave. I find it weird that in Winnipeg developments along main streets often hit the sidewalk at an angle but given our recent drought of large scale developments I’ll take what is proposed happily. This actually looks very current and urban. Kind of what we’ve come to expect with other big infill developments in Canada.

[BKB]

My fear is that it will turn out as charming as their Walmart development on Taylor Avenue.
Also, the bank on the south west corner hasn't even moved in yet. They won't be building on that corner anytime soon.

[wardlow]

I don't know if the mid-rise building heights are based on airport proximity, but this plan for Polo Park was a big part of the Provincial government exempted Polo Park and other areas from the Airport Vicinities Protection Area, which prohibited new residential.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by wardlow

I don't know if the mid-rise building heights are based on airport proximity, but this plan for Polo Park was a big part of the Provincial government exempted Polo Park and other areas from the Airport Vicinities Protection Area, which prohibited new residential.

I figured that the proponents would have enough sway to get it done. I mean, it should have been done even without political influence, it's self evident that residential on Portage and St. James is a perfectly appropriate use for that land as evidenced by... all the residential on Portage and St. James. But either way, I'm glad it's getting done.

In terms of building heights, the proposals definitely look shorter than in the first iteration. Looks like they top out around 10-12 storeys now? A denser site layout could offset the height losses so there may not be much of a loss. Plus they are developing more of the land. I guess if demand is still there after the first phase, CF/Shindico could always redevelop the parking deck on the east side with something taller.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by pegcityboy

Like the mid rise development nearly fronting Portage Ave , will make that stretch of Portage look modern and active . I am waiting for the first person to chime in and say “ where is everyone going to park ? There’s no parking lol ! I guess any possible future expansion of Polo Park would be a third floor build .

Yea can't wait for the "it's my charter protected right to have a free parking spot for my vehicle at a private mall. Cadillac Fairview out of line for finding a more profitable use of their own land and inconveniencing me of my twice annual shop at lululemon and the lego store.

[bomberjet]

Kind of going on in two threads so I'll focus here.

Looks a bit soviet era block to me. But in general ya looks okay. As I said I have zero faith in shindico doing anything fancy. But hopefully they can prove me wrong.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by pegcityboy

Like the mid rise development nearly fronting Portage Ave , will make that stretch of Portage look modern and active . I am waiting for the first person to chime in and say “ where is everyone going to park ? There’s no parking lol ! I guess any possible future expansion of Polo Park would be a third floor build .

Where will people park? Being serious though, there will be a lot of extra cars. Never mind the normal mall traffic during busy times. I assume the entire underground levels of the site will be parking.

[esquire]

Let's be real. CF is not going to do anything to threaten their steady supply of mall customers brought in with free parking. I mean, they saw what happened to Portage Place.

This is honestly the last thing I'd worry about here.

[bomberjet]

haha ya. Not that Im worried as I could care less. Just wondering. There are already the two parkade things that are generally underutilized.