Winnipeg Airport versus Polo Park Housing Proposal

Takeaways from @CFPoloPark/ Shindico/Towers Realty proposal for housing at Polo Park and along St. James Street versus airport opposition: First, no one wants to lose the 24 hour status of Winnipeg's International Airport. They have a generous zoning clearance around it. Look at the gorgeous view of the city from Richardson Winnipeg International Airport.

The airport has indicated they are going to build a third runway for cargo. That seems unlikely for a while and when it does happen, expect planes to be even quieter and 727s not flying into Winnipeg. As for the military, the only jet that really tears paint off are fighters. Below: Look at all the parking space at Polo Park over the holidays last year. Above: Two hotels right beside the tarmac. Too noisy? Unlikely.

Overall, the airport has improved sound problems and looks to keep doing that. Keep in mind if it was that bad, would they be putting as many hotels as they do on airport grounds? No. The hotels are built accordingly for airport noise. If this is the flight path of aircraft coming in, does this not seem far enough for something greater than two storey housing?

And the city isn't about to allow a new Kiltarton Towers to be built right along a flight path. But what about off to one side? And with sound protections built in on construction and mandated by the city? It seems it should work. A developer doesn't want people turned off. Above is the Grand Hotel, a top tier stay in the city and right at the airport tarmac. Think they should know something about how build a place to limit noise, right? Below Kilitarton Towers. From the balconies you can see the whites of pilots eyes.

It is sometimes easy to pile on developers as bad guys. Certainly some truly are the worst. In the case of Polo Park, some blame it for the demise of downtown Winnipeg. In reality, things were a lot more complicated than that. Polo Park was never a suburb. It has always been with the city of Winnipeg proper.

In 1959, the mall replaced the Polo Park racetrack inside Winnipeg boundaries along Winnipeg's high street of Portage Avenue. Given that downtown remained successful for 30 years after, it seems blame on Polo Park is misdirected. The above map is from 1961 and shows that Polo Park was closer to downtown that it was to the suburbs.

Polo Park was not just a retail spot but a recreation spot with the arena, stadium, velodrome and the Ex all taking place there. And surrounding all that to the north was industrial land and the airport. To the west was St. James. The above picture in 1959 shows the completion of the mall and how it stood at the end of the six kilometers of Winnipeg's greatest retail strip. This didn't kill downtown. It is re-enforced the prominence of Portage Avenue!

In 1949 he land where Polo Park stands was a horse racetrack of the same name and golf course. In retrospect the combination of a sport and shopping district inside Winnipeg boundaries in the same location was brilliant. See if you can find other cities like that back then who did it. You can't. All across the continent cities have tried to achieve what Winnipeg did back as the swinging 60s just began.

In 1968, Polo Park was the second largest mall in the country after Eaton's was added and Loblaw's and Dominion went toe to toe and face to face across a mall corridor. The picture above is 1971 and Winnipeg Arena and Winnipeg Stadium were growing along with Polo Park. The Winnipeg Blue Bomber game being played in the picture would be the last before and upper deck would be added in 1972 on the west side (right) and in 1978, it would be joined by a up[per deck on the east side (left). The Winnipeg Arena behind would be hosting the WHA Winnipeg Jets a year after this picture and in 1979 a major arena expansion would bring the Jets into the NHL. Meanwhile Polo Park far in the back of this picture would continue to prosper.

With Sears closed in 2017, the stadium and arena moved in years before that and retail landscape changed, CF Polo Park and Shindico can no longer look at a big department store or box stores to bail them out. Interestingly, it is their parking lot real estate that is valuable. The picture above in 2006 shows arena still standing along with the stadium (mistakenly labelled 2015 in my Tweet). Shortly after this, the arena was demolished. The Winnipeg Velodrome was demolished in 1998. It gives an idea of what a powerhouse of shopping and recreation the area commanded.

Polo Park added the second floor in 1986. In 2007 it added more space again at the front facing to Portage Avenue and to replace Safeway which built in Madison Square nearby. And again in 2014 with Zellers gone, the mall added twenty plus stores on the second floor. Meanwhile, the mall owners expanded retailing, movie theatres and restaurants and took ownership of lands once occupied with with hockey and football facilities.

Things began to look bad when shortly after Target built a store in 2015 on the old stadium site, the entire group in Canada shutdown. While there has been some recovery since then, the string of retail casualties grows. And the massive Sears sitting empty for two years is evidence of that.

It is why in 2020, Polo Park is thinking of residential properties on their massive parking lots.

The picture above in 2019 shows just how profound the loss of Sears is. A huge building, empty parking lots. And where the old arena is: not much.

The parking lots/property are on either side east and west of St. James Street and are held by CF Polo Park, Shindico and Towers Realty. The Winnipeg airport would like to say no to all of them. Probably don't like the residential already in place.

In yellow represents Towers property holding that would also like to construct new residential buildings in 2020. The Winnipeg airport would like to say no to all of them. Probably don't like the residential already in place. Where will the airport gets its thousands of new workers? From the suburbs driving along choked Route 90?

I think when you get right down to it both the airport and Polo Park are saying they face an existential threat to surviving. They are both right. The airport needs to be 24 hours for success and Polo Park has to be more that surface parking lots. The map above shows what the Polo Park and surrounding lands are being talked about for residential building.

It seems plain bloody mindedness that a compromise can't be made. No tower proposed seems to be over 20 floors and the actual distance away from airport proper seems far away. Nearly everyone in Winnipeg is near a flight path.

The city should not be manipulated by either party. Density is needed in the city. This won't be the only mall to think about this. Older style malls like St. Vital will be likely also want it. It is an opportunity to use parking lots to create more homes.

The Seasons of Tuxedo already has a few thousand resident in an infill industrial land area. It isn't perfect as it could use more public transit but the last few key pieces are moving in such as pharmacy and a grocery.

Apartments of 10 to 20 floors should not represent obstacle in flightpaths and if built to sound standards, should not be a source of endless complaints to restrict, close and move the airport. We have only seem brief glimpses of what is to come. Council should be mindful.

What we see in the concept pictures is very likely not what we see when zoning comes up. Too tall, poor design, noise mitigation, road access, parking, bus and pedestrian access, security and policing, flight pathway obstacles should be considered.

With very good planning, Polo Park might draw hundreds of millions of spending, create hundreds if not thousands of living spaces and could figure strongly in a renewed bus strategy. Without doubt, it would increase tax revenues on existing infrastructure and help form the density needed to make public transit pay for itself through user pay as in the old days.

It deserves better than a "no" response.