Construction started back in January of 2024 but details keep trickling out as more financial aspects are revealed. The land sat empty for some time after the Civic Parkade and the Public Safety Building were bulldozed. The city had let the1965-built 460 car parkade used by police and civic staff to literally fall apart. Pieces of concrete began to fall inside. The Public Safety Building used by police and one was also in having pieces fall off of it. The police have since moved to the even older Post Office building.
Civic officials were likely thinking they could privately sell the land and pocket the money into revenue but also, they found they didn't actually own the land. It was held in trust from the original McDermott family so long as the city used it for public use. The city always seems to be missing pieces of the puzzle.
Unable to sell the land and not wanting to be called out for making it a gravel parking lot for city councillors, they have waited for funders from the province and elsewhere to go ahead with the project. Invariably, these things seem to take 10 years to get going which is far too long if you want to keep any momentum going in an area, build housing or a community. \
The chosen builder of the apartment housing is a proven downtown developer in the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation 2.0 which has completed several apartments in the art gallery area near the university. The ten storey building will have 95 apartments with about 48 that will be deeply affordable. Those will be as low as $285 a month.
A market area will be in the space immediately in front of apartment between City Hall and Red River Polytech. There will also be a 20,000 square foot creative hub supported by Winnipeg Foundation. Several arts groups will locate in the centre. In the past these same groups from the 1970s and through the decades have found affordable places in the Exchange. Some still do call the area home but the need for more spaces will support artists and creative new businesses in the future.
A common issue with downtown in that is it so spread out that there are large segments that lack connectivity. The Chinatown development has sat kind of by itself for decades without a lot of additional housing or commercial development going in. The 460 car Civic Parkade was mostly used for police and city hall employees although was important for Concert Hall and theatre goers in the evening. The 160 car Bedford Parkade down the street has been partly helpful in ensuring workers and those wishing to rent a space had somewhere else to go. The police in their new building have been using spaces all over but predominantly, the Millennium Library.
No parking lot is planned for the housing going up thus far for Market Lands. One hopes they at least put loading zones in or people will have a hard time moving in or loading and unloading the farmer's market. Not every apartment needs to have 100 spots to park but they do need loading zones for moves, deliveries and for business. It would also be helpful if Peg City Co-Op parking is made available if the aim is to reduce people having to own cars.
People in Winnipeg have shown interest in public markets but one of the biggest markets in St. Norbert offers ample parking for $2 on Saturdays. Even the $2 part rankles some but it gets so busy there, I expect they want to make sure people carpool. How busy will it get at Market Lands? Will it be local people or will it draw a varied and far reaching crowd? And if it does, will they find parking? Or will they bus? Or walk or ride bikes? Will it be year round? All important questions. If it is a seasonal market, it might mean that it could be empty a lot.
Red River Polytech continues to grow and any and all residential and commercial developments around it likely benefit it. More students are likely to look at the college if there are affordable options by it. The market space looks a lot smaller than you might expect and not four season capable but I could be wrong. It also appears that they are creating an extension Market Avenue behind the apartment that would having parking on it.
There appears to be additional space for more housing behind the present 10 floor apartments. No one has said if that space or is there not really any space there? It certainly looks like there is and if there is, why no announcement? Or is this just phase one? It looks like it would fit in the space between the new Market Avenue and James Avenue.
Developments always seem to take years to accomplish. It would be appear that sometime in 2025/2026 this and other projects in the area should reach fruition. However, even with so many apartments and housing being built, most economists says we need far more and faster to meet demand and to help lower costs. The city's ability to approve those projects and the industry's capacity to build them seems strained. A project in Whyte Ridge took 12 years to get going because of initial opposition but is slated to start this year and cost $100 million.
The cost of the Market Lands development thus far is slated at just under $60 million. It joins a list of new and redeveloped buildings along Princess Street for apartments. A good section of Princess Street as a protected bike bath that so far has not been an impediment to businesses and residents along the street. An example of a good bike path. There is real potential for some niche businesses along the street such as convenience stores, pharmacies and restaurants if the residential population reaches a critical mass. One of the things that has hurt the Exchange recently is lack of foot traffic. Having thousands of people live in the area really helps.
Investment seems constantly aligned with City Hall's interest in an area. It is often because an area becomes so neglected that it cries for a response. This is true of Portage Place which saw decades of investment elsewhere while problems festered from an underfunded mall. Chinatown saw initial investment and almost nothing decades later. It is unlikely we have seen this type of investment since 2010 when airport work, the Hydro tower, Bomber stadium and and the expanded floodway combined with record sponsorship of immigrants. We already see inflation lowest in Manitoba so these various projects seem to be helping growth. Had it not been for how bad things got on the health service side of things, the province might be in a even better spot.
Over the next two years so many projects seem to set for completion including this one and it we'll see if it creates a connectivity from area to area that so often lacks now. It is hard to see it at this point but a real rise in morale as we saw in 2010 might be on the cusp.
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