1100 Corydon

Over a long period of decades Corydon from Confusion Corner to Wentworth has become more commercial and has seen higher density residential units built along it. It has been fairly organic and neighbourhood pushback on things has only only had a few flashpoints such as the drive-thru at Stafford or the long ago Days of Wine and Roses street festival.

The Italian restaurants and others that made the street walkable remains in place but the area but more businesses such as beauty shops, medical and dental clinics and law offices. More housing would also be welcome but that doesn't seem to be in the plans which is a shame.

What does seem to be happening is small sections of the street being transformed from single floor shops and restaurants to a mix of retail/restaurants and commercial tenants of up to three floors. This is happening a little bit at a time but changes in zoning means less setbacks from the sidewalk and more opportunity for balcony and rooftop stuff.

Corydon and Wentworth, just before Crescentwood Community Club, is the last stretch on commercial before angling into River Heights where commercial stretches are spotty at best. One such building at the corner aforementioned was Ralph Cantafio's Custom Tailors was a single floor shop that existed in River Heights since the 1950s. It has been rebuilt as a three floor, four commercial unit building that has no setbacks. It comes right to the curbside and extends to the end of its lot. It is an attractive building.

It is the two buildings next door that are now being redeveloped in much the same way as Cantafio's. The former comic book store and hair salon and a house next door that looks like it was used for offices are going to be demolished. In its place will go up a three storey building with three commercial units facing out to the street and two floors of offices including a rooftop terrace.

Put together with the Cantafio building next door, it is a continuous commercial curb side development. It has a street front profile. Anyone walking down the street has reason to window shop. The difference between Corydon and Osborne Street until recently was that almost no apartments existed directly on Osborne as it went through the Village. Corydon has always had apartments and houses on it and this should remain so.

If Covid has shown us anything it is that neighbourhoods that are all offices or all retail will suffer without people living close by. Neighbourhoods such as Bridgwater which are more mixed use and have transit within them tend to do much better. Corydon is mixed use for blocks but these occasional tweaks will make more a fuller neighbourhood experience.

The economy and growth rate in Manitoba is improving although it is still hard to see it. Population growth is up and GDP growth as well. Productivity is still in need of improvement. However, one of the ways to improve productivity is logistics. Try to ensure the every neighbourhood has what it needs to be sustainable makes it a more productive place to live. Not to mention move livable. No grocery stores or pharmacies means you have to leave to find those things.

The new building seen above features two floors of window facing the street on the second and third floors. The first floor will be the three shops which may include a restaurant. As seen in the pic, the building blends into the corner building. The highlight if the rooftop terrace.

There are still gaps in Corydon which could could use a re-fresh but organic growth means, it is a small piece at a time. Likewise, we are not likely to see a Day of Wine and Roses festival in full throated street party as in the past. Even Osborne has found that it can interfere with business as much as support it. What does work is a consistent organic upgrading. 

The city planner can help by not mandating setbacks from the sidewalk. It is uninviting to shopkeepers and a waste of space in general. There are a few other places along the street getting touchups but nothing so quick as to alarm. However, it is interesting to note that when people who have been away from the city from a year or two come back, they notice the changes. This is markedly different than when the city went through long periods with few changes to areas. In some cases, showing a bit of wear and tear. This is no longer the case for some streets such as Corydon.

25 Station Street - Jubilee Station Apartment

The shovels in the ground are finally happening and the politician invitees were there to do the honours. The southwest transit corridor took some time to build and opened during the pandemic in 2020. It has seen a number of apartment units go up along especially where the former Fort Rouge Yards CN rail site was. This was the goal all along to create density along a former industrial area from the core to the University of Manitoba. It all started back with phase 1 for the blue line. Like all projects in the city, it took 12 years to complete. This is simply too long and if the Transcona phase takes this long, it will be some time in the 2030s when it gets done. Other routes will likely not get done or even started for decades.

A revolution in travel is not likely to have much patience with Winnipeg's timetable. Regardless of what the city plans, they will have to contend with aging infrastructure and construction inflation. Building six lanes of freeways all over the city in not practical or affordable. We have seen many neighbourhoods reject them. Meanwhile bridges like the Arlington Bridge are closed with no solution in place for its replacement or demolition.

In recent days, media has been focusing on the desperate need for housing across Canada and what has led to the shortages and meteoric rise in prices. Extremely low interest rates did nothing for curbing prices. If anything, it led to people buying larger houses, farther away and commuting everywhere. Neighbourhoods were set up to have only detached housing with no retail, commercial offices, duplexes, apartments or anything other than a house with garage facing out to the street. For some this is idyllic until they look to downsize and then they have no choice but to move out of the area they may have lived in for decades. It is possible some people dreamed of moving to a warm retreat and some do. For many though, it might be that they haven't planned for anything other than the house they are in. And that can be a problem as people age.

The reconstruction of the underpass at Jubilee and road work on Pembina and along Jubilee has been painfully long. More than two years of slow work. Even as that was going on the southwest transit corridor was being phased in. By 2020, it was all starting to shape up but the pandemic meant a lot of the housing plans slowed down due to shut downs, supply chin issues, rising interest rates and and slow zoning approval added years to getting anything built.

The Jubilee Station has had open land ready to go for some time so this week, all the politicians came to shovels ceremony for a project by Carrington Real Estate. It is a 16 storey apartment with a 3 storey townhouse right across from the bus terminal. The apartment will have 156 units and the townhouse will have 10.  The federal accelerator program is assisting housing along corridors the city and the Feds wish to see have more housing. The three year program has $122 million to be used for this type of housing. Portage Avenue is also considered for this funding.

Winnipeg really didn't see a boom on Graham when they made it into Winnipeg Transit corridor. There was some nice commercial areas along it but no  support for housing by any level of government and zero interest from the private sector. It took the True North people a multi-year effort to have housing built both north and south of Portage. Only then came some assistance but there are still huge empty gaps of surface parking.

The new apartment building will be the tallest and most significant project in that area along the Fort Rouge CN rail line. It hasn't been without it's critics. Many of those living in the area complain there is too much traffic. They have a point but there have also people who complained that it is obstructed their clear view looking west. That isn't a legitimate complaint about what was industrial land.

It was the right move to build a transit corridor along the rail line. It took far too long and the dogleg through the Parker lands has taken ten years to sort out. The apartments that were planned for it were obstructed and it took a court to tell the city they were wrong. It appears things are back on track and if construction can happen this year, it will go a significant way to reducing the chronic shortage of housing in Winnipeg.

Tomorrow's affordable housing is what goes up now and every year from now. It is about 20 years that brings stable pricing. The country can't take huge breaks in building sustainability. Zoning issues that take ten years are a scourge all over the city. Bylaws on size of house, setbacks, how many parking spaces, how many stairwell often have nothing to do with safety or aesthetics except in the most not in my yard type of view. It can be tough seeing houses being torn down for tall, for or three floor houses. However, we are seeing more and more houses reach 100 years of age. Not all in great shape. Nor are they likely to be built exactly like what was there before.

The new apartments will cost about $1300+ which isn't exactly cheap but does include utilities and WiFi. Geo-Thermal heat and cooling is part of the design. This isn't an insignificant add on. And if the residents don't have a car or only make do with a car co-op, they could see substantial savings. A lot of renters could save a lot of money if they did not have to drive everywhere. But that would mean more work and places to live along safe and active transit routes.

The Station Street development by Carrington is one of a few projects they anticipate doing around stations over the next five years. We surely could use it. They have talked about speed in getting things done as did some of the politicians present. Think there is acknowledgement that development companies specializing in multi-unit places can't be sidelined for year after year. Many companies that built the apartments of Osborne or along Henderson Highway or Portage were cooling their heels for decades because the city seemed only interested in detached housing suburbs. Many of them had not a single multi-unit place even next to them. Contrast that with Seasons of Tuxedo or Bridgwater which have that type of housing built right along with the development.

In 2025 quite a lot of housing will come on stream and more in 2026. It can be difficult because a lot of people believe in housing until it is a suburb going up near them, or an apartment or someone's granny house out back. The city has to be sympathetic to design, traffic and infrastructure needs but when it can't even get anything built on empty land, it is simply a total failure of governance. Let's hope the Station Street apartments are the first of many built to help create capacity, make rent stop its meteoric rise and to create corridors of transportation that have the population to make them convenient and safe.