New Office/Apartment Tower at 127 Bannatyne in Exchange

It really does seem to be standard that it takes 10 years to get approvals for any type of buildings in Winnipeg. Now, not all of this is the fault of the city and zoning but a lot of it can and has been. The site at 127 Bannatyne has been a parking lot for decades. The East Exchange has a been slowly transforming along Waterfront Drive. Taking advantage of a new roadway and space to build, housing has gone up pretty consistently over the years. Warehouses along the east/west streets have seen conversions from the 1980s onward. However, there have been very long gaps where nothing has been getting done.

Conversions of older buildings have always been a labour of love. Many have required some incentive lest the decision was to demolish them. Some might say that is a good business decision to tear down old buildings but it doesn't make for good cities. And in Winnipeg it has often led to decades of parking lots because it is always easier to keep spreading out than to try and get land for building anywhere else. Most of the costs of sprawl are not borne immediately but later on where services are provided and infrastructure such as schools, police and fire houses, parks and recreation and transit. The low density then begins to affect budgets for the city overall. For example, there is nothing in the budget to presently replace the Arlington Bridge. This soon will likely be the issue for the Louise Bridge as well. No money in the budget.

Infill is the only way to use existing infrastructure while raising density and the tax base. Parking lots pay less in taxes than other forms of development. Parking lots in Toronto converted to patios in the pandemic took in 49 times what they took in parking fees. That is an indication that parking is heavily subsidized by business and government. It is hard to pay for transit when overnight parking costs only $60 a year in Winnipeg. The city provides parking below cost for cars and subsequently there is no incentive to use space wisely.

From the above picture it is clear that the development by Alston Properties and built by Concord Projects comes right out to the curb side and out to the back lane and side to side touches the historic buildings next to it. It is uses up the entire surface parking lot. I've not seen the entire number of parking spaces allotted but they will be underground.

The configuration of the building is a four storey pedestal with an eight floor residential tower setback and canted to one side. No longer a windy gap of a surface lot but a building with retail on the first floor and offices on the second floor. More of a true mixed development rather than just an office or just a residential building. Success in the past and in the future would appear to be mixed developments.

Retail at ground level will help create vitality on the street that the Exchange is very much in need of. Concord Projects which has had its headquarters on Henderson for a very long time is moving their 65 employees to the second floor offices when they are complete. If this isn't standing by your work, nothing is.

The 80 apartments in the upper floors will join give other apartment projects that Alston has brought to the downtown. They have already indicated the margin for return is low but that their belief in the project is high. As commented on many times here, Canada needs far more housing built and with a variety of configurations with more bedrooms. However,  it takes so long to get projects done that it is hard keep up momentum.

The completion of this $30 million project should help bring some vitality to this stretch of Bannatyne and continue the work of more housing in and around Waterfront Drive. What also will be interesting will be the type of retail and restaurants that will go in on the ground floor. The last few years have been tough on foot traffic in the Exchange and having 80 apartments and a few hundred office workers in the building or very near by gives new businesses hope that they have customers nearby.

Security comes from having a lot of people around. It is much harder for crime to take root when a lot of people are vigilant in looking out for issues. We have overcome tough crime situations before in the 1990s. It is likely we can do again. The strategies are some times the same such as identifying who are the repeat offenders and getting them off the street. The next is changing security measures to keep step with the times. It involves fewer entry doors, more security cameras, more fire prevention measures and security and police foot patrols rather than just a patrol car.

The Exchange has a few of these surface lots that would make excellent new homes while moving the parking underground. In some cases, people who live and work in the area may require fewer or even no vehicles as we see in places like New York. But it only happens by filling the gaps and mixing development so that it gives an opening for grocery stores to service the population.