Cirque du Soleil Under the Big Top Winnipeg

It is hard to imagine it now but just as soon as the snow melts the corner of Kenaston and Sterling Lyon will host another big top event. After the enormous success of Odysseo Cavalia horse show in 2015, Cirque decided that Winnipeg was perfect for the Kurios big top performance of their 35th production.

The production under blue and yellow big top tents kitty corner to IKEA will feature Kurios which premiered in Montreal in 2014. The show will run June 2 to June 25 and is a fantastical steampunk tale. Set in the late 19th century, it is the story of an inventor who creates a machine that that re-invents everything in time, space and dimension. The Seeker as the inventor is called interact with amazing characters in a world that only Cirque du Soleil can present in all its glory.

True North, Jets owners, once again bring the big top to the city. It is the first time that Cirque has done a show in Winnipeg not inside the MTS Centre. However, the Kenaston and Sterling Lyon location has proven to be a winner.

The 2017 year will prove to be a busy one with many festivals, concerts, Canada Summer Games and Canada 150 celebrations. The draw of a big top event will just make it even more exciting.

Amici's and Bombolini Restaurants Closes

At first it was word on the street and then media in print, TV and radio talked about the closing of Amici's and sister restaurant Bambolini after New Year's Eve. To be sure they had a very good run over 30 years and was often remarked as being one of Canada's finest eating establishments by publications who judge these things.

At a combined 170 seats for Amici's and Bombolini and with 30 staff, the restaurants represented fine dining for Winnipeggers for a very long time. Parking was always an issue at its off Broadway location. The restored heritage building that it occupied had no parking of it own and relied on street parking in front of and beside it. In three decades most Winnipeg residents will acknowledge there are more cars and traffic to deal with everywhere we go. It is easy to be discouraged if you are going to the ballet or theatre and you end up parking a great distance in January cold.

Owner Brian Knight acknowledged that a change of location was probably warranted as many as five years ago. However, would have been no guarantee of success. Asahi Japanese restaurant down the street left Broadway for Charleswood and lasted a few years before shuttering. Dubrovnik on Assiniboine shuttered when its land became too valuable. They didn't attempt a move as part of the charm was the heritage location.

There has been a lot discussion about the closing.  Fond memories, worry of an end of an era and speculation on dining and the direction its going have all been hot topics. It's true that it represents an end of an era but that's not the end dining on Broadway dining. It should be noted that right next door to Amici's is Cafe 22 serving Italian dining with lovely windows to the street. While true, it is a different experience it can be said that competition played as much of a role in the closure.

Amici's was open for lunch as well but in 30 years the competition from food trucks on Broadway was legendary. The politicians, lawyers, civil servants and others wander up and down the street for good food experiences. The storefront eateries that have opened have been Starbucks, Tim Horton's, Subway etc. Oh Doughnuts and Fools and Horses have found a niche as well.

In the last five years something else has changed the food landscape. It is the Winnipeg Jets or rather let's say live sports. Many places have changed their dining to a grill or pub style restaurant from casual to fine dining places. In short, the flat screen TV and high definition quality picture and more sports have transformed restaurants.  In some respects, it has killed nightclubs as well because the mingling experience minus the dancing is part of the new dynamic.

In the last 30 years we have seen the evolution of a chain restaurant style that is unique to Canada when compared to the United States. The Keg, Moxies and Earl's have evolved from their more casual counterparts in the U.S. but less white tablecloth than a fine dining restaurants. To be truthful, there are few if any restaurant groups in the U.S. who have carved out this niche. When Amici's started out The Keg was still comparable to more casual fare in the U.S. Since then it is a pricier and more evolved dining room.

Winnipeg has probably never seen a greater time in terms of restaurant diversity than it has now. It is extremely competitive and some locally owned as well as national chains will fall. Just this week Barley Bros at Polo Park Empress announced they are closing and will eventually move downtown. This would seem counter intuitive since their location has parking now and they will move to where parking is not free and harder to find. What it does say is that the market supports one idea over the other and you have to be fleet footed.

Will something move into Amici's old spot. That is very good possibility. The major investment of having a kitchen, washrooms and space laid out has already been made. Everyone should watch the space since the next big thing might be on the way.

Snap Fitness to Open largest Location in Winnipeg

Dayton Building with new condos behind. Picture: Skyscrapers.com

323 Portage Avenue has seen a lot of nightclubs since the 1980s. The building built in 1955 and known as the Dayton building was originally a store and restaurant that lasted till 1983.

The decline on Portage Avenue reached a critical point for retailers on the north side in 1979. This was year that Winnipeg Square and Eaton Place (now Cityplace) opened. It was also the year St. Vital Shopping Centre and a year later Kildonan Place opened.

Portage Avenue became a street where the south side still was successful for retailers whereas the northside was marked by video arcades, an adult theatre and aging hotels.

Still, many people still came downtown for nightlife including movies, live theatre and retailing on the so investors turned the old Dayton's department store into Dayton's nightclub in 1984. Substantial renovations were made to the building to accommodate the specifications of the club including moving the entrance to the side street.

The bar proved a bit posh for Winnipeg and lasted two years during a recession before closing and re-opening as Times Nite Club. That club format lasted quite some time and was less formal. Winnipeg was going through a tough period of decline, however. There is a gap in my knowledge about how long the bar was there. It seems to me that there was another club in that location around 1991-1994 called Richard's American Bar before there was a return to the old name. Any help remember that era would be welcome.

A murder outside Times Nite Club in 1999 kind of affirmed that the area was getting dangerous. Coming in the same year as Eaton's closure, it marked a low point for downtown Winnipeg.

The arrival of the MTS Centre in 2004 assisted in stabilizing some of the restaurants in the area and breathed some life in what had been an angst filled time. The empty Eaton's building was subject to huge debate and ultimately was demolished in 2003 to make way for the new arena. Around 2007, Times Nite Club was renovated for $2 million and became Blush Ultraclub. It attracted a good crowd most weekends but by 2009 was really open weekends. In 2010 it closed.

The Winnipeg Jets arrived in 2011 and the crowds on game nights doubled in size. The Manitoba Moose attracted families whereas the Jets brought an older crowd willing  to spend money before and after games. It seemed a no brainer that a sports bar nearby would work. In 2011 the 4Play sports bar opened in the former Ultraclub space.

The concept lasted till 2012. Why did it fail? The problem was days when hardly anyone came in. And those early Jets days were a learning experience for people on finding before and after places to eat and drink for Jets games. 4Play Sports just wasn't able to get enough traffic throughout the week. The Palomino Club looked at relocating to the old 4Play location in 2015 but ultimately decided they'd better off on Main Street in the old Whisky Dix spot.

For a very long time 323 Portage Avenue's storefront sat empty opposite one of the busiest arenas in North America.

The wait to see what goes into 323 Portage Avenue is over. It has been announced that Snap Fitness is going to occupy just under 12,000 square feet of the front space facing out to MTS Centre. The back area remains unoccupied for the moment but 5,700 square feet awaits a new restaurant or club. Around $1 million in renovations is being done to accommodate the gym. It will include group exercise classes in Zumba and yoga. Weightlifting and boxing instruction will be available as well. And steam showers will be a popular amenity.

The new Snap Fitness will be North America's largest location for the franchise. It will be open 24 hours which is a first for downtown. Goodlife Fitness is already in a office tower at Portage and Main and the YMCA is west on Portage but both have more limited hours. The new Snap will be operated by an owner with three locations in the province already.
Restaurant and bars are a tough business at the best of times and a lot of hope was laid at the MTS Centre (2004) and Manitoba Hydro Place (2009) to generate traffic. They did. However, a true entertainment district was slow in coming. In 2010, the MTS Exhibition Center in the old Portage Village Inn/A&B Sound Building showed that people would go in great numbers to the area with the right attraction such as Bodies and Titanic. The success led to the construction of Centrepoint which will add the last component on their storefront when Brown's Socialhouse opens in 2017.

Downtown Winnipeg is enormous in size relative to the other cities. It is marked by areas of vitality and then along certain streets it is long stretches of surface parking and nothing else. There are more people living downtown in the Avenue building, the student residences at the University of Winnipeg, Red River College and Waterfront Drive. Still, it is hard to get the connectivity that was once Portage Avenue all the way from Portage and Main to the University of Winnipeg.

Snap Fitness fills a niche that makes the city operate beyond regular hours. People feel safer when there are more people in the surrounding area. Empty storefronts are like missing teeth in a smile. The addition of a gym across from the MTS Centre is a good sign that a neighbourhood is forming.

C4 Central Canada Comic Con Aftermath

Another C4 Central Canada Comic Con has come and gone on Halloween weekend and when the numbers are finally counted in full, it is likely to be the best attended one in Winnipeg history. The newly expanded RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre was put to full use for the first time for C4. The weather cooperated and despite both Blue Bomber and Jets game occurring Saturday and Sunday, attendance did not seem to wain in the least.

William Shatner led a Friday panel on 50 years of Star Trek. The Pan Am room on the second floor hosted several other panels over the three days and the Theatre room hosted celebrity Question and Answer time.

So what was the best and worst of the this year's outing?

People: The people are what make C4 amazing. Lots of innovative costumes from men, women and children. It is truly a great family day.  Lots of people watching and just enjoying the day. The weather cooperated which only encouraged more and more people to go.

Volunteers: There are an abundance of volunteers who directed people around and were both inside and outside the building. It is a strength of C4 that they have this many people to help.

Costumes:  More and more people are wearing costumes and that makes for a great convention.

Arena: The open space of the Arena this year was a great size for displaying light sabre battles and the like. There should be even more use of this area next year.

Signage: The overhead signs were a good way to navigate. Sadly, I didn't get a map till mid-way through. It also included a schedule of events. I didn't see too many of those around!

Alleys: There was a Cosplay Alley and an Artist Alley, etc. A very good idea and more organized this year than ever before. Would love to see more to help with navigation.

Food Area: This has been a sticking point for years but this year the second floor had an area to sit and to order food. A huge improvement. At many tables, it just look like families were using the time to rest a bit before resuming their fun. A little lunch, a little rest and back up to the third floor convention.

Cosplayers: This year the Cosplay Alley featured in the main space and very popular selection of artists. This was a great idea and a good use of the expanded space. My only observation was that it may have even been better if the Costume Alliance and some related groups were all in that area. What star power then!

There were some huge improvements to this year's C4 so there is a learning curve as to how best utilize the space in the expanded RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre.

Website: It is not too bad and has good information on guests and events. I can't speak for phone apps but is a good start to any C4 adventure. It would good to see even more updates on on all social media.

So those were some of the best, what are some of the worst?

Line-ups: Simply getting into the convention can be a chore, Haven't got a ticket...must stand in line, arrived at noon, stand in line, want an autograph...stand in line. Now, success can do that and even San Diego's Comic Con suffers from this complaint. Fortunately weather cooperated but it could easily have been snow or rain and families standing outside probably would not wait too long before abandoning the day. No easy solutions here but it is something to think about for future tickets sales and event planning. Thankfully, lots of volunteers out helping people.

LAN Party: The large area network gaming area is not really part of Comic Con. I don't care for it on the third floor convention site. It is a separate thing with it own admission, takes up a lot of space and is not visually appealing. My opinion is that it should be moved to the first floor.

Genre Cars: I like them but the best place and most vehicles we ever saw was when they were in the loading dock area. This time wrestling was there. Would prefer cars there and wrestling where the LAN party is.

Celebrities: There were a few, most notably William Shatner, but it was a little lighter compared to a few years ago. Granted, they have more Cosplay people but TV and film stars still are an attractive feature. This year, like many years, saw last minute cancellations but it is good when the numbers of people are varied and deep.

Lay Out: Despite improvements on lay-out this years including a proper dining area on the second floor, the floor lay-out on the third floor could be better. Pipe and draping and skirting around the tables makes it easier for vendors and for convention goers it is more visually appealing and provides clear line for traffic.

Program and Map: I got a map but not when I got my wristband. It had a schedule on it. The map was extremely tiny in terms of printing. Calgary and Toronto Comic Cons both have program books. Would love to see in Winnipeg.

Don't want to be too critical of such a great event that attracts tens of thousands of people. The newly expanded convention centre opens up so many exciting possibilities. New sponsors and the like could also enhance the weekend event to include aspects not conceived of yet for the genre crowd.

It is had not to see a stronger movie studio presence in coming years with previews of movie trailers, visits by movie directors and writers and ever more stars.

The new construction of a hotel and public square between the MTS Centre and the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre could play a role for incoming guests and break-out sessions and after parties. The timing of Halloween around C4 is an advantage,

Here's to many more years of the Central Canada Comic Con!

Brown's Socialhouse Coming to Centrepoint 2017

It has been known for some time that Browns Socialhouse was going to open in Centrepoint opposite. However, week after week would go by and all that can be seen was paper in the windows. Meanwhile the Merchant Kitchen tucked beside the Alt Hotel entrance has been bubbling along.

One wonders if we will ever know why Milestones backed out of a long term lease at the last moment.

The new Brown's Socialhouse will join two others already on the city at Main Street and another at Plessis Road. The restaurant group started in 2004 in Vancouver and has expanded rapidly across the country. The founder Scotty Brown was one of the principals of Vancouver's Cactus Club group. His new enterprise has surpassed his old one and now there are 40 locations.

The casual dining/pub crossover is growing more popular as people want to gather together and move around rather than just be parked at a table. The evolution of flat panel and high definition televisions has changed bars and restaurants. No more picture tube TVs, projection screens of flat panels that are blurry. It is all large HD screens and can be done cheap enough that even the a mom and pop restaurant can now transform to sports bar.

The increasing isolation and a change in television has meant that people are craving certain meeting places and the focal point is the only thing that really isn't worth watching in a recording: sports. The return of the Jets in 2011 coincided with widespread HD channels in that same year. Can't go to the Jets games cause they're sold out? Well, attend any number of bars and restaurants and be part of the excitement.

The bars and restaurants surrounding the the MTS Centre have done well. Moxies, Boston Pizza, Tavern United and others have not just the Winnipeg Jets but the Manitoba Moose and numerous concerts to bring people downtown.

The Jets owners have improved their facility and doubled the sports events with two professional teams calling the arena home. Still, the Chipman family have been instrumental in the plan to expand the entertainment footprint beyond the arena. At first they did this by using the building across the street to bring in special touring events such as Bodies and Titanic. This proved wildly successful.

It is hard to say when the Chipmans decided to embark on a grander scheme for just north of their building but it is likely the event center's popularity made them believe a large project would work. It was thus that Centrepoint was born.

The parkade, hotel, office building, condo and restaurant complex has taken a very long time to complete. It seems that barricades and the like have been around that area of Portage for a few years. In that time though, each section has opened up. The offices and hotel appear to be doing well. The parkade is well used although the neon lights on the side still take a bit to get used to.

The one glaring area giving the whole thing an incomplete look has been the papered over windows on the main level. Brown's Socialhouse says that will change in January of February of 2017. At that time they will build a 225 seat restaurant with a 75 seat patio. This will be double the normal Brown's location and as such, it has been a daunting task to fill the space.

The connectivity of the restaurant and bar scene to venues like the MTS Centre and the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre is seen as critical to their long time survival.  The proximity to each other is also essential.

Brown's Socialhouse will fill a hole on the north side of Portage and will likely make that corner more lively and pedestrian friendly. More people draws more traffic. There are safety in numbers but no one will stick around for papered over windows. They will for a patio filled with people.

Izakaya Edokko Sushi & Bar Coming to Place Louis Riel

Located across from Library

Thanks to a tip from a sharp eyed reader.

The empty Ground Floor Urban Diner will see a new restaurant emerge soon. Izakaya Edokko Sushi & Bar has opening soon signs in the window.

The Japanese gastropub is situated of St. Marys Avenue although the address reads 190 Smith Street. If you type in 190 Smith Street Izakaya though you might get Melbourne, Australia's Pabu resturant instead. Winnipeg Eddoku is across the street from Centennial Library and kitty corner to the new Winnipeg Police Services headquarters. 

La Rocha just down the street has opened their Mexican themed location in the old spot occupied by Gio's and the Lobby on York modern steakhouse is in the same block. All in all parking in this one area for a convention or hockey game and you have critical mass for street level food for all tastes.

Izakaya style is tavern style bar and restaurant. It is successfully done in downtown At Samurai across from the MTS Centre on Portage Avenue. A few other places scattered around the city have shown that the Japanese pub style if well suited to the city. In the past year Ichiban on Carlton across from the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre made a portion of their long time restaurant into a faster service pub.

Izakaya Edokko Sushi & Bar is likely going to be discovered this summer during work and festival season but I'm sure Jets and Moose fans are going to love having it nearby as well.

Palomino Club To Move Downtown?

The Green Tinted Building...Future Palomino Club?

In 1988 the Palomino Club was opened on Portage Avenue and after 27 years, it has never looked back. Until now. The old location will make way for condos at Portage and Minto and the owner is looking for a downtown location near the MTS Centre. The spot that owner Carey Paul has his eye on is the empty space where 4Play Sports Bar was.

It is the end of an era for the Palomino Club not to mention for restaurants and bars at that location over many decades.

At Portage and Minto there have been many places. Here's a list that is likely not complete:

Palomino Club
Blue Jeans
Gabby's
Thomas Buttons
The Avenue
Koko's
Pierre's, the original restaurant in 1954

Not sure of the order or years for the last ones.

One wonder when the 60 condos are built on the site whether the faint sound of ghostly music will waft through the air.

The location that Palomino is mulling also has had many years as various incarnation of nightclubs. In 1984, it was converted into a very fancy place called Dayton's. It took the name from the 1955 building it occupied of the same name that had housed a department store. The basement of the building was home of Holiday restaurant from 1955 to 1967 and then it was the Prime Rib Steakhouse from 1967 to 1973.

The Dayton's department store lasted till 1983 before finally closing. The recession had hit Winnipeg hard with massive business closure during the 1980s. North Portage was a patchwork of some viable businesses and pinball shops and an adult theatre. Still, four Vancouver businessmen thought enough of the Dayton's building to covert it into a nightclub in 1984. Some $750,000 was spent and a dress code and cover charge was put in place. Friday and Saturdays were very busy but the sound of crickets was heard other days of the week. By 1986, a refurbishment and change of name to Times took place and the atmosphere was less fancy.

The new California format worked well on weekends but the continued migration of business, residents as well as nightclubs to the suburbs continued unabated. A murder on the premises in 1999 reinforced the idea that there was danger around. The business continued to run primarily as a weekend club.

The arrival of the MTS Centre in 2004 inspired some confidence to the area and new investors jumped and a new club format was introduced called Blush Ultraclub. Nearly $2 million was spent and the security was very tight to inspire some confidence which had nearly evaporated in the area. Despite a good effort though, the club was not able to breakaway from just being successful on weekends. The Manitoba Moose were not the Winnipeg Jets. many young families attending games had no use for a nightclub before or after games.

By the end of 2009, Ultraclub closed down. It opened a year later as 4Play Sports bar just as the Jets came back to town. To be sure many bars and restaurants found their business boomed with the team's arrival. 4Play found it difficult to expand beyond evenings, It didn't help that the NHL had a lockout as well. A shortened season was enough the put a crimp is most downtown businesses.

As of 2013, the old Dayton's space has sat empty waiting for a concept. The Palomino has a proven customer base and has busy nights other than just weekends. There are now residents downtown where there were none just a few years ago. And the Jets and the Moose now share the MTS building and next year RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre doubles in size.

The dream of creating a bustling entertainment district just got a little stronger this week.

Globe Theatre Winnipeg - Where to Now?

I guess we can't say we didn't see this one coming. The three Globe Theaters in Portage Place are closing. This comes on the heels of the IMAX theater closing earlier on.

At the time of their construction in 1987 the theaters were a posh addition to the downtown theater crowd. Eaton's and the Bay were still going concerns as was the south side of Portage Avenue. The first Silver City was built at St. Vital in 1986 but it was half the size it is now. The big films were still downtown and on a Friday night, it was not unusual to see line ups outside the Northstar, the Capitol, The Met and the Garrick

In 1981, there were two multiplex theatres built downtown with the Towne and the Cineplex Eaton 7 theatres.  Two years earlier in  1979, the Garrick Theatre expanded from the two theatre format to a four theatre format on purchased land next door.

There was alarm about downtown Winnipeg in the 1980s to be certain but there were three malls built from 1979 to 1987 in the area including Winnipeg Square, Eaton Place to Portage Place. The problem was there was even more malls being built in the suburbs in St. Vital, St. James, Kildonan and a doubling of Polo Park.

In little more than ten years, retail had exploded all over the city and with it came movie theatres. The reason suburban malls movie theatres took so long to catch on is that very few of them were very nice. The original Polo Park Cinema was in an awful basement with terrible concessions. It was far nicer to go the King Theater just down the road.

It really took the construction of Silver City St. Vital 6 theatre in 1985 to change people's habits completely. The moment St. Vital built the theatre it represented an improvement on the movie going experience, The woeful Eaton Place 7 screen multiplex from 1981 to 1991 was terrible. The cramped theatres and sound leakage from the food court outside was dreadful and most gave up on the place.  It ended up showing art films till even that was rejected by Winnipeg movie fans. The food court eventually expanded into the old theatres.

The 8 screen Towne built in 1981 and the refurbished 4 screen Garrick of 1979 were much better and people still attend the Towne. It may get renewed life for years to come via proximity to Red River College and a bigger residential component from the Exchange District. The Garrick and the Northstar continued to deliver even when the grand old dames of the Met and Capitol collapsed. They lasted until the suburban malls delivered a crushing blow.

In 1998 and 1999, the nail was hammered in with the expansion of St. Vital Silvercity to 10 screens in 1998 and the newly built 14 screen Silvercity Polo Park in 1999. How can could anyone compete with 18 brand new state of the art movie theatres! The truth was almost no one could. By 2001, it was the end for the Garrick and the Northstar theatres.

Anyway this won't be a dissertation on urban and suburban. I don't think anyone can deny that the sound, the picture quality, the theatre amenities and the concessions compete well with the main enemy of movies...television.

It is sad to see The Globe Theatres go and it is further evidence that Portage Place continues to underwhelm.

But where do we go from here?

The University of Winnipeg has looked on longingly at the theatres as possible lecture halls. This might not be a bad match. The University of Winnipeg does not have many large size theatre halls. One wonders how they might make use of the space. Large classes, special lectures, art performances all come to mind.

The one hitch is that it is a bit of a hike from the university. There is some indication that university is already looking at moving some things over. In the last weeks, they took a 2000 square foot space on the second floor of Portage Place for the Legal Resource Centre, a legal help center for low income clients

The Globe Theatres occupy nearly 28,000 square feet! This is no small bite even for an expansionist university.

There are two other possibilities that could be suggested for Globe Theatre space. The first is that it could be used as a new exhibition hall in the some format as the now demolished MTS Exhibition Hall. At 10,000 square feet larger than the old location and all one level...not to mention gorgeous windows to Portage Avenue, the hall could attract many travelling shows such as Body World and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Perhaps Portage Place could tap on the MTS doors and see what their thoughts on the subject are.

The other suggestion for the space also leverage proximity to the MTS Centre. It would seem one of the best uses might be a sports bar and restaurant for the space. Moxies, Earl's and Milestones are all downtown. The Shark Club has been a runaway success. One more sports bar option for lunch, dinner and late nights might be just what the doctor ordered.

Sad as it is to see the Globe Theatre go, it is sadder to see the space under used. This could be a trigger for a major improvement in the mall much like how cityplace has undergone millions of dollars work after securing the Shark Club. It will be interesting to see what direction the operators of Portage Place go.

Thank you Winnipeg Jets

"The Jets were lousy anyway." The Weakerthans

Third year out of the play-offs but undeniably the Winnipeg Jets are the must see and must talk about item in the city. They are the water cooler talk of the town.

Winnipeg has had quite a few hard knocks over the last decades but losing the Jets in 1996 was one of the most heartbreaking. It bespoke of a place that was not just down on its luck but in unspeakable decline. The fans who rallied at The Forks emptied their piggy banks only to hear the powers that be say: No.

The 1990s were a bad time not just for Winnipeg but across Canada. The dollar was at the lowest point ever, the deficit was being cut everywhere, interest rates were out of control, taxes were up, inflation high and unemployment rising.

Winnipeg had barely emerged out of the 1980s recession when we ran smack into a wall in the 1990s. The city became a war zone of crime, declining home prices and high taxes combined with poor economic growth.

The Winnipeg Jets remained a passion for the people of the city but the Winnipeg Arena was owned by the city through Winnipeg Enterprises. The worst kept secret in the city was that some people who were most likely to afford season tickets got in through side doors not controlled by the team organization. Even when the product on the ice was excellent, the team had problems selling out the building.

The attitude in the city in the 1990s was defeat. So much bad news piled atop bad news. And then there was the Winnipeg Jets question. Will they stay, will they go? Do we get a new arena? And in the last year we trade Teemu Selanne for a bag of hockey pucks. It was awful. Heartbreaking.

The refrain of: "Will the last person to leave Winnipeg turn off the lights" was heard frequently.

The arrival of the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg seemed like the booby prize.

It took a while for the Moose to win us over and for the new ownership group of the Chipman family to convince us there was a plan and that the plan was good. On the back of a paper napkin, a downtown arena plan was hatched and a long game of building on success in hockey management and entertainment was forged.

The MTS Centre was a controversial yet important step in overcoming the knocks the city had been taking. Sad as people were to see the Eaton's building come down, it was unlikely that the site would ever see as many people on a day to day basis as it gets now were it not an arena.

The long plan for hockey and entertainment has meant a certain amount of patience has been required...like 15 years patience. It wasn't just one thing Winnipeg had to wait for, it was a lot of things. We needed someone interested in running a hockey team first. We needed private and government investment in a new arena. We needed the economy to improve. We needed a good salary cap and revenue sharing for any team we had in the city. We needed a building that was run by the team owners and revenues from concessions and merchandise staying with the ownership group. We needed non-hockey events to come to city whether they were monster trucks or curling or Juno Awards.

After the MTS Centre was built, Winnipeg started getting all those things. And it started to be part of the conversation in regards to a possible NHL franchise. Inevitably, whenever a NHL franchise elsewhere in the league was in trouble, Winnipeg became the hammer to use against cities who didn't buckle down and give the owners/league what they wanted.

It seemed we would always be a bridesmaid and never a bride. But the plan, the plan continued and when the Atlanta Thrashers needed a home, the NHL came calling. And the Chipman's were ready, hockey was ready, the arena was ready and the city was so ever ready.

People might have forgotten already how important it was to sell out the MTS Centre not for one, not for two but five seasons in a row. This is turn ensured the success of TSN Jets, the dedicated channel for Jets games. The hottest ticket in town was now available to those who couldn't go on TV...every game. The mostly ESPN programmed 1290 sports radio became one of the most heavily local stations as a result of the Jets.

Quite literally the Winnipeg Jets became the joyous talk of the town. We followed every announcement from general manager to coach assignments. But what wasn't certain was the name of the team until the draft and then we swooned when indeed the name was going to be the Winnipeg Jets.

The uniform design came later. We hemmed and hawed a bit. Debated it but ultimately fell in love...all over again. We were even prepared to buy counterfeit designs of it before it was officially released.

We got to know our team and they got to know us. On everyone's Christmas list was something with the new Jets logo on. Even if you couldn't get into a game, you could show your love.

Training camp was everyone's chance to learn how to pronounce player names and see what they were all about. Heck, we got excited just to hear who would be calling the games and doing colour!

Those pre-season games gave everyone a hint of what was to come and when that first game came...even the new Winnipeg Jets players could only look up and wonder who on earth these insanely joyous fans were. It was heaven.

It seems anticlimactic to point out we didn't make the play-offs in the first year. We didn't expect to. That was part of the plan too...tell people the plan. Winnipeggers were told to expect a slow build over five years. And how much could we expect of a team that first year that really only had a few months to gel in a new home, with new owners, new management, new coach and new fans?

That first year we did make a good go of it.

Second year, league-wide issues came up in the form of a lock-out. It was amazing we even had a season. However, when we did start playing, oh boy! It was a fast pace all the way through and for a while...we touched first place in our division. It was not to last as injuries and inconsistencies and lack of depth had us on the outside looking in when it came to play-offs.

There were many promising signs, not the least of which was the players we drafted. Some looked like they might join the line up in the third year of the re-constituted Jets. And we would need it as change was happening once again for the team in a move to the powerful western conference.

For the first time, training camp really was able to bring in all, and I do mean all, prospects, and have everyone in the organization get to know what we had in talent and prospects.

Third season...this season...the Winnipeg Jets were better. But so was out conference. Our new rookies played like champions but both were stung by injuries. In fact, the last several games looked like the farm club had all been promoted. They played like champs regardless.

This year the Jets showed they could beat the best in the league only to lose to the worst in the league. Consistency is still not there. But what a ride.

The joy is not gone. It is still there every time we shout True North! Where once the old Winnipeg Arena was sometimes filled with more Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys or Edmonton Oilers ones, it is a pretty solid Jets crowd in the audience. And not just in Winnipeg. It seems over many decades we may have exported citizens but the one thing they refused to give up was love of Jets.

So thank you Jets. Thanks for the fun, the excitement....the sense that we are together again, the possibilities you represent...not just for hockey but for entertainment beyond the arena. We have bought into the plan. And the plan is good.

Winnipeg Jets Moving to Quebec City

Quebec City

From Canadian Press:

QUEBEC CITY: The Quebec election heated up with the announcement Tuesday that the Winnipeg Jets would be moving to Quebec City for the start of the 2016 NHL season. PQ chief Pauline Marois and star candidate Pierre Karl Peladeau were on hand with Commissioner Gary Bettman at a news conference held at the site of the new Quebecer Liberté arena.

The news was the most startling event of the election thus far with the shockwave felt far beyond Quebec.

Pauline Marois was ebullient as she donned the new Nordique Liberté uniform. "This day is one for all Quebecers to rejoice over," she said to cheering crowds. "It is just one more thing a PQ government can help bring to Quebec."

The Quebecer media conglomerate bought the Winnipeg Jets early Tuesday morning from the True North owner Mark Chipman. The Winnipeg Jets had just suffered a collapse against the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 after leading for two periods. In a terse statement, Jets owner Chipman said he had sold the team because it had been causing him health problems related to his heart.

Commissioner Gary Bettman welcomed the new Nordique Liberté team and said it would be good for the NHL to have the old rivalries back such as the one against the Montreal Canadiens. "The NHL is stronger for this move. We did not do it lightly and we will miss the Chipman family and Winnipeg being part of the NHL. However, we do understand Mark Chipman's reasons as well as the fact that no suitable owner could be found in Winnipeg."

Bettman stayed out of the politics of the Quebec election. "This is not about any election. This is about the NHL and I believe the new Quebec Liberté will bring excitement playing in their new $400 million Quebecer arena for the 2016 season."

PQ star candidate Pierre Karl Peladeau will become governor of the new Nordique Liberté team. It raised immediate concerns again about his business interests running afoul of rules in regards to politicians and their private holdings. Provincial Liberal leader Philippe Couillard welcomed the return of the NHL but warned that Peladeau should not receive a free pass from the rules just because he owns the Quebec City team.

The ecstatic joy felt in Quebec over a return of hockey to the capital was in turn greeted with outrage and sorrow in Winnipeg. It was only three years prior that the Winnipeg Jets returned to the city after an absence of 15 years. The surprise sale caught everyone off guard including Manitoba premier Greg Selinger who now must contend with a large investment in the MTS Centre with no NHL and, as it turns out, no AHL team to play in the arena. The purchase of the Winnipeg Jets by Quebecer includes the majority of the MTS Centre property plus the Saint John's Ice Caps. The intention of the new Nordique Liberté is to leave their farm club team in Newfoundland.

Greg Selinger responded in shock that his government would look at all options for the MTS Centre including possible penalties for moving the team. "We are in grief right now and will have more to say on the subject at a news conference Friday."

Fans in Winnipeg rallied at Portage and Main at noon. The crowd reaction was one of anger and resignation. One fan at the Dollarama on the famed Portage Avenue shrugged his shoulders. "The team sucked anyway," said John Gray as he counted loonies after his purchase. Still it was hard not to notice the Burmistrov Jets uniform as he walked down the steps into the darkened pathways of Winnipeg's underground concourse.

MTS Centre to Expand Upper Deck Concourse

Narrow concourse at MTS Centre

As anyone can tell you, the upper bowl concourse at the MTS Centre is a little scary.

Well, the good news is that the True North are going to expand the concourse by 4000 square feet and add more washrooms, concessions and amenities.

Down here for a hotdog...I think

The job will cost around $20 to $30 million and take maybe six years.

The need for more washrooms is undeniable. The True North is considering efficient options for the men.

New washrooms might be modeled after this efficient system

Apparently, what men miss most is the chance to talk about the game with their neighbour so we might be seeing some bold changes.

Club seat washrooms

Of course they will never match the lower bowl and club seating men's washrooms.

I think women will appreciate the changes in upper concourse washrooms.

Upper concourse women's washroom

The club seating and lower bowl washrooms are still the gold standard.

Club seating women's washrooms

I think making improvements to the concourse are very much needed.

There will be an improvement on the lounge area.

Old lounge area Upper Concourse

Look to improved signage as well.

Old signs in Upper Concourse confused people

Sadly, nothing to be done about the steep stairs.

Only two more of these to get to your seats!

Congrats to the True North for realizing the 6000 of us in the Upper Bowl should be looked after as well!

Winnipeg's Tallest Tower

The new downtown tower

It it all hype?

A Winnipeg Free Press story mentioned how many building projects are going up...only two actually under construction.

On average since 1970, Winnipeg usually sees a few taller buildings go up every ten years. There is one big gap of nearly 15 years over the entire 1990s and into the mid 2000s where nothing was built if any real height over the entire city. As most will remember, Winnipeg and much of the country was dragging through a recession, very low dollar and major cutbacks at every level of government. The one major initiative was the construction of Shaw Park for baseball as part of a plan for Winnipeg hosting the Pan American Games and permanent home for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Winnipeg in the 1990s saw property values drop horribly and the struggle every day was palpable. The departure of the Winnipeg Jets in 1996 seemed to leave the message: Will the the last one to leave turn out the lights? It was an awful time that saw the city tear itself apart with murder, arson and car theft. People fled the province.

The closure of Eaton's downtown store in 1999 and the huge hole it created downtown kind of shook up the business and government community. The empty Eaton's building was the biggest symbol of how Portage Avenue was on life support.

Despite efforts to preserve the Eaton's building, no one from the private sector came forward with a viable plan year after year until the arena proposal led by the Chipman family came to the fore.

It would be wrong to say that this deal turned this around for the downtown of Winnipeg. It did however lead to a partnership between the Chipman family and David Thomson, who owned the Eaton's property, to create the circumstances for the return of the Winnipeg Jets.

Serendipity. The combination of the two families led to the building of the MTS Centre which led to the Jets which has resulted in the construction of the biggest project on North Portage since the 1980s. The Centrepoint development is well underway and will have offices, a hotel, a parkade, condos and restaurants. The tallest building since the Investor's Group office is climbing into the air.

The very slow recovery of the economy that includes Winnipeg and the excitement of the Jets return has inspired some investors to invest in property in the downtown area. We have seen some private developers buy hotels, apartments and offices for some pretty big money.

There are a few proposals for residential towers downtown, only two have shovels in the ground, one other look ready to go. A few have seemed to falter on the lack of parking and their unwillingness to invest in a parkade. The Waterfront Drive phase one of condos depended largely on the developers putting their own parkades in. The price point as a result is higher.

Notwithstanding the issue of parking and how government can help, many developers are proceeding with their own plans. No one builds on speculation anymore so pre-sales are the rule of the day. Even when everything is almost pre-sold, it is still a slow process as one Assiniboine Avenue developer has shown.

The biggest hype probably surrounds the Fortress Real Developments and MADY Developments with their tallest building in the city proposal for 245 Graham Avenue across from the old post office/new police headquarters. The tower continues to get pushed up in proposed height. The latest word is that it will be 46 and possibly as high as 55 storeys in height.

The proposal also includes a grocery store, some offices, parking.

The creed of the new development is Live, Work, Play.

Can it work? Well, it has been done before. Winnipeg developer Lakeview has done it twice with Lakeview Square and Delta hotel complex from the 1970s and 1980s and the Courts of St. James in the 1970s. Each project required tens of millions of dollars and had retail, offices and residential components that ensured their success.

The $200 million to complete Winnipeg's tallest building could be there to spend. The impression from the developers is that they do set out to do the work they promise. They have an established record.

However, we have had many promises from even well know Winnipeg firms that were withdrawn because market conditions were not right.

It remains to be seen if this project can go forward. But in the end, Winnipeg has waited a very long time for a major building like this and the timing for it might be perfect.

Ellice Liquor Store

Ellice Liquor Store

Ellice Liquor Across from Centrepoint

The schism between urban and suburban has been growing for many years now. Politically, culturally and economically the differences are becoming easier to see and harder to reconcile.

The war between urban and suburban is played out in the anonymous comment section of the Free Press and CBC every day. A lot of those comments have to be tossed because they amount to personal attacks or cross into intolerance based on any number of factors.

In addition, the limited amount of characters of Twitter are ideal for snark and it is generally easy to heckle and be boorish when done anonymously.

What is generally seen in regards to suburban commentary on urban areas is that people there are all scumbags and criminals. The urban commentary generally runs along the lines that suburban people are selfish users and takers.

Thoughtful commentary is often shunned for one liners.

The fact of the matter is that if a city is to function well, all of it has be to considered not just one tiny corner of it. The solution isn't to just keep fleeing farther and farther till the city reaches provincial borders. Nor is the solution to bulldoze large swaths of the city to create some sort of doughnut hole.

That is not to say that some bulldozing can't, shouldn't and won't happen. While some mourn the loss of the Wagon Wheel restaurant, the objective of a higher density mixed use land covering almost one block is excellent. The fact of the matter is the block in question has been under utilized the last decades despite some private efforts, specifically when it comes to the hotel/A&B Sound/MTS Exhibition Hall.

Long standing businesses shut down such Discreet Boutique or moved like Wild Planet. The complaint of their owners and those of Kraut King about aggressive street life was that it was driving them out. Happy to report that the former Kraut King location at 295 Garry Street is impressing as the Famena's Famous Roti/Curry and even out of town guests are writing glowing reviews.

But look what is just down the street from Famena's...

Famena's Famous Roti-Curry

The Garrick Hotel's clients are generally on the sidewalk out front most likely as a result of the smoking laws.

This little block seems to struggle. Sonar Night Club shut down and is now a gay club called Fame. Aqua Books shut down. A few storefronts remain stubbornly vacant.

Connection to Garrick? Think many would say it is.

For this reason, CentreVenture has been on a crusade to rid the downtown of small drinking establishment based out of hotels. They have bought a few over the years and that process has accelerated with the construction around the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

I have no problem with confronting drinking establishments that cause trouble. If you have murders inside or outside the establishment, chances are you need to look at how things are run. And it doesn't have to be down and out dive bars. It could be nightclubs that attract a bad element along with its regular crowd. It could be hotels, it could be sports facilities.

Public drunkenness and aggressive panhandling can't be ignored and there does seem to be more patrols on the street to address this issue. However, the police in the city have been lukewarm on community work and still favour cruiser cars.

This is what one retired city cop had to say:

The problem was, general patrol (the officers in cars), considered the ownership officers glorified social workers and would not only avoid having anything to do with them, but would resist helping out when transportation of a drunk was needed, or the transportation of an arrested person or just any kind of assistance.

Was it just me who felt this? No. When we got together, all 20 of us had occasion to run into resistance from our sergeants and from general patrol (there were a few exceptions)

At the end of the day, crime and the perception that downtown is unsafe will die down if the police foot patrol is constantly there, always watching, always ready to stop a crime, move a drunk to the tanks, arrest an assailant.

That is pretty harsh stuff. Officer needs assistance being ignored due to the fact they think he is a social worker?

The work has been handed over to cadets as kind of a way to earn your stripes to police constable and a car. And perhaps this is the cheaper way to do it. Still, you wonder if there is strong value in having ground coverage for problem areas by the Winnipeg Police Service itself in a meaningful way.

Serious questions are mounting about the costs of policing and the promises that crime will drop for every 50 officers hired.

The amount of overtime, ticket quotas and higher crime respective to the rest of the country gives people pause. I am no expert in policing but hearing some officers say they didn't feel supported seems to indicate a conflict inside the organization.

Which brings us back to the Ellice Liquor Store. Is this store the source of problems in the area? And by this I mean: Is the store itself a source of public drunkenness and panhandling?

I can't answer that. I don't know. I won't go into the greater issues of alcohol, poverty and homelessness. My question is more specific: is this store the cause of trouble surrounding the area or it is a mere inconvenience for a nice new development across the street?

If the answer is yes, the store is the source of problems...is the first answer not to serve intoxicated customers, patrol the parking lot and seek assistance from police in ensuring public security?

The Ellice Liquor Store, celebrated in song by a ska group in the last years along with the Royal Albert Hotel, has a small parking lot that seems to serve downtown commuters intent on quick service. This cannot be fulfilled by Cityplace with a mall location. Likewise, there are many apartments and condos going up in the area who probably might find things like a local liquor store convenient.

It is a fine balancing act that CentreVenture does but it is worth remembering that Osborne Village has had its share of ups and downs but the liquor mart was not driven out. The client base changed over the years and the location there reveals a full realized neighbourhood with grocery, drug marts and liquor store for the community.

Centrepoint under construction. Liquor just north

Kudos to the Longboat and Artis for their investment across from the MTS Centre. The offices of Stantec Engineering, the Alt Hotel, Glasshouse Condos, parkade and restaurants Milestone's and Chino Libre are going to be the biggest thing to hit Portage Avenue in decades.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves by clearing out places like the Ellice Liquor Store before seeing how one development interacts with established businesses.

Downtown Winnipeg will be won over one block at a time. Some of it will be organic such as Famena's carving out a home on Garry Street. Other times, it will be a development like Centrepoint transforming a larger area.  Let's give it all careful consideration as we proceed. But while we do it, let's make sure we have the people on the ground to ensure security and civility.

What makes you feel safer, a police car headed west down Portage Avenue or two patrols walking down the street? If the answer is the latter, should that not be what we are doing more of?

The Cityplace Casino

CityPlace with MTS Centre at Right.

CityPlace with Walkway to MTS Centre. Photo by Bryan Scott.

CityPlace

CityPlace was Winnipeg's first downtown mall built in 1979. It emerged from the ashes of the closure of Eaton's catalogue division in 1977 and initially was called Eaton Place.

It would be wrong to say it was not a success at the start. It was. The mall and office portion of the building were a going concern and Eaton's beside it did well.

The opening of several more malls all in a matter of years including Portage Place had an impact on shopping everywhere. However, the writing was on the wall and with the movement of multiplex movie theatres to the suburbs, the younger crowd that inhabited the mall left as well.

In 2001, Eaton's closed for good and it is a wonder we didn't see Eaton Place go as well. However, the newly re-branded Cityplace had the income from its offices to sustain it as well as generous revenue from the parkade and parking lots. The building has increased in value in every decade since it has been open unlike Portage Place.

The mall is a shadow of itself now. The connection to the MTS Centre built in 2004 did not help the mall in a meaningful way other than ensure that the restaurants still had people to come to them. The extended walkway in 2010 also helped in that regard as people from the Winnipeg Convention Centre came over to use restaurants.

The mall continued to serve a very niche local business area but it was not a destination mall nor did it have a huge retail anchor. The prospects for Cityplace all changed when the Winnipeg Jets returned last year.

While the Manitoba Moose were appreciated, they drew a smaller crowd, more of a family crowd and one with a more limited budget.

The arrival of the Jets and some rushed renovations to upgrade from True North drew a commitment from the province of Manitoba for further investment in the MTS Centre in the form of video lottery terminals. At present, those VLTs are in the Tavern United across the street with revenue going to pay off the arena.

Public support from the city and the province will rise to $11 million a year with all the revenue from tax discounts and VLTs added in. I don't know the economics of this. I have to suspect that the province makes a lot of money back on sales tax for liquor and merchandise sales, food and for parking. The city has fewer revenue streams but if the property values around the MTS Centre have risen, it may be worth the investment.

The fact that Longboat and Artis are building a large complex across from the MTS Centre indicates that the investment in MTS Centre is paying off. By my reckoning, the increased tax from off site might well make up for the discount the arena gets. However, I am not a accountant so I can only guess. It would be nice if someone actually did an economic impact study of the subsidy and how it affects government and business for Winnipeg and the province.

Back to the casino though...

I have long advocated a return of a casino to the downtown. I had said it would be a great way to get the Winnipeg Convention Centre the expansion they wanted. In the end though, the three levels of government stepped up and work is being down now.

All that was left was to fulfill the promise the NDP government made to True North about more VLTS to pay for improvements to the arena. The rumour had been that a sports bar was coming and the talk was the Shark Club, a sports chain in every western province except Winnipeg. But wait, we have a Shark Club. Doh, wrong club!

Like the problems we faced with Calgary's Cowboys coming to town, someone has registered and is using the Shark Club name on Lombard. If the Shark Club wanted to come here and use their name, they would likely have to make a deal with the Winnipeg club using the name these last years. Ask the The Brick how they feel that worked out for them when they sued Brick's Fine Furniture.

We finally know some of the details about what the province is planning. We are not just going to see the Tavern United's VLTs combined with new VLTs in a new restaurant. We are going to see a full restaurant and casino with 140 slot machines, 2 poker tables and 4 blackjack tables.

Holy big difference from VLTs, batman!

Some local bloggers have indicated there are a strong gains that can be made to the facility that holds a casino. We can expect this is going to trigger a property value increase as well as help elevate the value of all surrounding property in 2013 and beyond.

Some of the negative comments from bloggers and people posting to Free Press and CBC pages is in regards to gambling.

No argument there. Still, prohibition comes with ill effects too.

Would eliminating gambling and drinking cause more crime than regulating and taxing said vices? I think there is strong evidence to support that it does.

The provinces online gambling site is now love today. I think that might have a bigger impact than the casino.

As more details come available, we will see what the name will be, what the look will be and how the casino will be in relationship to the MTS Centre.

My view is that there is more good in this decision than bad. It will be interesting if in later years what the Jet Effect will actually be.

Portage Place

Portage Place Imax to Shut Down in March

I have written and talked a lot about Portage Place since 2008. Suburbanist and urbanists alike hate it. Not since Unicity Fashion Mall has a shopping area so universally been unloved. And we see what happened with Unicity.

The comments of the suburbanists run along this line:

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

The outright hatred, dread and disdain of suburbanites of almost anything downtown is so deep, I have heard some people say they won't even go to a Winnipeg Jets game for fear of crime, parking and people who don't look like them.

The surprising thing is that some people do not believe The Forks is downtown and don't harbour the same ill feelings about the place. Why is that? Well, we'll get to that in another post.

All this city wide talk on Portage Place is a result of the impending closure of the Imax Theatre. The theatre built in 1987 with 276 seats has become obsolete in recent years due to its size and inability to land first run movies or 3D. The writing was on the wall. Polo Park's new Imax with 433 seats and 3D hastened the death.

Finding a new use for the theatre won't be easy. It represents challenges when it comes to its structure. That will be up to Peterson Group of Vancouver to decide.

There always seems to be the naive belief that the University of Winnipeg will swoop in and take over all the empty spaces downtown. I supposed it isn't inaccurate to say the university has indeed jumped on abandoned bus stations, racquet courts and army surplus stores. However, there is a limit to how much, how far and how often the university can do this.

The closure of Zellers and long term future of The Bay have a role in what happens to Portage Place. People forget that the goal of the mall was to link the north side of Portage from Eaton's to The Bay. Well, Eaton's is gone and the The Bay may be following. 

So what of the future of Portage Place?

Well, the one upside of Portage Place is the parkade. It makes money. A lot of it. However, the Peterson Group doesn't own it. If they did, they might be compelled to make additions to the mall such as a tower atop the east and west pads that have stood ready for years for whatever was desired above the mall.

The Prairie Theatre Exchange continues to thrive in the mall. 

Despite the common belief of a completely empty mall, the places does have tenants and more service-based businesses like dental clinics find the place useful as their downtown clients find they are convenient.

I still think the key to leveraging change lies with the parkade but North Portage Development Corporation seems reluctant to discuss that option since they use the money to subsidize other operations.

I have mentioned before and others are starting to repeat it: The food court attracts a bad element. It should be closed in favour of sit down casual dining to attract a hockey, business and an entertainment audience. However, that is a decision for Portage Place management.

It is possible that the LongBoat and Artis development will stimulate Portage Place to do their own makeover. Polo Park and St. Vital have all gone through major renovations whereas the downtown mall has not. Even Winnipeg Square and the Richardson Concourse have had upgrades.

Now that the Jets have returned, there are 10 years of labour peace in the offing. The Manitoba Hydro building is across the street, a hotel and office tower will be soon built. The potential is there for Portage Place to benefit if the ownership and the North Portage Development Coporation is willing.

As a few people have pointed out, it is always one fire after another being put out downtown. Still, we are seeing successes here and there. The continued growth of population around Waterfront Drive will be felt for years. Apartment conversions of hotels will bring a steady population to some streets. And new apartments will help cover surface parking lots. With people comes businesses. 

Portage Place is not going anywhere, anytime soon. And this is a problem in more ways than one. Still, there is no need to panic just yet. We have to see what developments around the MTS Centre will bring.

edit: Change CentreVenture to North Portage Development Corporation