More Jets

The Winnipeg Jets are featured in Canadian Business magazine this month.

As Canadian Business magazine outlines it, there are three major things that Winnipeg would need to iron out before an NHL team would be viable.

MTS Centre: Box Seats $43,500 to $67,500
Rexall Place Box Seats $49,200 to $410,000
Air Canada Centre Box Seats $500,000.

The article quotes Robert Warren as saying that he has spoken to many business people and he could find none that would pony up that kind of cash each year.

He might be right. However, he was totally wrong in saying IKEA would not come to Winnipeg.

The website called Manitoba Mythbusters goes on to offer countering arguments to every point Canadian Business magazine.

On the issue of corporate box seats, they say that there is a waiting list of 50 ownership groups looking to buy in. It is possible that there is enough corporate support for a team, especially if it is the only major league international sports team in the city.

The question of attendance comes up. The average attendance between 1989 and 1995 was 13,138. The MTS Centre has a capacity of 15,003 seats. It would be the smallest arena in the NHL, roughly 542 seats smaller than Nassau Coliseum where the New York Islanders play.

Now, the issue of how many seats the NHL actually sells has been questioned in recent years. Lots of seats seem to be unloaded. Many games seem to have fewer fans than a Moose game. Corporate seats probably push up game day attendance but it is clearly not visible when the cameras flash by the stands. Where are the people?

Mythbusters details how a large group of teams give away anywhere from 1000 to 2000 seats a game.

One thing that people don't talk about in terms of the old Winnipeg Jets attendance was that there were always rumours about free seats given out by Winnipeg Enterprises. I have no idea if that number was small or large but I can recall grumbling from the Jets management about they weren't always certain if Enterprises was letting in a lot of people.

There have been a few people who say the MTS Centre is cramped. At 15,003 seats, it probably is in the upper decks. I can't imagine a NHL team coming without some sort of planned upgrade to add 1000-2000 seats and more bathrooms and concessions.

On the issue of salaries, it is obvious the NHL still has an unrealistic approach given how many teams are in trouble. The website Mythbusters says Winnipeg can handle it along with revenue sharing but I think it would be a tough slog to keep up and stay competitive.

The 2009-2010 season might bring a little more reality to the league. It will be interesting to see if there are indeed some teams that are in the same situation as Phoenix. In fact, it will be interesting to see if Phoenix is able to get through the next season. That remains an open question.

In the meantime, Winnipeg should be patient. It has an arena, an ownership group and a reputation for hockey. At some point the league might be coming to it because of problems with a franchise.



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Winnipeg's Growth Spurt

Picture of Downtown Winnipeg from Wikipedia

Statistics Canada revised its estimates of Winnipeg's population growth in their last report.

The size of the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area -- essentially, the city and most of its bedroom communities -- has also been adjusted and is now pegged at 739,000, up 18,500 from a previous 2009 estimate of 720,500.

The revised population estimates, which are based on 2006 census data, are being treated as a sign that Winnipeg has finally overcome the malaise that plagued the city in the mid-1990s, when population growth was stagnant. But projections of further growth have city administrators worried about a worsening housing crisis.

That is quite the jump and there is a number of things that the experts say have helped propel growth. Immigration and the provincial nominee program has been a huge factor. Inter-provincial migration is another factor. The economy's strength has ensured that people have come to the province or stayed in the province.

The Free Press article asked the question of whether the provincial nominee program which has been so successful in attracting immigrants will put a stop to the growth. It is a good question. Already there are some expressing deep fears. While everyone agrees the system should not be open to abuse, it should also not shut the door to nominees.

Manitoba has done exceptionally well and it can be seen in the hustle and bustle within the province despite the continuing recession.

There are clouds though and a lot of it has to do with how immigration is dealt with in the future through the nominee program. It is still Manitoba's best bet for a vital and diverse population. At the moment, it doesn't look like the NDP government is aware of how negative the outlook is on their legislation.



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Mooseplex

I'm surprised that there hasn't been more written in the blogosphere about this project to build this arena complex.

With all the federal funds being thrown out there, the Chipman family stepped up with a project that is supposed to be shovel ready. The arena multiplex is costed out at $25 million and will be 172,000 square feet. It will consist of four NHL surface size rinks with 20 dressing rooms. An additonal 30,000 square feet will house Hockey Manitoba, Hockey Canada and True North offices as well as a high performance training center. One of the rinks will have seating for 1,500 fans. A restaurant, pro shop and concession area is listed in the specs.

The project will cost $25 million. The Chipmans will contribute $13.2 million and the feds and the province will contribute $5.9 million each for a total of $11.8 million.

According to the Chipmans, the building with become on of only three high performance centers for hockey training in Canada, the other two being Toronto and Calgary.

The opening of the Mooseplex is set for 2010 and the Chipmans have indicated they will bid World Under-17 Hockey Championship for two consecutive years to coincide with competition. This Canadian tournament also has international teams participation and many future stars of the NHL show their stuff.

My suggestion is that the Chipmans should also bid on the IIHF World Under-18 Championships since they have never been played in Canada. In 2009, they were played in Fargo, North Dakota.

The Fargo U18 games were played out of two buildings: Moorhead Arena and Urban Plains Center. The Urban Plains Center is a 5000 seat arena where the Fargo Force pro team plays and the Moorhead Arena is a two rink facility that is where high school and college teams play.

It is obvious that if Fargo could carry off the U18 games, Winnipeg could as well.

There were hints that there may be additional announcements of arenas in the city. I'd be interested to know if the University of Winnipeg might be one of those announcements.

The University of Manitoba has the Max Bell Center for hockey. It would be good for the University of Winnipeg had its own version.

The merits of a university arena are seen in Grand Forks, North Dakota where the Ralph Engelstad Arena has become the centerpiece of a large development around the University of North Dakota. It is unlikely that we'd see a $100 million private donation the likes of UND got to start their arena but it is possible that the University of Winnipeg could get a quarter of that if they teamed up with the school divisions and private donors. Who knows.

The Mooseplex will be an interesting and welcome addition to the city. The one problem I see is that it pushes the boundaries of the city right to western limit. The arena location by Point West Autopark, Red River Ex and Assiniboia Downs might trigger more development just outside of the city. The province should be wary of letting exurbia growth going wild. The Trans-Canada through Headingley is already dangerously busy with businesses alongside the road.



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Kayong Barracks Part 1

Pictures from the Free Press and other sources of the Kapyong Barracks.

The Kapyong Barracks look to be tied up for some time to come. The judge was not about to transfer the land to First Nations for free. Quite rightly, he said there was a price to be paid for it.

The question of whether the First Nations have a right to the land is in question. It seems there is a debate over "surplus land" versus "strategic land". I don't know how that will be distinguished but it is what the federal court will be hearing in September.

It is a long wait from 2004 to now to decide the fate of this large piece of land.

My suspicions is that Real Canadian Superstore on east side of Kenaston at Grant has had its eyes on moving across the street. It is probably why they have delayed renovations as long as they have. This year, with no prospect of moving soon, the store manager says millions will be spent to improve the dowdy store. The Tuxedo Safeway has also recently gone through a renovation. My guess is that they too were thinking Kapyong might be a desirable location.

Kapyong Barracks has developers all over town and First Nations drooling about the possibilities.

Some have lobbied for the First Nations to take the land such a Don Marks. Ironically, he said the people should not give in to bleeding hearts and let the houses be used for social housing since it would not be temporary.

The irony is that his own bleeding heart doesn't take into consideration whether First Nations even have a right to the land. He just assumes they do.

Setting aside the dispute for the moment, there are a number of things that need to be addressed before developing the land.

The first pressing need is on transportation. There have been plans put forward in regards to Route 90/Kensaton. There is already opposition to what was introduced. No one wants their house expropriated. Some people claim there isn't a problem to begin with. That is a little hard to reconcile with traffic backed up from the St. James Bridge to the McGillivray at all times of the day. The special timers that Sam Katz trumpeted failed working shortly after installation.

The Ikea development and Waverley West will continue to put pressure on the narrow Route 90 roadway. It seems obvious that three lanes in each direction with far better left and right turning lanes is necessary. Having timers on lights would also be an improvement.

Getting traffic to move more smoothly is just one aspect of what to do with Kapyong and the associated military housing. The next steps are how to ensure that bike paths and side-walks are part of the plan.

It is unfortunate that the city did not take a harder line on making the abandoned rail line that runs parallel to Kenaston a bike path. Too many neighbors protested it. What has ended up happening is that commercial businesses on Grant, Academy and elsewhere have expanded into the rail's abandoned property. A condo development has taken form in the empty space at Corydon.

No chance for a bike path, bus route or anything else now. I suppose many of the neighbors figured with the rail gone, they would have a green space for free behind their house. They generally have opposed any development proposed for the narrow strip.

There seems little chance that opposition to widening Kenaston will stop it from happening. Still it would be good to know if a strip of land off Kapyong could be used to get the project going now rather than ten years from now.

Next...what sort of development should go up?



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Winnipeg Jets

The Globe and Mail has reported that Gary Bettman would consider a move of the Phoenix Coyotes to Winnipeg but not to Hamilton.

The Arizona Republic has reported how desperate Glendale city officials are to keep the Coyotes in the community. The city went into debt the pay for the $220 million arena. Moving the team would cost $2.4 million and hurt area businesses.

The problem is that the Coyotes are a money losing operation and Glendale can't force the operation to operate unless they want to underwrite the whole team. The NHL appears to be trying to assert that they own the team now and that they can sell it to who they want. Apparently, the person they want to see to is Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Balsillie has now indicated that he is willing to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix if it is too late to move them for this upcoming season due to scheduling.

The whole thing is a mess and until the bankruptcy proceedings are complete, it is difficult to see who can make decisions on Phoenix's future.

Winnipeg is a pawn that rates a mention because it may end up the landing zone of the team if all the other machinations fail.

The National Post is reporting that the snag in the Hamilton bid is the $120 million renovation that Copps Coliseum will need to get HHL ready.

I was a fan of the Jets. I still have an original Jets jacket. I don't think Winnipeg Jets fans should get too excited. At the moment all the discussions of bringing a team back to Winnipeg are at a level that doesn't included any Winnipeggers. Until that happens, it is doubtful we are going to see a team in the city.

In all likelihood, there is some other sucker who will foot the costs of Phoenix Coyotes in their present arena.



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CKX Part Deux

It looks like CKX has a new owner in this high stakes game of chicken that cable is playing with regular broadcasters.

Shaw has bought CKX.

Shaw already owns Kenora's TV station which it runs at a small profit. Let's see if they can do the same for Brandon.



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Bar Streets

Picture of Sixth Street bar scene in Austin, Texas

It started off with a contribution to the Free Press. It garnered many responses including one from Gail Asper.

The gist of the article is why weren't there any "bar streets" in Winnipeg. Several streets around North America are mentioned.

One thing we can try to combat on this perception is that there is not much to do. If Winnipeg had a cool bar street there would always be something to do: "Let's go for a cruise down Kindersley Street" or Riel Avenue or Coast Street or whatever. This is our chance to create something that could draw people (say to the best party city in Canada) for a vacation; people may actually choose to come here. Young adults of rural Manitoba I'm sure would come to the city more often. We could have something great like Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, or Electric Avenue in Calgary, or like many of the great college towns in the U.S .and Europe.

Bar streets don't happen in a vacuum. They come as a result of a desire of certain businesses wanting to cluster together and zoning allowing that to happen.

But where can that happen in Winnipeg? Well, in a city dominated by cars, it has to be a place with a lot of parking. It also has to be in a place where each of the bars is in close proximity to one another and feed off the excitement that crowds generate. Lastly, it has to be in a place that has a central attraction that create a lot of foot traffic.

The only place I can think of is downtown Winnipeg, specifically Portage Avenue Here's why:

Lots of parking.
Lots of space for restaurants and bars.
The MTS Centre.

Despite the fact that the MTS Centre has been around for a few years, it really only has Moxies and Tavern United in close proximity. This despite the fact that on some weekends, it can attract 60,000 people if three large shows happen. Father down each end of Portage are a few more restaurants and bars but there is very little cohesiveness to it all. Blush Ultra Club has been a bar location for a year. At 19,000 square feet and capacity of 1000 people, it never has been able to attract a counterpart where real club competition might happen.

On the southside of Portage in 2008, the Rinkside Restaurant and Bar opened up. It is a fairly small location but does add something for the eatery and sports mad fans in the area.

The need for a few more sports bars would go a long way too attracting even more people to the area prior to hockey and curling events.

So what can be done to attract more businesses to the area to create a true bar street?

I think the answer lies with Centre Venture. It should target a few empty buildings along Portage Avenue and call for tenders for restaurants and bars. At the moment, they are trying to do an office/condo combo for some Portage Avenue buildings but it just hasn't taken off.

The store front aspect should be focused on first and then the upper floors are likely to attract businesses who would welcome the hustle and bustle.



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Berkshares

I was going to mention this back a while ago but this seems to be the first opportunity to do so. USA Today no longer comes to the city. Shortly after the paper started, USA Today boxes could be found throughout the city. Don't know how long they lasted but it was years. After they were removed, the paper was available at some 7/elevens as well as the major book stores. No more. Since March of 2009, you cannot find a USA Today in any of the traditional stores. I have not tried Dominion News but you can't get it at McNally or Chapters.

USA Today content on the web includes all their print material but it is not the same as sitting reading the paper with its bright photos and great illustrations. I still think their mapping of the Inaugural in Washington showed how superior a newspaper is for some things.

USA Today often writes stories others don't cover which makes it an interesting paper. Back in early April, they wrote a story on Berkshares, a plan were local communities print their own paper currency during hard times.

The principle of the idea is that businesses and individuals form a group whereby they pay for a local currency at a discounted level. Usually that is around 5%. In other words, a person pay .95 cents for a currency worth $1.00 in local stores.

Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses. Since its start in 2006, the system, the largest of its kind in the country, has circulated $2.3 million worth of BerkShares. In Detroit, three business owners are printing $4,500 worth of Detroit Cheers, which they are handing out to customers to spend in one of 12 shops.

This has been advertised as a good thing for small towns but why not a city like Winnipeg?

The Downtown Biz already has the Blue Loony program but you only get a $1 coin after spending $20 worth of services. It is good for parking, transit or a number of businesses. I don't know if someone buys a dinner of over $100 whether they receive $10 coins. My understanding of it is no.

Interesting program for what it is worth. Would love to see it in Winnipeg.



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Roblin Boulevard 5

There have been a couple of business closing on Roblin as it passes through old Charleswood.

McIntyre's Meats went out of business suddenly in March. It is a shame. The business replaced Norman's Meats which went bankrupt about two years ago. McIntyre's showed well, the price was great, they had some great cuts of meat and some very yummy salads including Greek and pasta salads which I often mixed together.

Sangster's closed this April. It was a healthfood business and had been there a while.

Kel's Crease, a sporting goods place in the building that holds the 7/11 shut down at the end of last year. Something is about to move in as there is paper over the windows.

The Charleswood Hotel is coming down piece by piece. Kind of sad really.

One of the large open spaces that opened to a new business was at old Charleswood Daycare Center. That business went down when it was revealed that a pedophile was connected to it around 2005. The space stayed empty for a long time but is now occupied by a Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery center. I will reveal more about this in another update.

The former Books and Crannies on North Roblin is now Globosapiens. Still mean to get in there at some time.



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Post Office to become Cop Shop?

In a Free Press article, it was revealed that the Winnipeg Police are in formal talks to take over the Canada Post building on Graham.

The Public Safety Building, a Modernist design built in 1965 as part of the campus complex of the city that included the parkade and City Hall is literally falling apart. The price to renovate has escalated to the point that the city has decided it may be cheaper to buy a new facility than go through the hassle and inconvenience of finding temporary quarters for officers.

The Post Office was built in 1958 but has come available due to the fact the sorting plant and many other functions are being transferred to the airport and another downtown location in the year coming.

At the onset, it seems this decision is both a fiscally correct one and offers other intriguing possibilities for bringing some other police functions under one roof. The present post office covers a full city block and while there is some sense in moving its new location, it leaves a big hole in the downtown. The police headquarters could be the tonic.

So the big question is the Public Safety Building. Can it be saved? My view is that it might not be possible. The costs of fixing the problems might far too much compared to tearing it down.

And the question is: Who would want the building? There was Red River College musings but I can't imagine it would easy without someone footing the bill for repairs.

I've always found the building to be very modern and a little intimidating. Don't know how I'll feel about to being torn down but it is unacceptable to repair it for tens of million of dollars nor can it be left standing with pieces falling off of it.



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Plan for Nunavut-Manitoba road

CBC is reporting that a plan to build all weather road from Manitoba to Nunavut is almost complete.

The road would run from Gillam through to Churchill and then up to the Nunavut communities of Arviat, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet.

The construction would go a long way to developing the north, affirming our sovereignty and employing local people in the region where construction is taking place.

The question is whether the various governments will greenlight this project.



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Random Notes

As noted in Rise and Sprawl, Apple is opening a store in Polo Park in October.

Curious to see what is moving out.

Sephora moved into Tommy Hilfger's location since they have a big store already on Kenaston.

This will help Polo Park hold onto its position as a destination mall.

Too bad their food court is still the pits.

***

The election in River Heights is today. I think that John Orlikow would be the better councillor and last check, I heard he was elected. My feeling is Currier would have been too much in the vein of Katz who goes by the seat of his pants and doesn't really have a plan.

As far as trustee goes, there are a few there that might have been interesting. I don't know who would be the best. I think that is why former trustee Rita Hildahl was elected again. Name recognition and experience helped.

***



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Roblin Boulevard Part 4

Between Lynbrook Drive and Elmhurst Road are two auto repair stores. On the south side is the large George Rempel Auto Centre and almost directly opposite is smaller Dale and Ron's Roblin Auto Service. At one time, both stations may have had gas pumps but no longer.

Both businesses are quite busy with cars from George Rempel sometimes stretching down Lynbrook Drive.

At one time, Papas Restaurant had the fine dining niche to themselves on Roblin but they now have competition from Asahi down the street. Papas is located right up Elmhurst with parking in a fair sized lot behind it.

In between George Rempel and Papas is a series of home decorating shops. Vi's Interiors is one of the businesses. Braun Carpet is the other.

Whereas, the south side of Roblin is bounded by Lynbrook and Elmhurst, the north side is bounded by Royalgate Road and Hendon Avenue. The Charleswood Technical Centre is the on the western corner at Royalgate Road.

Dale and Ron Auto Service follows as you move west. A strip mall or sort start after the service station. After renovations in 2008, Charleswood Rental was replaced by a pet food company called Paws and Go. Immediately beside it is Globosapiens Bookstore Cafe‎ which was Books and Crannies until 2009.

Alongside the bookstore is FJO, a supplier of autoparts.

Continuing west and you find Ceramic Plus Dental Lab.

Palmer and Badger Accountants occupy the space next door.

West of the accountant's office is Robert Lee Martial Arts school is located. One of the pictures above is from their website.

The last place on the block before Hendon is the Charleswood Eye Center. It is both a retailer of glasses and an optician shop. I must say though that my wife went to get her eyes tested there and when she didn't get her glasses there because her health plan only covered glasses from Sears, the optician got a little huffy.

The businesses along this section of street are part of the old Charleswood with each offering unique services.



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Ikea Part 2

The road construction plans were revealed last week by the city of Winnipeg.

The road plan indicates that both Kenaston and Sterling Lyon Parkway will be expanded to nine lanes in each direction. The cost will be around $22 million and the $400 million project will take it around $6 million in taxes.

The full report is here including the lay-out of the retail outlets.

The Free Press reported that public hearing would reveal this:

On March 11, the city will hold an open house about the IKEA development, which will see the Swedish-founded furniture giant serve as the 350,000-square-foot anchor tenant for a development that will also include a separate 200,000-square-foot big-box store, two stores in the 140,000 to 200,000- square-foot range, numerous smaller stores, a 500-unit condo development, a 100-room hotel, a 16-screen movie theatre and a 150,000-square-foot office park.

Fairweather, the developer of the IKEA property has said that they will pay $26.5 million to expand roads at Kenaston, Sterling Lyon and Shaftesbury. In the end, after the city pay the developer back, they will only have paid $4.5 million. That's a lot of road but then we are talking about and a lot development.

It can't be seen in a vacuum. Waverley West and the Kapyong Barracks along with everything else that is connected to Kenaston has to be looked at in terms of traffic, livability and how it affects surrounding areas.

I personally think Ikea will be a good thing for the city. Much like how Old Navy and Sephora are desination stores, IKEA is the premiere destination retailer. People will come from all over the province, northwest Ontario all the way to Thunder Bay, and from eastern Saskatchewan. It is hard to say if it will attract people from North Dakota but it might for those who think two hours to come to IKEA is better than five or more to Minneapolis.

There will be Manitobans who have been making special trips to Edmonton and Minneapolis who will now stay in Winnipeg to shop.

All of this is good for jobs, taxes and to attract tourists.

On the negative side is the fact that Kenaston (Route 90) is ill equipped to handle the traffic that is booming up and down its length. In some ways it is becoming as important as Portage Avenue. It connects several important destinations in Winnipeg. The Richardson International Airport, Polo Park, Kenaston at McGillivray and Waverley West all depend on this road. It is far too narrow to handle traffic now.

The traffic signal timers that Sam Katz trumpeted more than a year ago for Kenaston don't work as we learned in December when traffic was backed up for as long as an hour or more heading out at the end of the day.

It is not enough to study just what is happened from Academy Road to McGillivray. The entire blueprint of Route 90 needs to be looked at how it will affect the task of simply going to the airport or home at the end of the day.

I support Ikea and at the onset don't have a major problem with the location. I prefer it to the possibility of an industrial park. The city does have to get its ducks in a row though.

Not everyone will be happy. Some along Kenaston will not be happy for sure but the writing has been on the wall for houses alongside the road for some time. The Not in My Backyard syndrome is strong all over the city. Some others are against the development in principle. They seem upset by the whole idea of malls and the like and advocate for the smaller local retailer as part of the community. I have sympathy for that thinking but it only goes so far. The nostalgia for tight knit communities runs smack dab into the reality of life now which is that we are mobile, work unusual hours, have a variety of interests and are looking for selection that reflects our personal tastes and style.

In other words, something like Ikea is the equivalent of the big box department stores of the past except that they are in suburbs rather than downtown.

Ikea is where the people much in the same way Eaton's was. Modern life.



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Corydon Avenue Part 1

Corydon Avenue has become a remarkably vital street for retail and for restaurants.

As you move westward through River Heights, the commercial aspects are broken up by large swaths of residential homes. Between Lanark Street and Renfrew Street, there are about 25 businesses, mostly located in the old Safeway store on the south part of Corydon in a 40,000 square foot building called the Corydon Village Mall.

The Free Press reports that longtime retailer Diamond Gallery has decided to build a new building at 1735 Corydon where Anglican Christ Church stood. The old wooden structure has given way to a facility that will have parking in front and a two story retail complex at the back of the lot.

The new building will be 11,000 square feet and house both the Diamond Gallery and other retailers. Presently, the Diamond Gallery is across the street so this move will double their present space.

Across the street and closer to Renfrew, the old strip mall that house's a Mac's was renovated. Mac's stayed and a Quizno's moved in at the other end of the mall.

This whole section of Corydon is probably best known for the restaurant Mona Lisa. Many don't don't know that this was Papa George's original location was. Prior to Papa George's, it was Georgie's.

Mona Lisa expanded into the barber shop next door and also instigated a specialty food store on the other side of the restaurant. A Royal Bank was on the corner of the Mona Lisa block and was later a comic book store. It now houses Luxe Label, a fashionable clothing store.

All in all, things are happening in this area of Corydon.



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MPI's Purchase of cityplace

Photo of cityplace (formerly Eaton Place) by buflyer200. North of Cityplace is the MTS Centre.

There has been a lot of noise in regards to the purchase of Cityplace by Manitoba Public Insurance (Autopac).

The building where MPI has leased space for 28 years was owned by another Winnipeg company Huntington which a Arni Thorsteinson entity. As noted from the picture above, the building is nine stories tall and connected to the MTS Centre to the north. There is also an indoor parkade with 1250 spaces.

Conservatives are up in arms about the purchase. The problem is that MPI is mandated to invest money to help keep premiums down. It is allowed to own property under that mandate. Up to this point, it hasn't owned any property and even after this purchase, it will only account for 2.5% of its portfolio.

As some bloggers have pointed out, it is not unusual for pension funds or Crowns to hold investments.

There are a certain amount of risks involved in real estate but that certainly has to be mitigated by the fact the MPI rents 80% of the space already.



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The loss of CKX

A news story on February 19 indicated that CTV was looking to sell its CKX station in Brandon, Manitoba. The CBC agreement to broadcast its signal over CKX's tower ends in the summer.

The advent of digital programming and the costs associated with it means that CKX is not needed by the CBC to get it signal to the Brandon area. CTV appears to have no interest in the market for its own use despite the fact that it serves over 125,000 people at present.

CKX was founded in 1955 and employs about 40 people.

One wonders how WDAZ can operate in Grand Forks in North Dakota and broadcast in digital no less.

Smaller market stations are threatened all over Canada at the moment as debt laden companies look to cut costs. Winnipeg has already played the part of pawn with stations like Joytv and CityTV changing hands repeatedly.

We already know that Joytv constributes next to nothing to local content and Citytv got rid of its evening newscast.

Now it looks like Brandon will have to get its TV news from Winnipeg. That is, if we don't lose our local news ourselves.



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Portage Avenue Part 4 Boyd Building

On the day before Christmas, the Free Press reported that investors had bought the Boyd Building. The investors also bought the two adjacent properties.

The building was constructed in 1912 and stands 9 stories tall. From about 1913 on, the Boyd has housed medical and dental offices. This remains true today although the building has been in need of a little upgrading for some time. A list of some of the businesses that have occupied the tower is here.

The new owners are also the builders of the Canada Post sorting plant being built at the airport.

In the Free Press story said the owners have come up with a $30 million proposal to renovate the building but also construct a 420 parking stall on the two adjacent properties, one of which is a vacant lot. The parkade would be 12 stories tall, slightly lower than the Boyd building itself.

The picture in the Free Press indicates that a lab and pharmacy would occupy the first two floors of the building and the other 10 floors would be parking.

Given what we have seen with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority building on Main Street, I believe the city should be very cautious about how this parking lot will look relative to the the streetscape. Moreover, access to the parking lot has to be given careful consideration. I am curious to see where the parking entrances and exits will be for the parkade.

The renovation and new construction of the Boyd might be very good or very bad. City Hall needs to make sure that Portage doesn't become more of an eyesore with a dreary parkade facade and ill thought out entrances to the lot.



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Polo Park 5/ Sephora

Just a short time ago, the Winnipeg Free Press asked its readers to tell the paper which stores did they want to see come to Winnipeg next after Ikea announced its intentions. Sephora was one of the stores mentioned along with Target and Crate and Barrel.

I had never heard of Sephora and why not? Well, it is a cosmetics company based out of France. Little did I know that people from Winnipeg actually make trips to Toronto or Edmonton to shop at this exclusive store.

Now word comes out that Sephora is building a 6000 square foot retail space in Polo Park. It will be their 13th location in Canada and the first outside Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. The store is moving into the Tommy Hilfiger location in the mall.

Tommy Hilfiger already has a location at the Kenaston and McGillivray so the closing of the Polo Park location might be nothing more than consolidation to a site with a lower rent and better parking.

Sephora should be able to do well at Polo Park and will be one more reason for shoppers to stay in the province for their purchases.



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Development in Winnipeg

Picture from the Winnipeg Free Press of the McDermot Street buildings Manitoba Hydro had intended to gut

One development after another in the city has run into trouble. Even the no-brainers somehow become bogged down with competing interests to the point that work gets delayed or cancelled. Sometimes developers when they do get the go ahead do a sleight of hand and underdeliver on their promises such as what is happening with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authorities office on Main.

It all goes back to City Hall. Some say we should stick to Plan Winnipeg which I agree should be a major force in decisions in the city. However, we also need a better response to developments that require a more fleetfooted decision making process.

Mayor Sam Katz seems a little light in actually showing some direction and council also seems incapable of doing anything but reacting. We need better plans on transit, transportation, housing, commercial development and recreational areas and facilities.

Seems to me that a open conference on even one of those areas would do the city some good. If one looks back to the success of The Forks, it came as a result of public hearings. If only North Portage had some of the same public involvement.



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