Bridgwater 2 - Waverley West

Bridgwater Centre

Bridgwater, this is the subdivision that is trying a few things differently.

The sidewalks for the residential area and the condos and multi-unit dwellings at the gate entrances are indeed a change from past developments.

One big failure of the residential component was not making an all out attempt at geo-thermal heating. The province blinked when they realized they needed a closed system because the water outside was too salty. The province, desperate for funds that the development gives them backed away from geo-thermal. Only a small area of the residential construction will have geo-thermal units rather than the whole development.

I think this just adds to the failure of the NDP government's promises on emissions where Gary Doer said if the government does not live up to the promise that they deserved to be defeated. Well, that was the last election and he wasn't there to face the electorate. And the promise on emissions was glossed over.

Still, there are a few elements of the development that are different that are worth considering. The Bridgwater Town Centre is being incorporated into the design of the subdivision running between the extension of Kenaston/Route 90. The development will include commercial, residential, retail and office space. By my count that is 1000 units of multi-family dwellings in a subdivision that until a few years ago would include none.

This seems important when you look at Whyte Ridge just down the street where there is full on protest about a condo complex going up just outside the fenceline. All cities have had city planning lest they want to have something like the Great Fire of London. Completely unregulated organic growth can be as bad as rigid planning. It is a balancing act and the repugnance for some about suburbia has to be measured by needs and wants.

If you don't build a subdivision you risk migration to areas just outside the city that might only be too willing to build. Impossible? Well, we see the province allow it every year and see it tax our road and infrastructure along the way. Winnipeg's urban planning is not just a city responsibility but a provincial one. And the province has shown an inclination to to let exurbia grow and grow. One wonders what our urban MLAs are doing. They outnumber our city councillors yet don't do more to ensure that the province makes sure that it doesn't contribute to poor planning.

In any event, the city competes with surrounding municipalities who have the province's blessing to build pretty much on city limits. The city of Winnipeg's response has to be to use land it has within its limits to suit the needs and wants of the citizenry while not overtaxing the system. It isn't an easy task and people in older areas of the city often feel anger at those in newer areas who drive through their neighbourhoods at high speed to get home. The division between urban and suburban grows greater. The Bridgwater Town Center could address the issue of a better mixed use than we have seen in a long while. There will always be architecture sneering. However, neighbourhoods evolve over years with expansions, paint, roofing and what might have been similar at the start, is not what it is now. Witness Wolseley and River Heights. It is difficult to see how Kenaston will split off and head down to the Perimeter in this development but the pictures above show that the town center is to between the split. Some have criticized this and there may be some justification if it isn't easy or safe for people living in the center to cross the road and access trails and sidewalks. Jury is still out on that one. However, in principle, it looks good and could be a useful density to ensure transit has a hub to work from.

 Kenaston remains a problem for the city. I don't blame Bridgwater for that. The blame lies with the city, the province and to some extent, the federal government for not investing in infrastructure and transit. I have be-moaned the loss of the CN line in River Heights and St. James as a huge loss for north south pedestrian and bike traffic. Short sightened, selfish and plain wrong resident of River Heights now have condos along that line. The smugness that once existed about foiling a low impact bike path but seem fairly bitter now. Once again, let's look at Bridgwater with its bike paths and pedestrian sidewalks. Now, which subdivision has it right and which one has it wrong?

So, for the time being, I look at Bridgwater and have no major beefs with it.

However, to the city I say: Develop and finance a good transportation and infrastructural plan for the city or risk electoral wrath.

Victoria Secret to Open in Polo Park

For some time Victoria Secret has wanted to open in Polo Park. As leases comes to an end for other retailers, especially Canadian ones, U.S. retailers have moved in hard

The closing of Victoria Secret's sister company La Senza Express was a good indication that something was afoot as well as moving signs for Cleo's and Ricki's.

Expect sometime in the summer once the above stores have moved for a fairly large Victoria Secret to open.

And the makeover for Polo Park continues.

Lowe's Coming to Seasons of Tuxedo

Overhead view of IKEA under construction
Back in March, it looked like the cat had been let out of the bag about the next retailer to move into Seasons of Tuxedo.

In March, Montez Core Income Trust bought 40% of Seasons of Tuxedo. In the process, they made this announcement:

Located at the corner of Sterling Lyon Parkway and Kenaston Boulevard in the city's southwest quadrant, it is a planned 1.5 million s.f. project on just under 200 acres. This is a new greenfield development and the Fund is participating in the southern half of the project which is an 834,000 s.f. outdoor centre shadow anchored by a 395,000 s.f. IKEA, a 77,000 s.f. Cabela's and a 100,000 s.f. home improvement retailer.

Um, the only official announcement has been Ikea and Cabela's.

Now, just down the street and both a Rona and a Home Depot sooo.. it won't be either of these big boxes going in.

This leaves Lowe's. We are the only province east of Quebec without one.

I won't say Menard's because I don't think they could open in the city without a distribution center for Canada.

So, you heard here first: Lowe's coming to Season of Tuxedo.

Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels

Violent Reaction in Whyte Ridge

The Southwest Corner of McGillivary and Dunkley Street

Look into the background and you can see Whyte Ridge. It is way back behind a fence.

A condo complex with no entrance into that subdivision warrants a 500 person petition and a verbally violent committee meeting where the police might have to intervene. Am I getting this right?

Assiniboia Community Committee of City Council - Councillors Paula Havixbeck, Grant Nordman and Scott Fielding approved a condo complex that seemed to go out of its way to ensure that it was not offensive. The step of having no entrance into the sub-division was a huge step. All traffic will enter and exit via McGillivary.

Now, I do have some thoughts on McGillvary. It is turning into a speedway to even further exurban subdivisions. Despite a recent widening, it may prove to be a bit tricky for left turns in.

However, one thing is obvious: Whyte Ridge's four lanes in and out to McGillivary is unaffected. They have controlled access to the McGillivary at Columbia Drive. They also have an entrance with lights to Kenaston at Scurfield.

So what is the concern of Whyte Ridge about a condo outside the fenceline and and away from its major traffic routes? Well, according to some people, it is a monolith looking into their yards? Really? I count maybe four or five house on Breckenridge Close and a few on Scurfield that are even close to the development. And these are pie-shaped lots with very large backyards.

How could a condo set back from the fence and houses set back from the fence upset one another? Even landscaping seems to be included that would mitigate consequences of overseeing one another?

It is hard to believe that Whyte Ridge wants a commercial development on the site. That is a realistic possibility given a movie theatre or Shopper's Drug Mart are down the street.

And what about runs past Breckenridge? It is high powered lines and a railyard? Aren't those far worse for the neighbourhood?



The old rail and Manitoba Hydro lines running past Whyte Ridge.

The site where the condo is getting is a mix of scrub bush, dirt or gravel road and a house and out buildings. It has a rural/industrial feel. And honestly, so close to Kenaston and being on McGillivary, it is hard to imagine it staying the way it is.

Perhaps, the residents of Whyte Ridge would like human remains to be kept there? No? Well, looky what goes up down the street next month.






St. Gianna's Church at the Corner of McGillvary and Columbia Drive

St. Gianna's Church goes up in a month. It is a $11 million Catholic Church with...

It will feature the first Columbarium Crypt in Canada. Yes, you read that right. A crypt. Of human remains. Beside Whyte Ridge.

Moreover, this is just phase 1.

Just imagining the cars involved. And those cars will be using an access point to Whyte Ridge.

There were no 500 person petitions against this church right up against the fences of houses in the community?

It is no wonder that city councillors were not swayed by extremely angry and possibly violent citizens. If this condo project could get turfed outside the fenceline, what next? Close the church? Pull the rail and hydro lines?

Come on Whyte Ridge? This isn't even inside the fenceline to your subdivision.

This reminds me of when The Keg got chased away from Waverley by Linden Woods residents because of people saying the smell of steak cooking across the street *opposite* the fenceline would make dogs nuts in the neighbourhood. I kid you not. That was what was in the meeting and Councillors backed down like a dog with its tail between its legs.

I hope the full city council takes the hysteria into account and ignores it. This project is not the end of the world for that neighbourhood.

It makes me think how smart it is to put condos and apartments in as a neighbourhood is being built as we are seeing in Bridgwater now.

Let this project be built. I'm sure that people now will be embarrassed later on about how they overreacted.

Gisele Bundchen flashmob at Sao Paulo airport

Bridgwater - Waverley West

Back in 2009, some critics of Waverley West were giving an earful about the slow development of the area and that demand was not there and it was simply drawing people from elsewhere. With only around 75 housing starts there and no firms stats on just how much the city was growing, it was a fairly easy conclusion to make.

Winnipeg's slower growth, it was assumed, was going to mean that any new neighbourhood built was going to de-populate established neighbourhoods and contribute to sprawl. There was evidence in the 1980s and 1990s that this was happening.

What the statistics show is that Winnipeg's population is indeed growing and at a faster pace that we have seen in decades. This has led to demands for more housing. The changing demographics also have altered in some cases what sort of housing people are looking for. The biggest example of that is Waterfront Drive where no population existed a few years back and where the next census is likely to reveal thousands live there now.

Now, I am going to get into the overall and sometimes divisive debate in regards to urban versus suburban versus exurban versus rural. Suffice to say, it is difficult to to tell people where and how they can live. Truth of the matter is that even the oldest neighbourhoods started off as developments including Point Douglas. A great deal of thought needs to go into how the city develops because a too heavy handed approach will be ignored and a too light approach will result in a Sim City meltdown of the community.

The attractiveness of Point Douglas from early on, for example, was diminished by the quickly rising wealth of the city and an increase in house size.

This has been a trend that has manifested itself decade after decade although some evidence suggests that the trend could be changing due to an ageing population, smaller families, expense, transport energy cost, cultural mores and a whole host of other factors.

As mentioned, changes in people needs and desires is a moving target. And this has meant that a need and a desire for a development like Waterfront Drive arose.

The breakdown of Waterfront Drive home-owners is young professionals, people who have sold larger primary homes and want luxury but not on the size scale they might have had in Tuxedo or Linden Woods and lastly, people who work downtown.

However, this is not about urban versus suburban. It is about needs and wants in the population and how to manage those desires in terms of planning and costs.

The one thing I will say is that the government must ensure that the costs of such neighbourhood expansion are built into the development or it will not sustain itself and end up costing money later on. In other words, if taxes shoot through the roof as they did in the 1980s, there will be an inevitable exodus of tax dodgers running to places just outside city limits.

However, if you don't address the needs and wants of the population with a development they like, you may also have an exodus of people outside of the city jurisdiction. And if poor city planning turns existing neighbourhoods into speedways to the suburbs, the older neighbourhoods will lose desirability and possibly become run down.

There is an element within the city that wants a sub-division like Bridgwater. It is no use getting angry at people who don't want to buy a re-sale market home, want a yard, want something new and so on and so on. The psychology of this is well documented if not well understood by those who don't share the thinking.

So, it is a balancing act for a city to provide disparate people who have various incomes and several needs and want, the right make-up for a successful community.

In terms of Bridgwater, the expense of getting there is not fully costed. Route 90/Kenaston has not even given a budget for replacing the St. James Bridge or expansion of the road to three lanes in each direction. Already, tens of millions has been spent on expanding around Kenaston Commons and Ikea. All told, it may that costs climb to few hundred million. That isn't just idle talk either. The cost of a road construction as a rule of thumb is $1 million per kilometer. Add the cost of the bridge is and it is huge money.

Why bring this up in relation to Bridgwater? Well, the success of the place could and will be affected by people trying to get in and out of there. If everything bottlenecks, there will be a rising fury about it and people may just decide to bypass the area for housing, shopping and recreation.

The synchronized lights have rarely worked since being installed and more and more traffic lights go up all the time. More businesses have gone up in the business parks along Kenaston all the time. Canadian Western Bank is under construction by Tim Horton's in the GoodLife Fitness parking lot. It is a zoo in the that area every evening.

So, back to Bridgwater...

It is proceeding rapidly now. Just how fast? Well, I see clients with street names listed that I don't have a clue where they are. You can't even Google where they live since it was just a field a few months ago.

And what of the development itself?

What special attractions does it offer that will inspire the same loyalties we see in those who live in River Heights, Charleswood, St. James, Wildwood Park or Transcona?

For example, River Heights has its stately homes and tree-lines streets, Charleswood has the ditches, gravel roads and rural feel, St. James was the first to have winding roads and larger yards, Wildwood Park with its backlanes and front of the house facing a park and Transcona with its affordable homes and community ties.

Well, it would appear that the the winding road one might expect in Linden Woods and Whyte Ridge are there. Likewise, the lakes and parks with trails. However, the community also has sidewalks for the streets which have not been in style in nearly fifty years. A component of green space forest exists and trails runs through it. And like a lot of suburbs, fencing and berms for sound and visual privacy surround the neighbourhood.

So what else is new? Well, unlike its suburban counterparts, there are condos and townhouses within the fencing of Bridgwater. The big fights about a condo going up in Linden Woods are not happening here because there multi-unit buildings are up even before the regular housing is. Significantly, the condos are up near the entrances to the sub-division. If residents do seek to use transit, there may be numbers to support it just outside on Waverley.

One of the things promoted in the development is the idea of a town center. Most suburbs shun anything of the kind. A few critics have scoffed at the whole thing.

To be continued in part 2.

Skye Sweetnam - (Let's Get Movin') Into Action

Just to get your Monday started.

The Next Tall Building in Winnipeg

Skye Halifax is 150 meters tall in the planning process

Who will have the taller buildings in five years: Winnipeg or Halifax? Well, if the newly bold Halifax continues with development plans, it will be Halifax.

And so might follow Saskatoon and Regina after that.

And Winnipeg? Well, who knows?

Now, no city should measure its success or virility based on skyscrapers. The completion of the Burj Khalifa is evidence that building a tall tower for the sake of building it could be quite costly. The tower has plenty of empty space and rents are 40% down.

Still, taller buildings supporting mixed uses can be highly effective in creating a vital community without the sprawl that taxes our infrastructure budgets and time management in terms of transportation.

So let's look at big Halifax project: It is called Skye Halifax and will have two towers called the Twisted Sisters standing at 48 floors each! The plan calls for a mix of condos and offices. The tallest building in the Maritimes now is the former Dalhousie residence building called Fenwick Towers at 33 floors. In actual height it is shade under 55 Nassau.

The height of Skye is 150 metres and the cost will be $350 million. There are still hurdles to pass as height restrictions have been in place in Halifax for some time so that buildings will not overshadow the Citadel. However, the grandiose design and the money involve have people re-thinking things. Perhaps it is because the old experience of Halifax and a tall tower is Fenwick. Unloved and unheralded in design, it likely made people cautious.

We'll see shortly if this Halifax project gets off the ground.

So what do we have in Winnipeg?



One of the buildings to go up with some height in the last year was the 13 floor Pembina Hall residence building in the fall of 2011. The cost for even this modest development was $42 million and the technical snags were many including students being caught in a failed elevator

Prior to that was the Manitoba Hydro building at 22 floors in the downtown in 2005.

The tallest buildings presently under construction are the Human Rights Museum and the Winnipeg Stadium.

Most other highrises are still in the planning stages or have been chased away altogether. The Canad Inns hotel at the Health Sciences Centre is under way now. The tower across from the MTS Centre is also under construction.

However, now we have to ask what next and where? And is it possible to build something greater 20 floors?

The conclusion would have to be yes if opposition doesn't scuttle the idea.

The quickest solution to getting some density and taller buildings might be to sell Portage Place parking to the developer who comes up with something for the two pads on the east and west ends of the mall. CentreVenture squatting on the mall parking does nothing to develop the site. Seems they could net some cash and kickstart either hotels or condos atop Portage Place.

It seems a missed opportunity with Winnipeg Square where the sale of the parkade could have kickstarted a hotel or condos on Trizec 2's pad.

The new construction of the Convention Centre might also be ideal for a few towers if multiple parties are brought together to see how to feed off the synergy of the main building.

Aside from a few obvious places downtown where an office/condo tower might work, there are some potential places in and around the vacated golf course for some residential development although the cries against traffic will be be loud.

A plan B for the Fort Rouge yards should be in place because it hard to see if they residences there will be built or not. There are some potential sites along Henderson, Portage and Pembina.

What will drive any tower in Winnipeg though will be residences. Condos will be needed for seniors, young professionals and for families who can't afford housing. Rental places are in desperate need.

It is unlikely we are to see an office tower of any height go up without the money that comes in from condos.

So will Winnipeg get on top of that?

Well, time will tell but it seems just as likely we might complain about any tower even if it was going up on a gravel parking lot in the downtown of the city.

Richardsons to Buy Part of Viterra

The Richardson family continues to be one of the strongest business entities in Canada all the while based in Winnipeg.

Today we learn, the Richardsons will pick up part of Viterra as the Regina-based company is bought up by Switzerland's Glencore International.

Despite the sale of large chunks of the Viterra company, it will remain headquartered in Regina.

We didn't end up so well when Viterra bought up Agricore United a in the past decade. Even now, huge gaps in the once filled Canwest building remain open due to the the purchase and closure of the grain offices (compounded by Canwest being grabbed by Shaw as well).

There had been some promises that Winnipeg wouldn't be so bad off from the purchase of Agricore United but alas, hundreds of employees were shed from the head office that was numbered around 500.

And Agricore's loss came on the heels of United Grain Growers and Agricore joining together. At that time, hundreds more lost their jobs. At least in that event, it was two Winnipeg companies joining forces.

As the Canadian Wheat Board ends (with the loss of hundreds of jobs there as well), the once great agricultural enterprises that employed so many seem to be dwindling.

I wonder how long it will be before we ask: how do we preserve the old Wheat Board building or what should go in there?

Anyways, it is hard to have too much sympathy for Viterra given we got thrown under the bus when they took over Agricore. The Richardsons pick up more grain trading business for a shade under a billion. Agrium from Calgary picks up all the retail stores. Glencore picks up the overseas businesses and makes Regina its base in Canada.

It is hard to measure what value that promise has from Glencore. As much as the promise Winnipeg had from Viterra?

Glencore is in the middle of a even greater $90 billion merger with a mining corporation. Hard to imagine where they will be or where their head offices might exist even a few years from now.

Th Richardsons are not likely to go anywhere. With any luck, this will result in more head office jobs and more economic spin offs for the city.

Likewise, Paterson and Cargill appear to be entrenched in the city.

However, the downtown continues to remain littered with hundreds of jobs lost in agriculture. It is hard to imagine that the end of the Canadian Wheat Board will spur a new movement of ag business that will replace what was lost.

And in many cases what does exist may ultimately be owned and controlled in places like Switzerland.

It will be an interesting year ahead.

T-Mobile What Britain Loves

Upper Fort Garry

Manitoba Club and Upper Fort Garry Gate



All that remains of Upper Fort Garry

Too many calls for money, too many preservation projects that need government money, no timelines for getting projects done, too few deep pocketed donors and the constant chasing away of businesses that do want to invest.

It is no way to get things done.

Seed money can be helpful for projects as we have seen in condo development downtown and how it has leveraged a significant private investment. However, things like the Millennium Centre, Upper Fort Garry and the Human Rights Museum always seem to be fighting for viability and starved for cash.

It is particularly galling when preservation projects end up looking similar or worse than what was planned. The Millennium Centre in the CIBC building chased away Cowboys from Calgary only to become and under utilized and not so well known...banquet hall.

And now the Friends of Upper Fort Garry are turning the Fort Garry site into a parking lot for at least two years.

Have to say this is pretty discouraging. Makes you wonder if the project will even get off the ground. It might be 2015 or 2016 before shovels are in the earth. Who is to the say that some of the principle players driving this are going to still be around? Not to be morbid but the length of time for development exceeds a lifetime for some people.

A surface lot isn't doing anyone any favours in the area except maybe the Manitoba Club and the guests there for dinner.

I compare this to land that the province sat on behind Broadway not helping the area around the Convention Centre. The stubborn refusal to consider all development options for that section of land left them windswept lots. And that has lasted decades and the Convention Center was isolated.

It is hard to stay upbeat in the city when bold plans wait years and sometimes decades and what we get is a parking lot.

Not easy to say this will be for the good of the city in five or ten years when it hurts so badly now.

Government Building Downtown

The provincial government has stepped up moving and consolidating offices in the downtown area. Some people have said this is not true development as it is government, others are against it for the simple reason that it is government pure and simple.

I'll set aside the libertarian view we should not have government or extremely little of it. Suffice to say, Winnipeg has had a high level of all three governments making a base of the city for delivery of their services. I don't have to go back far in our history to see what unbridled private delivery of business services meant. In some cases it meant a shoot out if we go back to the Hudson's Bay and Northwest Company rivalries.

However, as I said, I won't go into an anti-government or anti-business screed. I believe we try to limit the overreach of government but I happen to believe that there needs to be balance. To that end, I think all three levels of government need a strategy in the province of Manitoba to promote density, sustainability and best land use through re-development. And wherever possible use this strategy to leverage private investment.

If you look all up and down Portage Avenue, for example, many of the office buildings there have had some form of government office in them. I am not exaggerating in the least. While some of the buildings had a geographic reason to be in the area (such as the former post office building...later CJOB building), many of the other offices were leased just because space was needed.

In short, government offices have helped fuel suburban office development for years.

The provincial government as well as the federal government have always had offices downtown but not so much a plan. The province has placed lots of offices on Broadway over the years and it has helped give that street vitality. It has made sense given the fact that the legislature was right there on the same street. Only problem is that the province's strategy meant sitting on surface lots behind Broadway for decades contributing to a lack of density around the Convention Centre.

The province has been hit and miss in recent months about leasing or helping fuel a building cycle downtown lately. It is leasing space in an old Air Canada building at 352 Donald Street and a space at 287 Broadway and then again at 777 Portage Avenue. Those are the hits. The misses are calls for companies to make offers of property and then not following through.

Even a small amount of leased space can trigger millions of restoration. And so it is the case with 111 Lombard Avenue where Brick's Fine Furniture used to be located. It is an attractive building with a parkade across the street and surface parking lot beside. Despite the fact the building reno will include an expansion into vacant space, it seems the province probably can't help think it is attractive with the parking.

The proper investment by government in offices that they need can be the beacon for further development. Some interesting things are happening in terms of this investment now. It could and should be even better.

A plan should be in place to slowly move things to more central locations in a community here and elsewhere in Manitoba. Placing a very large building with tax people near the fringes of the city should be something thought of as unusual in the future.

There are good places downtown. However, they need people. Those people primarily come from those who live in the area. However, central location for sport, entertainment and office workers helps elevate a downtown to one that is busy with activity all day and all night.

More people equals more safety in that it generally translates into an abundance of eyes and ears to report break ins, aggressive behaviour and the like. Think of how most people feel when they are in The Forks: generally secure and happy to be there.

In 2013, it might be a surprise some of the things that are happening downtown. I can't think of anything so strong since the 1980s and the Core Area Initiative and its beginnings. Sadly, what eventually happened as that the focus became just on Portage Place and The Forks and too much in between fell by the wayside.

Rigged Elections

It is rather astonishing the revelations about the robo-calls that took place in the federal election last fall that misdirected voters away from where they were supposed to go or tried to confuse or anger voters. The Conservative party has been implicated in this using technical gadgetry and voter lists that are in their possession.

The Conservative response has been two-fold. One is to accuse the opposition of doing the same and two, to say that it is the work of one individual. One Tory staffer has resigned.

Rigged elections are nothing new in Canada. We have seen both the NDP and PCs in Manitoba use fraud, voter suppression, illegal advertising or spending or plain stealing or questionable ballots or theft of voter boxes. The Filmon Progressive Conservatives faced the wrath of the electorate over tactics used to split the NDP vote.

The NDP learned from this and ensured no investigation was ever done on the 1999 election campaign where they used union workers resulting in $76,000 that had to be returned to Elections Manitoba. Bit of a sweetheart deal and no further inquiry was made. Ancient history for some but we have seen continued suppression by the NDP of their part in illegal activity. And in the most recent election, we saw some gaming of the system when reporters were invited to the birthing centre in contravention of the law.

But Manitoba provincial politics is not what we're talking about here. It is the federal Conservatives under Stephen Harper who may have really stepped in it. The machinery of the Conservative party has been used to disrupt election intentions.

Lists of people who identified as Liberal were used to make calls to turn the tides in an election. This is considered breaking the law.

The RCMP should be contacted and a complete investigation done by Elections Canada.

There are probably many Tories laughing at all this. Some might be saying: So what? Other might accuse the Liberals or NDP of doing worse over the years.

The truth is they should be concerned. If someone was able to access their lists, their vote call machinery and a budget to make those calls, they should be sweating. It bespeaks of a lack of control at the top.

If it turns out a lot of people were involved, it might prove bad as well if charges are laid.

The Conservatives might think: Oh, we'll win this in court. Like we always do. Or in the court of public opinion, we'll win.

However, think of Gary Filmon and his shock when people actually did remember the fraud from the previous election.

Sephora's Open in St. Vital

There was a lot of excitement when the store first opened in Polo Park. Now one has opened in St. Vital Shopping Centre.

I visted the Jets Gear store in St. Vital. Some say it is small but it looked to be not too bad in size. It was kind interesting to see the variety of products offered. I ended up getting a Jets T-shirt.

It is my hope that there will be a Jets summer sale of products in s similar vein as the Bomber Locker Room Sale at the end of football season.

The one thing that St. Vital does so well is host things like the three times a year Children's Hospital Book Sale. Some criticize the malls fro a variety of ills but this event really brings out so many people from all over the store.

Polo Park has nothing even remotely similar.

The major shakeout in retailing continues. I suspect that Polo Park and St. Vital will continue to compete for top international retailers while places like Kildonan, Garden City snd the like look to more local and national retailers.

I saw signs indicating that Australian jeweller Michael Hill is opening soon in St. Vital as well.

Cabela's To Open in Seasons of Tuxedo

Cabela's to open full size store in Season's of Tuxedo on the Ikea site.

The store will be the largest in Canada at 72,000 square feet over Edmonton and Saskatoon stores.

To put in perspective for Canadians familiar with East Grand Forks Cabela's, the Winnipeg store will be 12,000 feet larger than that.

More information on the store to come.

However, the will also include bike trails, traffic circles and many trees.

Banana Republic and Ivivva Athletica Opening in Polo Park

Gap and Old Navy sister store Banana Republic is slated to open in Polo Park in the near future.

Also opening is Lululemon little sister store Ivivva Athletica. I say little sister since it exercise clothes for girls.

The move for Banana Republic was made possible when Nygard didn't renew their lease and Quilts Etc moved near to The Bay. And why would they? It is fairly clear that Nygard with a large property on Kenaston has made the same choice that Tommy Hilfiger did.

And why make that choice? Well, it is expensive being in a mall like Polo Park. They are chasing a young crowd and the customers that Nygard wants are closer to Kenaston one would think.

It is quite the transformation for Polo Park and it will continue as they try to have some stores no one else has in the city. For some retailers, they will find their options better elsewhere.

As for Ivivva Athletica, they are extremely young and female in orientation. Lululemon already had line ups through the mall. I expect this store to be no different.

Is it possible for a mall to too young and too female? I guess we shall see if Harry Rosen and Apple decide to make their move elsewhere.

Official 2012 Honda CR-V Game Day Commercial - "Matthew's Day Off" Exten...

Ferris Bueller's Honda Day Off

Bits and Bites

Globosapiens Used Bookstore in their new location on Portage (top picture) and old one on Roblin (bottom picture)

Last year Globosapiens Used Bookstore closed on Roblin Boulevard. Thought it was gone for good but it took over the spot on Portage Avenue once the location of The Chronicle, a hemp shop. Don't know what the quality of the bookstore is but any used book store is good for the city.



Sydney Morning Herald travel column

I had meant to talk about this a couple of time and it was once again mentioned in brief in the Free Press in the last weeks about the Sydney Morning Herald.

Unlike a lot of travel column writers, the Australian writer did not come for the main attractions like museum or a festival. He came for the flavour of the city. That is not something easy to see for someone to find.

How do we define ourselves? What are we proud of? What attractions do we love and want to show off?

Going downtown is not going to wow someone unless they are at The Forks or attending an event like Fringe. The downtown can be desolate place a lot of the time. I can't tell you how many times people have mentioned how empty it seems or how threatening it is.

The place our intrepid travel found to be the real Winnipeg was found in Osborne Village.

As a backpacker, our traveller says this:

So what does Winnipeg have going for it? On the surface, not much. This is a city that counts a difficult intersection (the aptly named Confusion Corner) as a famous landmark, which should tell you all you need to know.

The tourist brochures would point you towards the Manitoba Museum, an undoubtedly interesting collection of artifacts and historical pieces in the town centre. But I'm not much of a museum goer, so that was only going to keep me amused for a couple of hours.

Sooo, no museums for our fellow. Guess Human Rights Museum wouldn't rank high either.

Not all travellers will be be attracted to such things.

So off to Osborne Village our reporter went:

But help was at hand. That friend I once travelled with was still living in Winnipeg and she'd offered to meet up for a drink. We were going to Osborne Village, she said, the artsy, creative side of Winnipeg that I only realized existed after I was told we were meeting there.

And that's when Winnipeg started to make sense.

You know how dodgy, rundown suburbs seem to become cool over time? How places such as Surry Hills in Sydney used to be no-go zones until the artists and musicians moved in and suddenly the people who wanted to be around artists and musicians followed suit?

Winnipeg is on the cusp of that transition. It was never dodgy - just dull. But it was also cheap and the government offered incentives for creative types to move in, so the artists and musicians packed up their vans, tackled Confusion Corner and settled down on the prairies, completely changing the city's landscape.

There have been a few people who mention how the Shopper's Drug Mart will destroy this unique culture. I don't particularly buy it. A displaced video rental store and one restaurant won't do it.

Having said that, a well designed multi-story Shopper's could have addressed a few concerns about diversity, density and design.

Is it too late? Would have loved a Vi-Ann overlooking Osborne from above. And a Movie Village could have found a home in that concept as well.

Anyway, all is not lost. Osborne Village is a work in progress and people continue to want to live there. And that is a good thing.

Our reporter had this to say in the end.

It would probably shock the customs guy as much as the rest of Canada, but the city I found is not just cold - it's cool. Who'd have thought?

Not James Turner but he might know the guy

James Turner has been a reporter in Winnipeg since 2005. He has bounced around from one media group to another but is now at the Winnipeg Sun. Good reporter. Too bad he can't do the headlines as well since the stories are good, the headlines cringeworthy.

There is no truth to the rumour that he is creating the Turnerington Post.






Academy Road, Bejeweled and Frenchway

Some closures of businesses on Academy Road. Bejeweled, across the Street from Starbucks is shut down. Likewise, Frenchway restaurant.

Both have been around for a couple of years.



Charitable Giving

We have seen a number of stories of charitable giving in the last years from gifts to the universities to hospitals to the human rights museum.

The Silverberg's gift to the Jewish Foundation which in turn will gift others such as the Humane Society and Manitoba Branch of the Cancer Society will be lifetime contributions. The $8.5 million will go far.

Similarly, the contribution by Laurie Johnson, a retired pharmacist of $1 million split between Riverview Health Center and Misericordia Health Centre is a remarkable gift.

I contribute monthly to the Winnipeg Foundation. I hope that when I am long gone, my family will be deciding on what things in Winnipeg to fund in perpetuity.

Seasons of Tuxedo

Seasons of Tuxedo from SPINE on Vimeo.

It has been busy in terms of Kenaston Route 90 and the IKEA/Seasons of Tuxedo site.

Two separate announcements but related in every way. The first is that there is a video showing what Seasons of Tuxedo will look like. Yes, it will be different from a lot of malls: It will have traffic circles. Most likely they will work better than the ones in River Heights.

As far as malls go, it resembles what Polo Park once was which was a mall with open air components. At 1.5-million-square-foot commercial feet, the site will rival Polo Park. The 395,000 square foot IKEA is proceeding well. Lots of construction on site and the opening remains fall of 2012.

Seasons of Tuxedo is slated for 2014 or 2015. If I had to guess the first components might be earlier than that. For example....a movie theatre complex. My view is there might be a race on to capture the new market with three malls forecast in the near future: Seasons of Tuxedo, the new mall west of Assiniboia Downs and the stadium site at Polo Park. Add to that the proposed factory outlet mall with no start up date or location announced for Winnipeg yet.

As this all goes on, Kenaston creaks and cracks. A city committee has targeted houses for purchase to expand to 6 lanes of Route 90 traffic. Keep in mind that there is no budget to purchase, no plan for the St. James bridge, no timetable on the Kapyong Barracks and no end in site to probably the most expensive traffic corridor in the history of city of Winnipeg.

Helllo? IKEA is in a few months. Hundreds of houses are being built every few months in Waverley West.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Think we need a tri-level meeting of government now as this is problem that will go boom. It is already going boom.

Anyways, nice mall by the looks of it. Too bad the best traffic management is probably inside the site itself.