Now that entire section of the mall is empty. Portage Place depresses me.

WTF??
man that bites ass. ah well I guess I have to drive to work and drive to get a burger at lunch time instead of walking.

Deank wrote:WTF??
man that bites ass. ah well I guess I have to drive to work and drive to get a burger at lunch time instead of walking.

I was just there last week and now it's all boarded up. The Chicken Sandwich meal and Whopper meal for $5 on tue. and wed. were good deals.

The closing of a Burger King. Wow, is that ever a loss to mankind.

The city really should have built those ten story apartment complexes on the ends of Portage Place. They can still technically do it now.
Portage Place. Winnipeg's White Elephant mall since 1987

I think I've been there once? Twice? I'm not real big on malls to begin with. But when I do go I want ease of access. So Portage Place would never really have been my first or second choice.

As for those that work downtown I imagine it could have some appeal but I doubt it ever was the type of mall the average shopper would use. You know the type where she arrives at noon and walks around the entire mall visiting every fricking store while I wait outside clutching the bags for previous purchases.

And then there are the too many ne'er-do-well's hanging around. People want to relax in their spare time. They don't want to worry about the fringes of society spoiling their day.

Now they are talking about rehabbing the promenade behind Portage Place. I believe the only way to re-hab that mall is give it more people. Build the apartment/condo towers originally planned as HA suggests. And make sure only a small percentage become Manitoba Housing units.

Why do any have to be Man Housing as since when do We owe someone a house if they are, have, decided to be a failure in life . Iam tired of paying for them , if they are disadvantaged fine but if they are just lazy screw um.

IMO, if there was a market for more of those condos/apartments, they would already have been built.

Believe it or not, only a few people want to live downtown and next to the strip (which Portage Avenue has become).

I believe there is a market. I also believe there are so many bureaucratic roadblocks and too few incentives to bother.

Winnipeg has a less than 1% vacancy rate. That screams demand. Winnipeg also has obscene rental laws that give developers pause. We need housing downtown yet the city and province do little to encourage true mixed use and affordable development. $300k condos are nice. Winnipeg could use some $150k condos as well.

Then there are the trouble-makers. Gotta put more police on the street (on foot) to ensure the area is always safe.

Once we build a certain critical mass downtown, day and night, many other good things will naturally follow.

No money in a $150K condo unless it's a rehab I believe.

Limited market (people with more than $150K to spend) plus rent controls....pretty much assures no developement imo.

Rent controls have nothing to do with new construction, I believe that over $1050 per month or so is not under rent controls.
Does anyone know the exact dollar?

Understood. It's what happens a few years down the road that concerns developers. That high rent threshold is fine if the market will bear nothing but new rental units over that threshold. Not sure how big that market is in Winnipeg...

You can only fill those apts in with Romanian immigrants... who, by the way, just love welfare cheques...

If someone built new apartment today, what would the rent be? Under or over that control level?
There was a post that made mention that under rent controls there were affordable apartments, but are the landlords eating thousands of dollars in lost profits because of those controls, and does anyone really care, as long as there are cheap rental units?
I used to deal , many years ago with some rental agencies, who told me that they had no real problems with the controls. They could upgrade and renovate and get increases in the rent to compensate for the renovations, if they did the proper paperwork. These were managers of the "better quality" apartments .
I think that the rents are pretty low in the suites in Winnipeg, and without the rent controls the costs to rent would skyrocket!
Anyone know?

rosencrentz wrote:Rent controls have nothing to do with new construction, I believe that over $1050 per month or so is not under rent controls.
Does anyone know the exact dollar?

Here's the deal...

The guideline applies to most rental units, including apartments, single rooms, houses, duplexes, mobile homes and mobile home lots. There are some exceptions:

•units renting for more than $1,095 a month
•units managed by, or for, the Government of Canada, Government of Manitoba or a municipality
•caretaker/employee units
•life lease complexes that are run on a non-profit basis
•rental units in hotels or motels
•units in nursing homes or personal care homes
•student housing
The guideline also does not apply to newer rental units. If a residential complex was built and occupied after April 9, 2001, the units are exempt for 15 years. If a complex was built and occupied after March 7, 2005, the units are exempt from the guideline for 20 years.

grumpy old man wrote:I believe there is a market. I also believe there are so many bureaucratic roadblocks and too few incentives to bother.

Winnipeg has a less than 1% vacancy rate. That screams demand. Winnipeg also has obscene rental laws that give developers pause. We need housing downtown yet the city and province do little to encourage true mixed use and affordable development. $300k condos are nice. Winnipeg could use some $150k condos as well.

Then there are the trouble-makers. Gotta put more police on the street (on foot) to ensure the area is always safe.

Once we build a certain critical mass downtown, day and night, many other good things will naturally follow.

I'm not convinced that there is large enough market for $150K downtown condos. I believe that a small market exists, but not large enough to make an impact on the scene.

Imo, when it comes to buying, people will choose a smaller single family with its own yard, etc. anytime.

But the point is that new construction is limited to the upper price ranges where the vacancies are static. It's in the medium price area that a vacuum exists imo. Rent controls keep it that way. They suck.

It's all my doing that Burger King Portage Pl. closed recently.

I had set the intention to the universe that it be closed because of the trashy humans that hang around at at that location.

At the same time I set the intention that it be re-located in Lombard Pl., which also needs new tenants and generally has nicer humans hanging around.

Yeah, the stroller brigade tends to avoid Lombard Place.....

Another mall that makes zero sense to me is the Fort Garry Place mall. My friend had a dey cleaning depot there for a few years, otherwise I would never have even known about it. The only foot traffic there is people from the offices inside the mall, totally dead. Why not advertise the mall? I don't get that place at all.

eastsider wrote:Another mall that makes zero sense to me is the Fort Garry Place mall. My friend had a dey cleaning depot there for a few years, otherwise I would never have even known about it. The only foot traffic there is people from the offices inside the mall, totally dead. Why not advertise the mall? I don't get that place at all.

I bet a lot of people don't even know it exists. I was shocked when I stumbled across it years ago.

jimj_wpg wrote:It's all my doing that Burger King Portage Pl. closed recently.

I had set the intention to the universe that it be closed because of the trashy humans that hang around at at that location.

At the same time I set the intention that it be re-located in Lombard Pl., which also needs new tenants and generally has nicer humans hanging around.

Nicer Humans? Forget about this?

Glad I don't do his laundry.....I could not help but notice all the peeps just walking by, totally oblivious......ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

LivingDead wrote:

jimj_wpg wrote:It's all my doing that Burger King Portage Pl. closed recently.

I had set the intention to the universe that it be closed because of the trashy humans that hang around at at that location.

At the same time I set the intention that it be re-located in Lombard Pl., which also needs new tenants and generally has nicer humans hanging around.

Nicer Humans? Forget about this?

He is the type of "nicer human" that does Winnipeg proud!

Did the plant survive?

I bank at that TD branch and I noticed last week that those planters are no longer there. Guess they don't want a repeat.