If you play around with the City of Winnipeg's property assessment map, it appears that the assessed values of a number of surface lots in the Exchange District and downtown in general are increasing, some dramatically so. e.g. The small surface lot on the northwest corner of Portage East and Westbrook is rising from an assessed value of $599,000 (2013) to a proposed assessed value for 2014 of $1,021,000. Just toggle between 2013 and 2014 at this site:
http://map.winnipeg.ca/AsmtPreview/A...EN&Maptype=ADV
Other lots, like the former McIntyre Block, jumped as well.