Winnipeg's Exchange District | East/West | Development

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by esquire

I thought the developer did a pretty good job matching the new part of the building to the old. You have to look fairly closely to realize that the upper floors are recent builds.

I suspect that if the extension gets built it would look a lot different considering that the rendering is nearly 15 years old. It would be fantastic to see Bannatyne become a walkable street on both sides.

Huh, I had forgotten that two-storey addition was meant to be the first phase of a bigger development.

If anyone does build next door, the sidewalk on the north side of Bannatyne Ave. would need to be extended.

It's remarkable that there isn't a sidewalk here, right in the middle of the east Exchange District, but I guess it's a reminder that it still wasn't that long ago (in Winnipeg Years) that this was the forgotten fringe of a warehouse district. Up until a few years ago, there was no sidewalk on either side of McDermot between Waterfront and Rorie (there's now one on the north side).

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

whoa wait what?

were they corked, or did you send them back just because you didn't like them? if the latter... you can *do* that? really? i would never have the courage.

They were corked and I didn't like them. I usually don't ever do that, because I'm nice in real life lol, but they were simply not good. Not cheap, but stupid young (2015-16) which is usually absurd for a high end restaurant unless it's a white wine.

It was actually hugely annoying that I couldn't find a bottle at the mid/just-over-mid price range that was enjoyable, considering they don't do cocktails... if you feature wine, you better ace wine. Next time I went, I just grit my teeth and went for a $90 bottle which annoyed my wife. But it was good.

Food is unreal though.

Originally Posted by buzzg

In terms of Albert Street – a small exclusive place could get away with horrible drink times, but you gotta fill that space to pay rent so 20-30 minute drink times and no food aren't going to cut it. At the end of the day it's a business not a passion project. Also, spreading out tables really far from each other to eat up space also kills ambiance. Who wants to go to an empty bar?

I agree.

They just make the best cocktails so I naively want them to succeed lol.

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Given the plodding nature of Winnipeg's economy, it's interesting to wrap our heads around the fact that there is suddenly this new company on the scene that is now swallowing up hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space.

I don't know shit about tech, but hopefully this pours gasoline on the fire... it's exciting to see th momentum skip has and I'd love to see the tech sector become a signature for downtown industry here.

[Urban recluse]

Originally Posted by esquire

I thought the developer did a pretty good job matching the new part of the building to the old. You have to look fairly closely to realize that the upper floors are recent builds.

I suspect that if the extension gets built it would look a lot different considering that the rendering is nearly 15 years old. It would be fantastic to see Bannatyne become a walkable street on both sides.

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-...spx?id=7340#i1

It is unfortunate Bannatyne between Rorie and Waterfront is yucky.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ That's always a risk in the tech sector, but what can you do? You have to ride the wave. For instance, Ottawa's IT sector is a shadow of what it was when Nortel was at the top of the world, but it still left a pretty rich legacy there.

FWIW Skip the Dishes is heavily into AI and other advanced fields that could be applied to many types of commercial operations... the food delivery thing is really just the public face of the operation.

Exactly. And you can't forget they were just acquired by a multi-billion dollar corporation for that reason, and because of their culture. Just Eat is essentially taking everything SKIP does from internal processes to consumer-facing applications and applying it all over the world – there really isn't anyone doing nearly advanced stuff as SKIP, anywhere. A lot of people don't realize that Just Eat doesn't even have delivery, it's just an aggregator.

Plus, one of the founders just left to pursue other tech industry opportunities, and he wants to bring more tech to Winnipeg. The fact that there are active recruitment campaigns going on all over the world for Bold and Skip is already doing wonders for putting Winnipeg on the tech map. There will likely be a lot of data/server centres popping up here soon due to cheap land and free cooling 8 months a year lol.

Originally Posted by wardlow

Huh, I had forgotten that two-storey addition was meant to be the first phase of a bigger development.

If anyone does build next door, the sidewalk on the north side of Bannatyne Ave. would need to be extended.

It's remarkable that there isn't a sidewalk here, right in the middle of the east Exchange District, but I guess it's a reminder that it still wasn't that long ago (in Winnipeg Years) that this was the forgotten fringe of a warehouse district. Up until a few years ago, there was no sidewalk on either side of McDermot between Waterfront and Rorie (there's now one on the north side).

When a development happens there it will be interesting to see what they do there as the parking lot is like 3 feet higher than the street. Likely why they never built a sidewalk. Won't be easy to level everything while keeping all the trees.

Originally Posted by Wolf13

I don't know shit about tech, but hopefully this pours gasoline on the fire... it's exciting to see th momentum skip has and I'd love to see the tech sector become a signature for downtown industry here.

^^^

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-...spx?id=7340#i1

It is unfortunate Bannatyne between Rorie and Waterfront is yucky.

It's just the difference of decades old brick vs. new brick. Eventually the colours will blend together. The style of the addition is on point with the original building, though... I doubt many people realize the top 2 floors are recent.

[buzzg]

^How old is that government building next door? Because that building and the addition on 140 Bannatyne are almost exactly the same.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

^How old is that government building next door? Because that building and the addition on 140 Bannatyne are almost exactly the same.

Over 100 years old!

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/customswarehouse.shtml

[Ando]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-...spx?id=7340#i1

It is unfortunate Bannatyne between Rorie and Waterfront is yucky.

Wow, you really bring out the trash every time someone says something mildly positive.

[Ando]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's just the difference of decades old brick vs. new brick. Eventually the colours will blend together. The style of the addition is on point with the original building, though... I doubt many people realize the top 2 floors are recent.

Yeah, but I'm sure they must have done it better in Halifax, or Edmonton, or ....

[esquire]

^ Yes, I concede that we are collectively humiliated by Halifax's superiority in heritage building vertical additions!

[Urban recluse]

Sadly true.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

Over 100 years old!

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/customswarehouse.shtml

So it shows it's not really a matter of aging necessarily, they just chose the wrong brick.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by buzzg

So it shows it's not really a matter of aging necessarily, they just chose the wrong brick.

the federal building also has been cleaned multiple times in its life and looked after

[wardlow]

Just saw that Berns & Black hair salon will be closing their doors on Main St. (near Bannatyne) and their stylists will be moving to other salons. This salon opened 10 years ago, when a whole lot less was going on in the Exchange District, and gave Parlour Coffee part of their massive floorspace to open in 2011. Will be very interesting to see what becomes of this space.

[esquire]

^ Very interesting. That space is probably a lot more desirable now than it was a decade ago.

[1ajs]

doesnt the owner of berns black also own the building?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by wardlow

Just saw that Berns & Black hair salon will be closing their doors on Main St. (near Bannatyne) and their stylists will be moving to other salons. This salon opened 10 years ago, when a whole lot less was going on in the Exchange District, and gave Parlour Coffee part of their massive floorspace to open in 2011. Will be very interesting to see what becomes of this space.

She was horrible to her staff and took such a big commission from them that once people built up clienteles, they all started leaving. She also charged her staff for products, which rarely (if ever) done at shops where you actually have employees as opposed to chair rentals. They all got fed up.

Originally Posted by 1ajs

doesnt the owner of berns black also own the building?

Yes she does. Another reason why staff were annoyed she was gouging them.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by buzzg

She was horrible to her staff and took such a big commission from them that once people built up clienteles, they all started leaving. She also charged her staff for products, which rarely (if ever) done at shops where you actually have employees as opposed to chair rentals. They all got fed up.

Yikes, this sounds awful. A similar thing happened at Hunter & Gunn salon in West Broadway: a series of gouging policies, so two stylists that had been there from the beginning up and left.... which is likely to lead to a new classic barbershop-style salon opening up in Wolseley/West Broadway this Spring.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by wardlow

Yikes, this sounds awful. A similar thing happened at Hunter & Gunn salon in West Broadway: a series of gouging policies, so two stylists that had been there from the beginning up and left.... which is likely to lead to a new classic barbershop-style salon opening up in Wolseley/West Broadway this Spring.

I believe some of them are part of the new Loving Barbers on Corydon IIRC?

[OverUnder]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I believe some of them are part of the new Loving Barbers on Corydon IIRC?

https://harvestbarbershop.com

Location will be in Wolseley.