Winnipeg - Of Interest

[wags_in_the_peg]

Check out Dan Harper drone video on Twitter, I’ve never seen the river this low. A car has appeared!https://twitter.com/danharperphoto/s...324624908?s=21

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Except the lights on Portage Avenue are authentic. They’ve been there for more than a century. The ones in the Exchange District are from a catalogue in the 1980’s.

Actually, the lights on portage are modern reproductions. The city put them in in the last 20 years.

.. Didn't notice esquire already pointed this out

[esquire]

A truck hit the Portage and Donald skywalk causing some damage. The skywalk is now closed.


source: cbc.ca

I always thought this was one of the more curious skywalks downtown. It's one of the oldest but also one of the most lightly used. Hardly anyone is ever in there, even on arena game days. It connects directly to the Somerset Building. I guess technically that skywalk goes as far as the Radisson Hotel but the link is pretty awkward and I'm not sure many people actually pass through it, or even know it exists.

[borkborkbork]

tactical urbanism, remove the skywalks by any means necessary

[cllew]

Originally Posted by esquire

A truck hit the Portage and Donald skywalk causing some damage. The skywalk is now closed.


source: cbc.ca

I always thought this was one of the more curious skywalks downtown. It's one of the oldest but also one of the most lightly used. Hardly anyone is ever in there, even on arena game days. It connects directly to the Somerset Building. I guess technically that skywalk goes as far as the Radisson Hotel but the link is pretty awkward and I'm not sure many people actually pass through it, or even know it exists.

Last time I walked thru it you had to have a access card to get thru the door to the Radisson parking level which would take you to the elevator lobby. If you didn't have one you have to go down the stairs / use the Somerset elevators to the main floor and walk outside to the Radisson lobby doors.

Eaton's probably made use of it when their store was open as they had some admin offices in the Somerset Building. My former neighbor worked in a financial job for Eaton's that was based in the Somerset Bldg.

From a historic note when that one to Somerset was built Eaton's proposed one on the west side going into the BMO tower at 330 Portage but it never happened as BMO had their Manitoba data center / cheque processing area on the 2nd 3rd and 4th floors and did not want to move them.

It took BMO closing their Data Center in Manitoba and Portage Place wanting a link to Eaton's for that link to finally get build.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cllew

Last time I walked thru it you had to have a access card to get thru the door to the Radisson parking level which would take you to the elevator lobby. If you didn't have one you have to go down the stairs / use the Somerset elevators to the main floor and walk outside to the Radisson lobby doors.

Eaton's probably made use of it when their store was open as they had some admin offices in the Somerset Building. My former neighbor worked in a financial job for Eaton's that was based in the Somerset Bldg.

From a historic note when that one to Somerset was built Eaton's proposed one on the west side going into the BMO tower at 330 Portage but it never happened as BMO had their Manitoba data center / cheque processing area on the 2nd 3rd and 4th floors and did not want to move them.

It took BMO closing their Data Center in Manitoba and Portage Place wanting a link to Eaton's for that link to finally get build.

Interesting explanation, thank you cllew. The Eaton's factor would certainly make for a sound rationale for the Somerset connection. Maybe it was busier at one time, but that is probably a skywalk link that could be removed with hardly anyone noticing. Although maybe some people use it to get to the Radisson parkade after Jets games?

As for the reference to the BMO data centre at 330 Portage, was that why the tower was built? I always thought it was curious that BMO was at 330 Portage, then barely a decade later they were behind the tower at 333 Main, then by the 90s they had removed most of their more senior corporate offices from Winnipeg altogether.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by esquire

A truck hit the Portage and Donald skywalk causing some damage. The skywalk is now closed.


source: cbc.ca

I always thought this was one of the more curious skywalks downtown. It's one of the oldest but also one of the most lightly used. Hardly anyone is ever in there, even on arena game days. It connects directly to the Somerset Building. I guess technically that skywalk goes as far as the Radisson Hotel but the link is pretty awkward and I'm not sure many people actually pass through it, or even know it exists.

theres a mall up there in the somersett along with a data center and cirect access to the raddision parkade

[bomberjet]

Has Canad Inns bailed on the Somerset project? Can't remember what happened with the heritage designation for parts of the building.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Has Canad Inns bailed on the Somerset project? Can't remember what happened with the heritage designation for parts of the building.

From CTV Winnipeg:

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/downtown...tion-1.4927922

[esquire]

Interesting tidbit in today's Free Press about 201 Portage getting its elevators totally overhauled:

Elevator overhaul

Lifts at city’s tallest office tower undergoing complete makeover

The 30-year-old elevators at 201 Portage Ave. are undergoing a complete modernization, as downtown workers trickle back into Winnipeg’s tallest office building.

Twelve elevators in the 420-foot tall, 33-storey building are getting a total upgrade. Every moving part on the elevators, every bit of wiring, all of the finishes, and the entire control system are being replaced or refurbished, a painstaking process that began at the Harvard Developments property last spring and won’t be complete until 2022.

"It’s a 100 per cent changeover," said Trevor Rebeck, the district manager of TK Elevator, formerly ThyssenKrupp Elevator. And in the company’s estimation, it represents the largest elevator modernization in the city’s history.

More here: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bu...575789202.html

[Biff]

Love this drone shot by Dan Harper
https://twitter.com/DanHarperPhoto/s...27880973643778

[esquire]

Wow, I saw that when scrolling Instagram on my phone, but it looks downright stunning at full size on my computer screen.

Also, Broadway could use a new building or two to freshen things up.

[kalabaw]

Originally Posted by esquire

Wow, I saw that when scrolling Instagram on my phone, but it looks downright stunning at full size on my computer screen.

Also, Broadway could use a new building or two to freshen things up.

Ditto! The lots on the corner of Broadway and Main or Broadway and Garry would be great candidates for a tower.

[rivercity]

After returning downtown for work as well as walking around the Village on the weekend, glaziers in this city must be doing incredibly well. I don’t remember ever seeing the amount of broken windows before.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rivercity

After returning downtown for work as well as walking around the Village on the weekend, glaziers in this city must be doing incredibly well. I don’t remember ever seeing the amount of broken windows before.

It's been trending that way for some time now. I'm a little surprised that roll-down shutters haven't become a more common sight.

[zalf]

A month or two ago there was a huge wave of broken glass around Osborne Village spread over just a night or two. There's always going to be some background rate of vandals, but the timing makes me think that was the work of just one person out doing that for his jollies.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^Meth

[trueviking]

There’s 5 or 6 plywood windows on Portage downtown within a couple blocks.

[wags_in_the_peg]

James Richardson 10,000 sq ft house built on 44 acres riverfront just South of city is up for sale, $4mil.

https://homes.winnipegfreepress.com/...itchot/id-7761

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

James Richardson 10,000 sq ft house built on 44 acres riverfront just South of city is up for sale, $4mil.

https://homes.winnipegfreepress.com/...itchot/id-7761

quite the space didnt relize that was their property