Winnipeg | 300 Main St.- Phase II / 360 Main St. | ~142M | 465 Ft | 42F | U/C

[buzzg]

360 Main was always "the Scotiabank Building" to me growing up, and has now been 360 Main to the majority of people for a while. Never heard anyone outside of this forum ever call it Commodity Exchange or even Trizec.

As for the arena, even pre-name change, most people just referred to it as "MTS" – and still do because MTS is still in the name. If you're referring to a large indoor sporting event or concert, there's very few possible locations so saying "MTS" made/makes it very clear.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

In terms of MTS Centre, I have occasionally heard people refer to is as "the barn" which of course was a very common local nick name for Winnipeg Arena.

I never heard anyone call Winnipeg Arena "the barn" until Scott Taylor was cheerleading for a new arena in his Free Press sports column back in the 90s. Then the name caught on somewhat retroactively.

[Andy6]

When they start calling MTS “the Barn”, local taxpayers can start to worry.

[DowntownBooster]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Being a skyscraper nerd I always called it the Commodity Exchange Tower myself. But I'm fairly sure I don't recall hearing another human ever utter that name.

I initially called it the Trizec building until I found out it was actually the Commodity Exchange Tower and called it that until 2007 when the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange was purchased by Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange.

I think we're losing something in Winnipeg with buildings being named after an address (i.e 201 Portage, 300 Assiniboine, 360 Main, etc). A lot of people do not associate a building with a specific address, therefore, it loses its significance. How many people would associate 1225 St. Mary's Rd as being St. Vital Centre? I prefer a name for a building even if the name changes every so often. If I mention the Richardson Building to anyone, they generally know which building and area I'm referring to but if I were to say One Lombard Place most of them would have no idea it's the same area of the city.

[buzzg]

That's true but then there's issues when the naming rights change. Richardson is a bit different because they're the main tenant and owner. In bigger cities it's opposite – there's so many buildings no one is able to keep track of all the names, or even realizes half the buildings exist, they'll just look up an address.

Here, it's not hard to keep track of the 5 tall office buildings.

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by DowntownBooster

I think we're losing something in Winnipeg with buildings being named after an address (i.e 201 Portage, 300 Assiniboine, 360 Main, etc).

It's still preferable to a brand name that changes every few years.

The Richardson Building has always been the Richardson Building. The St. Vital Centre has always been the St. Vital Centre.

[DowntownBooster]

Originally Posted by buzzg

That's true but then there's issues when the naming rights change. Richardson is a bit different because they're the main tenant and owner. In bigger cities it's opposite – there's so many buildings no one is able to keep track of all the names, or even realizes half the buildings exist, they'll just look up an address.

Here, it's not hard to keep track of the 5 tall office buildings.

Originally Posted by Roger Strong

It's still preferable to a brand name that changes every few years.

The Richardson Building has always been the Richardson Building. The St. Vital Centre has always been the St. Vital Centre.

I understand what you guys are saying and I know it makes sense to those of us on these boards. For others though, the whole address thing doesn't really give them a clear idea as to what building is being referred to. If you mention 360 Main Street, they may know where Main Street is but not know what building is there so you have to say something along the lines of the former Trizec Building above Winnipeg Square. I would say 447 Portage Avenue is probably not an address recognized by most people but if you were to point out that is where Investors Group head office building is located they would probably know what building you are talking about.

[buzzg]

If you tell someone the name of a building, and it's an address, and they can't find it – they're f*cking idiots. If you're directing someone to a building by name, they might get it confused with another (especially when the naming rights move), where an address is pretty damn clear where the building is. Doesn't get more exact than that. And if you don't need to go there, why does it even matter?

This is especially important here when half our buildings have either Asper, Buhler, or Richardson in the name.

In downtown alone we have:
Buhler Welcome Centre
Buhler Research Centre
Buhler Centre
Buhler Learning Commons

Also, the "RBC Building" is at 220 Portage Ave – but it's not hard to think some people might think 201 Portage is actually the RBC Building because there's RBC logos on it. Or how 201 used to be TD Building, but now TD logos are on 360 Main.

[DowntownBooster]

Originally Posted by buzzg

If you tell someone the name of a building, and it's an address, and they can't find it – they're f*cking idiots. If you're directing someone to a building by name, they might get it confused with another (especially when the naming rights move), where an address is pretty damn clear where the building is. Doesn't get more exact than that. And if you don't need to go there, why does it even matter?

This is especially important here when half our buildings have either Asper, Buhler, or Richardson in the name.

In downtown alone we have:
Buhler Welcome Centre
Buhler Research Centre
Buhler Centre
Buhler Learning Commons

Also, the "RBC Building" is at 220 Portage Ave – but it's not hard to think some people might think 201 Portage is actually the RBC Building because there's RBC logos on it. Or how 201 used to be TD Building, but now TD logos are on 360 Main.

Can't argue with that. Makes sense to me.

[Wolf13]

Isn't this a complete non-issue?

If I were Richardson, I'd have sold my naming rights to the highest bidder long time ago... doesn't CIBC hav space there (not just concourse retail space)?

[vid]

You should do what Thunder Bay does and name it after something located a mile away.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Wolf13

Isn't this a complete non-issue?

If I were Richardson, I'd have sold my naming rights to the highest bidder long time ago... doesn't CIBC hav space there (not just concourse retail space)?

Yes, but Winnipeg is small so if you name a building for a tenant you may be reducing your chances of getting a competitor of that tenant to locate there. That’s why buildings in Canada tend to be named after the big banks, since the competitors are few in number. In Winnipeg, unlike Toronto, you could potentially attract more than one of the big accounting firms into your building, so you might be a bit leery of naming it the KPMG Tower or Deloitte Place or something like that.

[Wpg_Guy]

Andre Lavallee
@A_L_Styles

[GlassCity]

I think the new TD sign looks awesome. I saw it in person for the first time this morning, and was surprised at the improvement it made on the building. Just that extra bit of colour does a lot, and I won't lie, the big name is a part of it too.

[The Unknown Poster]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Its now BellMTS Place and I've never heard anyone calling it Winnipeg Arena. Is that a thing? Like literally you're the first person I've ever heard BellMTS Place / MTS Centre as Winnipeg Arena.

I think because the old Arena was actually called Winnipeg Arena, it was easy for people to NOT call the new one by that name. When people discuss the past, they will say "I saw the Jets play the Oilers at Winnipeg Arena" and everyone knows what they mean.

MTSCentre rolls off the tongue well, in a way BellMTS Place doesnt. I still hear MTS Centre more than BellMTS Place. Even on TSN actually.

Dont think Bell will be dropping "MTS" any time soon.

[DirtWednesday]

Originally Posted by buzzg

If you tell someone the name of a building, and it's an address, and they can't find it – they're f*cking idiots.

There's a great grindcore/punkish video called Girl Directions.

Girl directions
girl directions
just give me the f*cking adress
I'll plug it into my gps!!

[Roger Strong]

Originally Posted by DirtWednesday

Girl directions
girl directions
just give me the f*cking adress
I'll plug it into my gps!!

I recently tried out one of those GPS units with voice recognition. I asked it how to get to Regina. It responded "The same as everyone else; through a series of bad decisions."

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by Roger Strong

I recently tried out one of those GPS units with voice recognition. I asked it how to get to Regina. It responded "The same as everyone else; through a series of bad decisions."

I laughed at this out loud for a long while

[DirtWednesday]

And then there's the old Simpsons stand-by:

Now entering Winnipeg
We were born here, what's your excuse?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by The Unknown Poster

I think because the old Arena was actually called Winnipeg Arena, it was easy for people to NOT call the new one by that name. When people discuss the past, they will say "I saw the Jets play the Oilers at Winnipeg Arena" and everyone knows what they mean.

MTSCentre rolls off the tongue well, in a way BellMTS Place doesnt. I still hear MTS Centre more than BellMTS Place. Even on TSN actually.

Dont think Bell will be dropping "MTS" any time soon.

This is the biggest issue – if BellMTS Place was easier to say, people would say it. They didn't consider diction at all. I understand why they didn't say Centre, but BellMTS Arena would have been a way better option.

On TV I mostly hear BellMTS Centre. Because it's not as clunky – even Sara Orlesky says Centre sometimes still.

It's the same reason everyone says "IGF" or called CanadInns Stadium "CanadInns" – it has to sound good.