Yikes, what's with the hyperbole on Osborne???
Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
If a sex shop can't make it in what must surely be the singles capital of Winnipeg, then hope is fading fast.
|
It helps to not be single to have sex, even more so, the adventurous type that a relationship "grows into"...
But I'd imagine that some of the business operators of unique specialty shops that embody the persona that floats around osborne have less business acumen than most operations
Quote:
Originally Posted by headhorse
has anyone actually walked down osborne lately? it's the most unpleasant street to walk down. narrow sidewalks, no plants, fast moving traffic with no barriers like others streets have (parking, bikes lanes, etc). Sherbrook, any of the Exchange streets, Corydon, Ellice, Sargeant, Portage, Main, are all much more pleasant places to be on an aesthetic level. they need to reduce the street to one lane each way with a centre turning lane, widen the sidewalks, and add a separated two way bike lane. until it starts functioning more like a neighbourhood commercial strip and less like a major arterial road it will continue to decline.
|
I don't know what your point is... sidewalk is wide enough but yes, major roadway and because it's a colourful neighbourhood you get the desired presidents as well as the rougher kind... It's been this way for a while.
I'm not a traffic advocate but one lane absolutely will not work. That's beyond idealistic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boreal
Osborne is now so low on my list of where to go when looking for an evening out it has become comical. What used to be the unabashed #1 choice barely registers as an option any more. It's sad. Thankfully, there are numerous other terribly interesting locations to go. Movie Village, Fuel Coffee, etc. seem a world away.
|
There remain many great an interesting stops on osborne. Some close down, others open, perhaps we're in between but there is still plenty to do there and it's always busy on the weekends.
We can complain about Movie Village but all the vintage hipsters in the world can't save it from the netflix era we're in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
^ I don't think traffic is the issue with Osborne. The street through the Village is narrow and relatively slow. I agree that the general environment looks very tired... so much effort has been put into beautifying the Exchange and maybe to a lesser extent West Broadway, yet Osborne Village looks like it's stuck in 1999.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by wardlow
Traffic, and, more to the point, how it dominates the street, is *an* issue on Osborne for sure. The strip is bookended by two stroad-like areas (Confusion Corner to the south, and Osborne north of River) where pedestrians are an afterthought. Generations of city traffic engineers have tried to ram this traffic funnel through Osborne. No new building (or rezoning of existing buildings, I would think) could happen on Osborne without the City taking 10’-15’ off the front of the property for future road widening.
For owners and investors in existing properties, there’s no sense in spending too much on an exterior renovation if the building is just going to be demolished for an extra traffic lane someday. This may explain why Cornerstone Bar at the SW corner of River and Osborne, a great little bar inside, looks like Sage Creek-on-the-cheap on the outside; or why the great old three-storey building at the SE corner of River and Osborne hasn’t been upgraded since sometime before Seinfeld went off the air. In this way, traffic does play a role in the state of not only the street, but the buildings along it. And with vehicle traffic leaving no room in the right of way for trees, planting, benches, etc., the forelorn, crystalized-in-1995 buildings and shopfronts are more visible and tougher to ignore.
Add to this the undeniable fact that Osborne St. is no longer the city’s principle street for cool restaurants, pubs, boutique retail, yuppie housewares, etc. Over the past decade, the Exchange, South Osborne, and Sherbrook have become strong(er) draws for people wanting to wander around and shop, feel cool, or enjoy a nice night out. (Corydon is kind of hanging in there, too, more or less.) And, again, traffic’s domination comes into play: you won’t get splashed with gutter water by a racing bus on McDermot, Sherbrook, or South Osborne streets, but you certainly will on a wet night on the east side of Osborne.
After decades of being the biggest trendy/boutique/hipster/yuppie/whatever game in town, rents on Osborne are too high and many CRUs are too big for the reduced commercial demand. Property owners (mainly a small cabal of tired old holding companies) do not yet realize, or do realize but choose to ignore that this change is going on. And so a healthy transition is stunted, and “for lease” signs hang in dirty storefront windows for a long time. Small wonder most of the great new small businesses to crop up in the Village (Little Sister Coffee, Segovia, Super Deluxe Pizza, Nuburger) are not on Osborne Street.
Meanwhile, the BIZ is carrying on somewhere in the ether like nothing is going on, MIA aside from the occasional misplaced bleating in the news about homeless people.
Osborne Street is in a poor state. I say this not in an “it was cooler when I was younger” way, but as a fairly objective observation. I recently moved into the Village, and there’s many things I love about the neighbourhood, but Osborne Street itself is not one of them.
|
That's some "9/11 was an inside job" type of shit right there. Winnipeg isn't that obsessed with traffiic. It may be dumb, but it's not like the antichrist will start plowing away facades of what remains a destination in Winnipeg.
The real reason why Cornerstone looks that way? Money. Things are expensive and it's out of their own pocket.
As far as the strip's flaws, there are plenty, but Osborne has always been a little bit about that. It was never supposed to be this super chic super clean little urban hideaway. And buses splash people in every city. Part of the problem is that "the upstairs" is the biggest wasted opportunity... it's an evident departure from the quality and uniqueness of the previous tenants. Even the toad, for all its divey charm, has a decent beer selection amazing whisky and cocktail selection. Any connoisseur can enjoy it if they don't mind noise.
I do however want to know what rents are... by definition, it's a popular entertaining area so rents should be high, yet if you can't fill the space? Lower rents. I don't know if these landlords are holding out for a national group to come in, but chains won't necessarily be drawn to Osborne, not that I'd want them there.
Prev
Linear Mode
