Arena District

[wt]

Feb 4, 2011 16:47:10 GMT -5 The Unknown Poster said:

Correct me if I am wrong but CentrePort works for us because we are centrally located and have direct access to the ocean.

Centreport will become a massive distribution point for many reasons, but one of the keys is it will have significant NAFTA prescreening abilities, making our city a direct link to major US markets. It will also have special tax benefits within the value added manufacturing zones, making it an attractive place to invest.

Winnipeg has been the major hub linking Canada to the industrial US Mid-West for over a century. As the two nations further integrate their borders Winnipeg's prescreening will grow to be even more important in the future. Winnipeg is already the busiest air cargo in Canada and has the largest rail infrastructure in western Canada and direct link to the US Interstate system.

At the end of the day, Centreport will be the modern version of what the Exchange district was a hundred years ago. It will attract investment, population and position our city as a very important centre of trade and transportation.

[wt]

Back on topic ...

If the Arena District is able to attract a big name restaurant like a Hard Rock Cafe, it will draw people downtown throughout the year. I have been to the Hard Rock in Ottawa, Calgary, Chicago and Minnesota and it is a pretty cool place to enjoy a meal. With Winnipeg's rich rock history I think it would be a natural fit and likely do very well.

[WJG]

We also need a Silvercity or Colossus movie theater downtown.

Not a lot of people go to Towne 8 and IMAX is really more of a specialty theater.

What I'd really like to see is Cineplex buy and renovate the Metropolitan, but I'm not sure if there's enough space.

[benny]

I am curious to see how TNSE intends on making 4 play pay for not selling.
I heard there are 4 owners of 4 play, not just one. Also, they doing very well without the NHL in Winnipeg.

[Puckschmuck]

Feb 6, 2011 1:46:20 GMT -5 wt said:

LOL.. not to get off topic but a grocery store warehouse has absolutely nothing to do with becoming a international trading hub. FYI .. Winnipeg already has a Sobey's warehouse and a 2nd one is to be built in Headingly. I have heard that Saskatchewan wants to be a hub before, but Regina lacks major links and distribution infrastructure to be much more than it is today.

Feb 6, 2011 2:01:17 GMT -5 wt said:

Feb 4, 2011 16:47:10 GMT -5 The Unknown Poster said:

Correct me if I am wrong but CentrePort works for us because we are centrally located and have direct access to the ocean.

Centreport will become a massive distribution point for many reasons, but one of the keys is it will have significant NAFTA prescreening abilities, making our city a direct link to major US markets. It will also have special tax benefits within the value added manufacturing zones, making it an attractive place to invest.

Winnipeg has been the major hub linking Canada to the industrial US Mid-West for over a century. As the two nations further integrate their borders Winnipeg's prescreening will grow to be even more important in the future. Winnipeg is already the busiest air cargo in Canada and has the largest rail infrastructure in western Canada and direct link to the US Interstate system.

At the end of the day, Centreport will be the modern version of what the Exchange district was a hundred years ago. It will attract investment, population and position our city as a very important centre of trade and transportation.

Thanks for posting this, wt. You are 100% correct on everything that you mentionned. I think there are a lot of people who don't fully understand how much of an economic impact this is going to have on the region. It is going to be a HUGE catalyst for both Winnipeg and Manitoba, helping to attract multimillion dollars investments. I can't wait for this to come to life!

Okay, I've said my piece. Back to the topic at hand..........the arena district.

[pokeybandit]

The arena district will be one part of a larger vision for downtown. A vision that will extend from Portage and Main all the way to the University of Winnipeg. The SHED is but one of four districts that will stretch along this route.

[Kenny S]

Feb 6, 2011 12:09:09 GMT -5 pokeybandit said:

The arena district will be one part of a larger vision for downtown. A vision that will extend from Portage and Main all the way to the University of Winnipeg. The SHED is but one of four districts that will stretch along this route.

Here is an article reviewing the challenges and opportunities to these four zones: The Commercial Zone, The SHED Zone, The Retail Zone, and The University Zone.

theviewfromseven.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/revitalizing-downtown-winnipeg-the-next-steps-forward/

and another article:

www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breathing-new-life-into-downtown-92291599.html

Here is another article:

www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/07/07/man-centreventure-downtown-proposal-districts.html

[pokeybandit]

From this article (which is great by the way) two points which I feel are integral to the long-term success of this proposed development really jumped out at me:

Community facilities needed to attract people downtown. “There appears, as with other cities, a desire to promote inner city living. This raises a range of issues around what we might call ‘liveability’. There is plenty of research that shows that attracting people back to live in the city is more than developing nice housing or allowing for higher density developments. People want to be sure they will be safe, i.e., crime prevention and safety, that there will be good facilities available such as good schools, libraries and other community facilities, that there will be parks where they can walk a dog, kick a ball or fly a kite that are easily accessible, that there will be somewhere to do everyday shopping and that there will be good public transport or somewhere safe to park their vehicle,” wrote Dr. Caroline Miller of Massey University.

As of today only 13,000 people call downtown home. During the week roughly 60,000 - 70,000 people work downtown. This means that during the evenings and weekends the downtown is quite barren....something i can atest to having resided downtown for a number of years. The vision for dowtown needs to include a well thought out residential component. Not just high-end condos and apartments, rather a range of options for many people in different tax brackets.

Prepare for the unexpected — such as higher fuel prices. “I also wondered a little about the future proofing of this,” wrote Dr. Caroline Miller of Massey University. “The development of your entertainment and convention facilities does seem to be based on a very traditional model of people travelling to view or attend an event. If fuel costs continue to escalate and we are approaching peak oil, then there may be moves to more use of technology to link people remotely rather than bringing them to a single place. In that case your expensive new facilities may not get the use you expect. It may also mean that any building should be as flexible as possible in terms of their present and future uses.”

It would great to have an LRT system connecting all of Winnipeg (N,S,E and W) to downtown.....from there it would be worth looking into developing a street-car system like Wininpeg once had to get people around. Manitoba is one of the biggest hydro producing places in all of North America. Why we aren't capitalizing on this in Winnipeg is beyond me.....especially with peak-oil around the corner.

[wt]

Feb 6, 2011 12:09:09 GMT -5 pokeybandit said:

The arena district will be one part of a larger vision for downtown. A vision that will extend from Portage and Main all the way to the University of Winnipeg. The SHED is but one of four districts that will stretch along this route.

Yes, but this being a thread about revenue ideas relating to the return of NHL hockey to Winnipeg, it is all about the Arena District. TNSE owns many properties around the MTS Centre and plan on developing them for the purpose of generating income.

What happens at P&M or at the UofW is all very nice, but not on topic.

[wt]

Just a side note .. the SHED misnomer is absolutely horrible!!

Obviously nobody at City Hall has a single once of marketing knowledge. Only a bureaucrat could be so brain dead as to give this area such a name. Could someone pick a more unappealing title for what will become heart of Winnipeg's downtown revitalization. How about CRAP (City Revitalization of Arena Perimeter)? SHED.. makes it sound like some dirty shack where I'd keep my old lawnmower and garden tools.

Please lets refer to this area with the respect it deserves, The Arena District.

[neils]

No wonder Thompson wants in on this deal. Think the amount of money he can make. So many revenue streams now days.

[Puckschmuck]

Feb 8, 2011 2:03:59 GMT -5 wt said:

Just a side note .. the SHED misnomer is absolutely horrible!!

Obviously nobody at City Hall has a single once of marketing knowledge. Only a bureaucrat could be so brain dead as to give this area such a name. Could someone pick a more unappealing title for what will become heart of Winnipeg's downtown revitalization. How about CRAP (City Revitalization of Arena Perimeter)? SHED.. makes it sound like some dirty shack where I'd keep my old lawnmower and garden tools.

Please lets refer to this area with the respect it deserves, The Arena District.

I doubt the term SHED will actually be used to describe the Arena district; am thinking people will just use it in the preliminary stages as a term of reference, and that it will fade away with time.

[The Unknown Poster]

We'll call it Jetsland.

[wt]

Feb 8, 2011 17:46:29 GMT -5 The Unknown Poster said:

We'll call it Jetsland.

Yes!! ;D

[tim]

Feb 6, 2011 2:01:17 GMT -5 wt said:

Feb 4, 2011 16:47:10 GMT -5 The Unknown Poster said:

Correct me if I am wrong but CentrePort works for us because we are centrally located and have direct access to the ocean.

Centreport will become a massive distribution point for many reasons, but one of the keys is it will have significant NAFTA prescreening abilities, making our city a direct link to major US markets. It will also have special tax benefits within the value added manufacturing zones, making it an attractive place to invest.

Winnipeg has been the major hub linking Canada to the industrial US Mid-West for over a century. As the two nations further integrate their borders Winnipeg's prescreening will grow to be even more important in the future. Winnipeg is already the busiest air cargo in Canada and has the largest rail infrastructure in western Canada and direct link to the US Interstate system.

At the end of the day, Centreport will be the modern version of what the Exchange district was a hundred years ago. It will attract investment, population and position our city as a very important centre of trade and transportation.

Is this the same idea Win port was spinning many years ago, great idea but will it ever happen?

[teamjetskurt]

Feb 9, 2011 7:32:50 GMT -5 tim said:

Feb 6, 2011 2:01:17 GMT -5 wt said:

Centreport will become a massive distribution point for many reasons, but one of the keys is it will have significant NAFTA prescreening abilities, making our city a direct link to major US markets. It will also have special tax benefits within the value added manufacturing zones, making it an attractive place to invest.

Winnipeg has been the major hub linking Canada to the industrial US Mid-West for over a century. As the two nations further integrate their borders Winnipeg's prescreening will grow to be even more important in the future. Winnipeg is already the busiest air cargo in Canada and has the largest rail infrastructure in western Canada and direct link to the US Interstate system.

At the end of the day, Centreport will be the modern version of what the Exchange district was a hundred years ago. It will attract investment, population and position our city as a very important centre of trade and transportation.

Is this the same idea Win port was spinning many years ago, great idea but will it ever happen?

ah Good Ole Winport, Brings me back to Red river days and MRS.D! Centreport is kinda same idea, but they are actually starting it! Check out west Perimeter! HUGE! I also heard that they are going to build a bypass rd around Headingly for trucks only.

[teamjetskurt]

Whatever happened to the RED LIGHT district they were thinking of? i say why not? anything to bring people downtown, and to Winnipeg. It would be pretty cool to visit a "coffee shop" before the game.

[Tony Season Tickets]

Feb 6, 2011 10:39:33 GMT -5 benny said:

I am curious to see how TNSE intends on making 4 play pay for not selling.
I heard there are 4 owners of 4 play, not just one. Also, they doing very well without the NHL in Winnipeg.

I really would question how well 4 play is doing at the moment...Potential,yes but I can't imagine they are have enough traffic to make a go of it in the long term if things stay status quo.

[CravenMoorhead]

Feb 22, 2011 12:48:42 GMT -5 Tony Season Tickets said:

Feb 6, 2011 10:39:33 GMT -5 benny said:

I am curious to see how TNSE intends on making 4 play pay for not selling.
I heard there are 4 owners of 4 play, not just one. Also, they doing very well without the NHL in Winnipeg.

I really would question how well 4 play is doing at the moment...Potential,yes but I can't imagine they are have enough traffic to make a go of it in the long term if things stay status quo.

4Play really needs the Jets to return. I don't think they are doing that great. When I went it was cool, but I could go and see a game at any pub, or even my home. It has not even been that packed there when I went.

[wt]

Lets keep in mind that most of the city block north of the MTS Centre will be unrecognizable in the coming years.

The former A&B Sound building, which is currently the MTS Exhibition Hall will be meeting the wrecking ball, shortly after the BIG announcement is made to make room for the future. The cornerstone of the Arena District will be rising on Portage and Donald. Of course you never heard this from me.