Parking problem to be solved?
A rendering of some kind of parking garage next to the Boyd Building on Portage and Edmonton Street. While the transit bus may be yellow and orange, and the drawing style looks like product of the 1950s, there is reason to think that this architectural rendering is not as out-dated as it looks: the soon-to-be-opened Hydro tower that is drawn in the background.
(Thanks to Adrian for finding this.)
Add to that the fact that I hear of "stomach-churning projects coming to downtown in the near future, and the supposed "parking crisis" that will come when Hydro employees move into the new building, and it suggests that Portage Avenue might get a lovely multi-story parkade and gaping curb cut where shops used to be.
Which would be a good thing, because this city block (bound by Portage, Edmonton, Graham and Kennedy) is one of the last blocks in the entire downtown to that did not have some kind of parking facility. (It also happens to be at the centre of one of downtown's last functional retail nodes. Not that a lack of large parking facilities would have anything to do with commercial success in urban areas, right? Of course it does not.)
Clearly, the parking situation is dire.
(Thanks to Adrian for finding this.)
Add to that the fact that I hear of "stomach-churning projects coming to downtown in the near future, and the supposed "parking crisis" that will come when Hydro employees move into the new building, and it suggests that Portage Avenue might get a lovely multi-story parkade and gaping curb cut where shops used to be.
Which would be a good thing, because this city block (bound by Portage, Edmonton, Graham and Kennedy) is one of the last blocks in the entire downtown to that did not have some kind of parking facility. (It also happens to be at the centre of one of downtown's last functional retail nodes. Not that a lack of large parking facilities would have anything to do with commercial success in urban areas, right? Of course it does not.)
Clearly, the parking situation is dire.
posted by The Rise and Sprawl at
3:39 PM
12 Comments:
Historic building demolitions, parking lot proliferation, "rapid buses"....
Yup, Winnipeg's descent down the shitter is really picking up pace now.
Ready to move yet? I'm finding Toronto to be much easier on my nerves. Heard about Transit City? They get it there. Unfortunately for you it seems Winnipeg's planners, architects, politicians, developers, activists and (especially) their media shills suffer from brain damage extreme as (and likely related to) the repellent subarctic climate.
(Pardon my thinly cloaked anonymity—I'm just enjoying life in the shadows.)
Hey R&S
I enjoy your blog.
But I don't "get" what you are saying in this latest post.
I suspect you may be being sarcastic, but I likewise suspect I don't have enuff of that narrative to grasp what you are saying.
My read of the situation strikes me as more of the same decline the downtown has been stricken with for decades.
What am I missing??
Anon, I am being sarcastic. Essentially, I am commenting on Portage Avenue might be getting another parkade that is clearly unneeded.
Good post.
I heard that Boyd has new owners willing to invest in upgrades. Nice that they might be filling in that gap to the west of it.
As for parking ... sigh ... people just have it stuck in their heads that downtown = no parking. Remember when MTS Centre was being built ? It was going to be a giant FAIL because there simply was no parking ?!
@ anon #2 if you figure downtown has been in the same spiral of decline for decades you obviously don't get downtown much. It's a very different place than it was, say 10 years ago. It faces the same challenges that most NA cities face but I wouldn't term the past few years as decline.
Obviously more transit users is best, and after that it's underground parking... but isn't a parkade better than surface lots? The huge monolithic Minneapolis parking garages aren't pretty, but they sure helped thin out the surface lots.
I'm hoping that there ISN'T going to be a curb cut on the south side of Portage to access this parkade.
Hey "nick", shouldn't you be hoping there isn't a parkade at all?
If you don't think downtown Winnipeg is worse off than a decade ago you obviously don't spend much time there.
Where did I say anything about downtown Winnipeg being worse off then than now? Huh? Don't attribute things others have said to me.
(I also don't spend much time in downtown Winnipeg... kind of hard when you've lived out of the city for a year and a half and have only visited three times.)
Also, yeah, I hope there's no parkade anywhere near that location. But *IF* there is, access from somewhere else would be preferable than access across the sidewalk on Portage Ave.
Do you really think, if a parkade was built there, access would come from the back lane?
The second part of my previous comment was not directed toward you, Nick, but toward "mrchristian."
Let's face it, another parkade on Portage, in any form, would be a disaster. No amount of compromise could make it anything else. And anyone who would apologize for it or be on the fence about shares culpability in the negligent destruction of the core. The same can be said of the BRT plan.
Nick, I get the impression from looking at the drawing, that this parkade design does call for a curb-cut access on Portage Avenue.
I've been looking into this as the plan presented by the new owners of the Boyd Building have assumed that they can develop over a park space.
From all accounts this is just an "idea" and holds little weight so far.
The Role of Parking as a Catalyst for Downtown Development
General Public Information Session
July 15th,2009 noon-1:30pm
Globe Cinema, 3rd level, Portage Place
RSVP to 958-4640
More info: http://www.downtownwinnipegbiz.com/home/events/role_of_parking/
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