Investors Group Field | Winnipeg

[Danny D Oh]

I don't know how to judge intentions. All I know is that fudging the numbers to close a deal and essentially get a stadium and a football team you can't actually afford with liquid cash/financing is at best shady and at worst illegal. Ask John Spano and Bruce McNall. At some level Asper is probably glad that he's no longer involved outside of sitting on the Bomber board. There are many people/entities who are culpable in omitting/stretching the truth with this stadium.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

At some level Asper is probably glad that he's no longer involved outside of sitting on the Bomber board.

He is still heavily involved. He "donated" the money needed to enclose the press box which is being treated as a "credit" against future receivables to the team from the box Asper has. In return he also received rights to build a hotel on the site on the stadium.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

He is still heavily involved. He "donated" the money needed to enclose the press box which is being treated as a "credit" against future receivables to the team from the box Asper has. In return he also received rights to build a hotel on the site on the stadium.

Interesting... I don't remember that last part. A hotel on the U of M campus could be a nice amenity, and the south end of town (really, all of the suburban areas other than the airport area) is fairly underserved when it comes to hotels. That could be quite a success.

I wonder if he got that option just to stick it to Ledohowski for competing with his stadium bid?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

Interesting... I don't remember that last part. A hotel on the U of M campus could be a nice amenity, and the south end of town (really, all of the suburban areas other than the airport area) is fairly underserved when it comes to hotels. That could be quite a success.

I wonder if he got that option just to stick it to Ledohowski for competing with his stadium bid?

Yeah I've never heard this either... you sure that's not the original proposal where Asper was going to be build a hotel/commercial attached to the new Polo stadium site?

[Biff]

The UofM will be putting out an EOI for a hotel developer this fall on lands adjacent to IGF. This will be the first step in the Re-Generation Project aka the redevelopment of the south lands golf course.

[The Unknown Poster]

I have a friend who runs a hotel in the south end and reaps the rewards of IGF. Too bad another hotel is being built.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by The Unknown Poster

I have a friend who runs a hotel in the south end and reaps the rewards of IGF. Too bad another hotel is being built.

Not that I'd be too eager to see plenty of hotels sprout up outside of the downtown area, but it does seem as though the south end of town is underserved when it comes to hotels... in the entire southern end of town the number of hotels has barely changed in the last 30 years (the only newer one I can think of is the Best Western on Pembina), and the area has really grown up over that time.

It's probably fertile ground for a couple of new hotels along Kenaston or Pembina...nothing huge, but maybe something along the lines of a 100-room Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn sort of thing.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by esquire

Not that I'd be too eager to see plenty of hotels sprout up outside of the downtown area, but it does seem as though the south end of town is underserved when it comes to hotels... in the entire southern end of town the number of hotels has barely changed in the last 30 years (the only newer one I can think of is the Best Western on Pembina), and the area has really grown up over that time.

It's probably fertile ground for a couple of new hotels along Kenaston or Pembina...nothing huge, but maybe something along the lines of a 100-room Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn sort of thing.

Yes! We must invest all resources in downtown and as the attendant demand strategy we must shame those who prefer otherwise!

I mean, kidding aside, why in the hell is a hotel in downtown Winnipeg - an area that demonstrably already has more rooms than it needs - preferable to one where people might actually use it.

Why do we need this qualifier attached to everything in our city? It's like it somehow assuages the collective guilt the city feels because it has no interest in its own downtown. "It sure would be nice if it were downtown [where I would never go because of the inconvenience], but if it has to be somewhere convenient and easily accessible..."

And so on....

[Pegoise]

The Hopewell Master Plan for the sugar beet lands has a couple of hotels on it, we'll see who gets in first before the area becomes over-supplied

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Why do we need this qualifier attached to everything in our city? It's like it somehow assuages the collective guilt the city feels because it has no interest in its own downtown. "It sure would be nice if it were downtown [where I would never go because of the inconvenience], but if it has to be somewhere convenient and easily accessible..."

I want our city to have a thriving and prosperous downtown. It's a point of pride for a city to have downtown area that it can be proud of, and frankly, a city without one is a city with some serious shortcomings. And I go downtown all the time (and not just for work), so it's not a purely theoretical interest on my part.

I get that you live in a world of balance sheets, profits and losses, and that's important, of course. But financial statements alone don't make a city.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by Pegoise

The Hopewell Master Plan for the sugar beet lands has a couple of hotels on it, we'll see who gets in first before the area becomes over-supplied

Sabino also wants a major operator on his Pemby lands.

[buzzg]

A hotel at U of M would make so much sense. I really hope they drastically alter the plan they chose to develop the golf course though because it looked awful.... so spread out and windswept. Some of the other plans submitted were markedly better.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by esquire

I want our city to have a thriving and prosperous downtown. It's a point of pride for a city to have downtown area that it can be proud of, and frankly, a city without one is a city with some serious shortcomings. And I go downtown all the time (and not just for work), so it's not a purely theoretical interest on my part.

I get that you live in a world of balance sheets, profits and losses, and that's important, of course. But financial statements alone don't make a city.

I should be a little more fair with you. But my point still stands. Downtown advocacy is a dead horse at this point. It's been happening since the early eighties leading up the construction of Portage Place that opened to such fanfare that tenants were immediately demanding their rents be decreased because the place was a ghost town from day one. Winnipeg is not some hugely deficient city in this respect. Most cold-weather small(ish) cities do not have thriving downtowns outside of a small central business district. That's the nature of the beast - we've just evolved out of the need for them as our economies have grown to create more and "better" options.

Yes, I can be overly pragmatic at times, but financial statements are what indicate and create realities. They aren't randomly derived and produced. When the numbers that flow from downtown projects - or the area in its entirety - reflect poorly, they're indicative of a level of interest. It's not a conspiracy. When hotel numbers downtown reflect poorly, the market is telling you to go elsewhere because what little demand there is is already well-satisfied. It's not that the accounting firm is intentionally cooking the books in concert with the banks, the assessment department, and the hotel owners to give the appearance that downtown is less than what it is with an eye towards keeping it down for no reasonable purpose at all.

[The Unknown Poster]

Originally Posted by esquire

Not that I'd be too eager to see plenty of hotels sprout up outside of the downtown area, but it does seem as though the south end of town is underserved when it comes to hotels... in the entire southern end of town the number of hotels has barely changed in the last 30 years (the only newer one I can think of is the Best Western on Pembina), and the area has really grown up over that time.

It's probably fertile ground for a couple of new hotels along Kenaston or Pembina...nothing huge, but maybe something along the lines of a 100-room Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn sort of thing.

Yeah I hear ya. My friend does very well for major events at the UofM. I imagine the area could absorb another hotel without taking too much business from everyone else.

[buzzg]

Osborne is in desperate need of a small-medium sized hotel, it's a very desirable location for tourists yet they cannot stay there. It'd also maybe give it the little jolt in the arm it needs.

As I've said before, I would love for someone to scoop up the Motor Inn and give it the Drake Hotel treatment (make it into a trendy boutique hotel). Obviously it'd need to be someone with deep pockets though as that vendor makes a killing.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Osborne is in desperate need of a small-medium sized hotel, it's a very desirable location for tourists yet they cannot stay there. It'd also maybe give it the little jolt in the arm it needs.

As I've said before, I would love for someone to scoop up the Motor Inn and give it the Drake Hotel treatment (make it into a trendy boutique hotel). Obviously it'd need to be someone with deep pockets though as that vendor makes a killing.

A hotel is definitely one of the essential ingredients of an urban neighbourhood that is missing from that area. A hotel to host visitors as well as smaller conferences, banquets and other functions would probably give Osborne Village a nice shot in the arm. It wouldn't have to be something huge... something on the scale of the downtown Humphry Inn or a bit smaller would suit the surroundings.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Osborne is in desperate need of a small-medium sized hotel, it's a very desirable location for tourists yet they cannot stay there. It'd also maybe give it the little jolt in the arm it needs.

As I've said before, I would love for someone to scoop up the Motor Inn and give it the Drake Hotel treatment (make it into a trendy boutique hotel). Obviously it'd need to be someone with deep pockets though as that vendor makes a killing.

The Osborne Village Inn was recently sold, actually. Interesting to see what happens with it, but there have been rumblings of a Joey's going in.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

The Osborne Village Inn was recently sold, actually. Interesting to see what happens with it, but there have been rumblings of a Joey's going in.

Is it really big enough for that? Joeys/Earls locations seem massive with their huge kitchens and seating areas.

[CoryB]

^^ Could the main floor space of the Osborne Village Inn not be reconfigured to make room for a Joey's/Earls. Basically drop the Zoo and the current restaurant. Might it even be possible to drop the kitchen into the basement?

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

The Osborne Village Inn was recently sold, actually. Interesting to see what happens with it, but there have been rumblings of a Joey's going in.

Do you know who bought it?