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Originally Posted by Winnipeg Architect
They lasted just over a year and a half. My employee and I gave it 1 year.
Should have kept Sals but the St Boniface residents wanted something cultural. They wanted Sals terminated. Now they have nothing.
Well, put in a Tim's and it will last longer than 1.5 years.
About 10-15 years ago the buzz was that Provencher was going to be the new Corydon Avenue. Looks like the residents did not put their money where their mouth was. That horrible body shop is still there and that vacant lot where a condo was suppose to be built. And empty storefronts and truckers.
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That lot belongs to Len Stotts who is the cheapest, most impossible person on his best day. He also owns the two lots behind him which you'd need to develop anything meaningful, so nothing's going to happen. But he's not even the biggest problem. That boarded up hole beside him belongs to Enterprise Riel which is essentially CentreVenture St. Boniface/St. Norbert/St. Vital. They bought the old building that was there for peanuts and tore it down. Instead of carrying out their mandate as a proponent for development in the area, they sat on it waiting for it to appreciate. Once they figured they had a little goldmine on their hands, they put the lot up for about $850K which is nonsense given that they don't own the land behind them and there's a lane that would need to be closed. Naturally, nobody's bitten. Of course there have been tire kickers with a hotel and condo and whatever else, but nobody serious given the ridiculous purchase price. In addition, since a member of Bockstael always sits on the board, anybody that did anything there is essentially beholden.
The area also has a secondary plan which makes density difficult but none of the landowners understand how that affects the value. Streetside was able to vary the secondary plan down the street on their development on Tache, but that project hasn't turned out so well and it's hugely expensive to try. The residents are also as organized as they come and they keep making noise about traffic down their side streets so in addition to everything else, you've got a neighbourhood full of NIMBYs with a councilor (Vandal) who knew where his bread was buttered. And Allard won't be any different given he's Vandal's protege.
And the south side of the street has a completely different set of restrictions altogether making any sort of dense mixed-use impossible.
Provencher is a complete mess and the city's planning documents and community committee process is a huge part of the reason why. But it's also the result of an economic development agency trying to play developer instead of facilitating it. As a result, you've got a miserly landowner and a economic development agency conspiring against each other mostly for spite at this point in what could be considered the most strategic area on that strip.