Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
It felt like downtown was starting to make serious inroads but the last few years have pulled the rug right out from under it.
I've been to some other Western Canadian downtowns over the past couple of years and I've noticed differences due to the pandemic and other issues, but none of them have been whacked as hard as Winnipeg. Downtown retail basically doesn't exist anymore. At one point I thought it was a short-term temporary downturn, but I am wondering if that is the case.
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I feel as though, for a whole bunch of complex reasons such as unaffordability in major cities, remote work, geographical isolation, cultural perceptions, etc. (reasons beyond Winnipeg being full of unenlightened pickup truck driving bumpkins who are obsessed with suburbia - see also the Stats Can thread this past week), Winnipeg wasn't able to ride the wave of urbanism that seems to have gone across the country over the last 6-7 years. I'm not sure which Western Canadian downtowns you're referring to, but it strikes me that 6-7 years ago Winnipeg offered a competitive urban experience to Halifax, Hamilton, Kitchener, Waterloo, London, and Edmonton but over the last 6-7 years, those cities have taken significant steps forward in their urban form while Winnipeg has basically puttered along building the odd inner city residential building every other year. Even though we had consistent downtown growth from 2016-2021 (not sure if that'll hold), we haven't really kept pace. I'm not sure its fair to say the downtown was better 6-7 years ago as there was fewer people living downtown - I know residents aren't everything, but I always consider it a good indication of downtown health. Further, I typically believe that every subsequent downtown resident is a little easier to attract than the previous one.
I'm very concerned right now and I'm worried about people moving downtown and quickly being fed-up with the lack of amenities, lack of people, and general atmosphere of the place (feeling unsafe and downtown not being clean). If people don't occupy the new buildings being built, people start moving out of existing buildings, and the population starts shrinking then I'll really be concerned and perhaps say we're too far gone. Hopefully it never comes to that and I think its still too early to tell if that's the direction we're heading in. If we can keep pushing our residential population higher, and the downtown office population comes back over the coming years (even if it never exceeds pre-covid levels and businesses maintain a WFH staff, but the current space is occupied as companies expand/grow) then I'm hopeful we'll be okay.