Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Corydon area

[h0twired]

Hopefully the Sherbrook Inn will follow.

[drew]

Originally Posted by h0twired

Hopefully the Sherbrook Inn will follow.

Apparently the Sherbrook is too profitable to sell.

But then again, I suppose the same could have been said of the Osborne.

Good for the area, although I am a bit leery of demolish first redevelop later ideas, especially given the economic conditions these days.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

Good for the area, although I am a bit leery of demolish first redevelop later ideas, especially given the economic conditions these days.

I agree completely. I'd rather see the OVI remain for another 20 years rather than have it torn down now only to be a gaping void on Osborne for decades until something gets built.

[drew]

Originally Posted by esquire

I agree completely. I'd rather see the OVI remain for another 20 years rather than have it torn down now only to be a gaping void on Osborne for decades until something gets built.

IMO, I'd like them just to renovate what's there.

Obviously it has to make sense financially (as renos are pricey, especially to bring the building up to Code) but I imagine the bones of the building are fine, and a renovated 60s hotel would be great.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

IMO, I'd like them just to renovate what's there.

Obviously it has to make sense financially (as renos are pricey, especially to bring the building up to Code) but I imagine the bones of the building are fine, and a renovated 60s hotel would be great.

Could you economically renovate a building like that to a reasonably high standard, i.e. to, say, a 3.5 or 4 star quality room where you could charge $150 a night and up, along the lines of an older downtown hotel like the Delta or the Radisson?

I've never been in the rooms there, but from what I can see from the street, they do look fairly small and with hotels of this vintage, washrooms tend to small and kind of dingy too... and the OVI is not old enough where you can market that as part of the building's historic character either.

As far as hotels go, I think a new build along these lines would be the ideal development from the perspective of improving the neighbourhood... big enough to make an impact, but not so big as to overwhelm:

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by drew

IMO, I'd like them just to renovate what's there.

Obviously it has to make sense financially (as renos are pricey, especially to bring the building up to Code) but I imagine the bones of the building are fine, and a renovated 60s hotel would be great.

In all honesty I hear where your coming from, but I really don't see the benefit of doing a reno on this particular building? Although I understand how posters may feel reg. a new build, if it ever came to fruition, and how it may not be feasible at this time.

Whatever the case, I hope change is coming in the foreseeable future.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by drew

Apparently the Sherbrook is too profitable to sell.

But then again, I suppose the same could have been said of the Osborne.

Good for the area, although I am a bit leery of demolish first redevelop later ideas, especially given the economic conditions these days.

Everybody forgets about the pawn shop. You're essentially running a legal loan sharking gambit out of a small space on the main floor. It's not going anywhere. That's easily the most profitable portion of the entire enterprise.

The Osborne Village Inn isn't really that comparable. It doesn't have nearly the same revenues that flow from the beverage room and accompanying VLTs and it's not as big either. The only reliably continual revenue streams would be the beer vendor, parking, and a few rooms and it sounds like they actually want to develop the parking. The rest of the value is really speculative which is why I would suspect that it sits for a while.

I might put aside the idea of high-rise anything on that site for a good long time. If they paid market value for the land, the conditions to allow that to happen just simply don't exist. A good example of that is the Winter Club lands.