Winnipeg Construction X

[bomberjet]

That one was in the news when it first came out cause the nieghbours were losing their dog shitting grass.

It's up against the freeway, like the one on Bishop. And people don't like it. The entrance is still off Roblin in a terrible location. Suck it up I says.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by drew

What precedent are we celebrating?

The demolition of a one of a kind house to put up the same rinse and repeat multifamily building that goes up all over the place a few blocks down in Osborne Village?

It's not like this was some underused empty lot festering for years.

1055 Wellington


514 Wellington


This looks like an improvement to what's currently been built within Wellington. It also feels like it does a good job matching up to the existing houses on Kingsway. The fact that it is replacing 1 unit with 8 units is also good for densification of an inner-city area that doesn't have that much density to begin with. Sure the way this specific building was treated should have been handled, but that's what the HCD designation is supposed to do anyway.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by drew

I should add that the longevity of pre-war houses isn't necessary something to do with higher quality workmanship. It's mostly unintentional.

They are built with solid materials, with a complete lack of insulation or vapour barrier to trap moisture in. This allows the structure to remain dry, or at least retain the ability to actually dry out (and not theoretically dry out like today's houses). Mold, rot and similar issues are not possible in these types of houses under normal circumstances.

This also means that houses (like mine) are energy pigs and uncomfortably dry in the dead of winter - no matter how much water you dump into the air via humidifiers.

You can go and insulate and modernize old houses to add in a vapour barrier and make it more energy efficient - but you always run the risk of unintentional consequences down the road, including accelerating decay of structure especially the main floor rim joist and mortar within the rubblestone foundation walls. There is always a trade off.

very true on modernizing old homes as u get frost in the walls when try to seal them from the inside need to rip the envilope off and modernize that

[drew]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

very true on modernizing old homes as u get frost in the walls when try to seal them from the inside need to rip the envilope off and modernize that

The upper floors are easier to tackle properly as compared to the foundation walls and rim joist area.

If you do have a rubblestone foundation, unless you can afford to insulate it and protect it from exterior moisture properly, you are best just to leave it and pay a bit more on your hydro bills.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by drew

The upper floors are easier to tackle properly as compared to the foundation walls and rim joist area.

If you do have a rubblestone foundation, unless you can afford to insulate it and protect it from exterior moisture properly, you are best just to leave it and pay a bit more on your hydro bills.

true.

[thebasketballgeek]

[drew]

Another one of them horizontal skyscrapers.

That building is massive.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

And houses in that stock are still of superior quality to most anything built today, despite all the retro work needed

Dumb question. Why are these houses of superior quality compared to recently constructed houses? How exactly are the materials of 10-20 years ago of better quality ....and what specific materials are we talking about? The wood? Concrete for the foundation of the house? Shingles?

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Dumb question. Why are these houses of superior quality compared to recently constructed houses? How exactly are the materials of 10-20 years ago of better quality ....and what specific materials are we talking about? The wood? Concrete for the foundation of the house? Shingles?

I asked the same question a few pages ago and WinCitySparky gave me a very insightful answer below.

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

Core materials from that early 20th century era such as hardwood lumber and well-built limestone foundations were often much tougher/moisture resistant, breathable, and more structurally resilient in certain century old neighbourhoods. This is not completely typical but often very much the case. I’ve worked in many many houses of this age in Wolseley/West End area and it’s very rare that, if relatively undisturbed and somewhat well drained/maintained throughout their lifetimes, the original structures show hardly any sign of breakdown or significant warping of the structure. Old plumbing/drains, old electrical, plaster and lath finishes, those types of things obviously didn’t stand the time test and need replacement. But the bones are strong and the structures very very sturdy. I own two century-old SFHs in the area and would certainly invest in another some day. As long as they’ve been maintained decently, many have a great value-over-time horizon and continued life expectancy if one is able to do the needed systemic restorative work.

They aren’t all gems though, as some are heavily neglected past the point of no return, so one still has to do their due diligence. Slum landlords who bought up a lot of the stock extremely cheap in these areas in the 80’s and 90’s are largely to blame for this. But even some of those were built well enough in their time to be brought back from the dead with confidence and enough investment/elbow grease.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

I asked the same question a few pages ago and WinCitySparky gave me a very insightful answer below.

Yeah, just saw that.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Dumb question. Why are these houses of superior quality compared to recently constructed houses? How exactly are the materials of 10-20 years ago of better quality ....and what specific materials are we talking about? The wood? Concrete for the foundation of the house? Shingles?

depends

water is your worst eninmy always specialy modern homes built with allot of osb

[pegcityboy]

I like the Charleswood proposal , good to keep people in the area looking for Apartments/ Condos .

[soewnz]

Looks like the Polo Park redevelopment proposal is a step closer to being possible. The new Airport Vicinity Protection Area Regulation was adopted by council last week, but I guess they still have to iron out exactly allowed in each area.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by soewnz

Looks like the Polo Park redevelopment proposal is a step closer to being possible. The new Airport Vicinity Protection Area Regulation was adopted by council last week, but I guess they still have to iron out exactly allowed in each area.

Does anyone know if CF is still in a position (or wants to?) to move this forward now that a pandemic has come through and the city's dated airport plan delayed this whole thing for a couple years?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by WildCake

Does anyone know if CF is still in a position (or wants to?) to move this forward now that a pandemic has come through and the city's dated airport plan delayed this whole thing for a couple years?

Good question. But I'd say that even if the pandemic delays CF's plans, I could see it still happening eventually, especially given that the fundamentals of the housing market haven't really changed over the past few years.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by WildCake

Does anyone know if CF is still in a position (or wants to?) to move this forward now that a pandemic has come through and the city's dated airport plan delayed this whole thing for a couple years?

Well Polo Park is still thriving and I’m sure residential units next to Polo Park will sell like hot cakes and generate some good revenue for CF. It would do a lot for the vibrancy in the area as well.

[bomberjet]

Maybe the old stadium site could be developed into residential as well. As that plan obviously didn't work out.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Well Polo Park is still thriving and I’m sure residential units next to Polo Park will sell like hot cakes and generate some good revenue for CF. It would do a lot for the vibrancy in the area as well.

Yea I can only imagine they would want to diversify their revenue base given the way physical retail has been going these last several years. Huge plus for the area if this goes ahead. I just wasn't sure if anyone would have any inside info. I can also guess that the pandemic wasn't too friendly to CFs bottom line and might have to scale back their ambition ir timelines.

[bomberjet]

Another factor to consider is the stagnate population growth. Without new people moving in, there's only so much the market can handle. Ie: people just moving around. The whole system built around growth and expansion really is shit.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Another factor to consider is the stagnate population growth. Without new people moving in, there's only so much the market can handle. Ie: people just moving around. The whole system built around growth and expansion really is shit.

1 year of stagnation doesn’t compensate for the lack of housing supply from 20 years of population growth. Our housing prices still increased by 7% despite the lack of population growth.

I’ve noticed there has been just as much construction activity right now as there was last year and we broke our record for number of units built last year. There might even be more activity later this year. We also have to consider that Trudeau is pumping immigration numbers to all-time highs for the next few years and we all know this is where Winnipeg gets it growth from. So unless 15,000 people move out of Winnipeg this year growth is expected.