Hudsons Bay Building (Winnipeg) Redevelopment

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by esquire

Well said. That is precisely why I was so down on the announcement.

I mean, it's great that SCO stepped up to take on Winnipeg's headache, but let's not kid ourselves, HBC was not doing this as a favour to anyone but themselves. It's a sad indictiment of the state of downtown Winnipeg. There's a reason they gave away the downtown Winnipeg store but not any other city's.

Sorry guys personally I'm not buying the negative "we're so pathetic" B.S.

This is great news for the city and the Indigenous communities behind this project.

Did HBC "give away" the building because it was not profitable? Of course, it hasn't been a profitable location for years, and business generally try to make money. That being said, they probably could have sold the place for the land value to a developer like Shindico who would have torn down the "worthless" building and put up some more damn strip malls with oversized parking lots. But they didn't. They were at least aware enough of the benefit of the good optics of a real-world bricks-and-mortar act of reconciliation to convince them to donate the building.

Why "just" in Winnipeg? Yes, the economy of Winnipeg doesn't match the economy of Toronto or Vancouver. Knock me down with not being surprised. That being said, the Bay building was/is a HUGE piece of real estate on par with their locations in either of those larger more affluent cities. The fact that there just wasn't the number of big bucks developers here as in T.O. or Vancouver is a fact of life we should be used to by now. It's not a knock on the city, it just is what it is.

What Winnipeg also had in addition to a huge building is the largest urban Indigenous population in Canada. If there's anyplace that should be leading the reconciliation cause, it's Winnipeg.

I personally don't see the value of my city as being solely determined by the number of people or companies that think they can extract a suitable amount of $$ from it's population.

Can't wait to see how this project progresses.

[WinCitySparky]

^ Great post

[esquire]

Well, hopefully we can make the best of the hand that we have been dealt. No argument there.

[CoryB]

I personally feel the SCO development and Qaumajuq on the west side and the CMHR on the east are great long term bookends for downtown. We are at the start of the reconciliation journey and there will be more opportunities to develop and expand what has been started.

A national (international) centre for the research, study, preservation and teaching of traditional languages feels like a really low hanging fruit that Manitoba should get on ASAP before it lands somewhere else. There also is likely a similar place for a centre focused on indigenous creative arts. Sort of expand on what Qaumajuq has done but expand that to helping the next generation develop.

Along those same lines there is likely going to be a place in the next 10 years for a national museum focused on truth and reconciliation. If Winnipeg has shown some true progress on successfully being home to related institutions it would make it easy to land a second national museum.

So while the SCO project might seem small on its own it is part of a much big movement that is starting to happen. Winnipeg really needs to lean as heavy into this as they did trying to pitch Amazon on something that was never going to happen.

[GreyGarden]

Well said CoryB. I agree. I think Winnipeg should be striving to be at the heart of reconciliation in Canada. If we don’t, cities like Vancouver and Toronto will snap at the opportunity and it’ll be too late for us.

[esquire]

For what it's worth, reconciliation isn't like a corporate headquarters where there can only be one. Every city should be doing something in that regard. You'll never see the headline "Reconciliation threatens to move to Calgary if demands not met"

[CoryB]

^^ The reality is collections like the Vatican are holding have a finite number of historic artifacts that could be repatriated.

The other hard truth is once things like a centre for excellence in language preservation and teaching is built getting another instance of that becomes a lot more difficult. There are a finite number of skilled linguistics with interest in working in indigenous languages. Sure more can get trained up but the best are going to want to be close to their established peers.

Sure we have an art gallery, a humanity and history museum and an aviation museum but we do not have the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum of Nature or the National Gallery of Canada. It is taking things to another level of prestige. The reality is at some point there will be a national museum on truth and reconciliation and there will be national centres of excellence for indigenous languages and creative arts. Winnipeg is very much at a crossroads for being the national centre for these indigenous institutions and it will be an opportunity that only comes around once.

[trueviking]

^ this.

[blueandgoldguy]

If Wab Kinew and the NDP are in charge next year, I'm sure there will be a greater push for this and the necessary portion of funding from the provincial government.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

If Wab Kinew and the NDP are in charge next year, I'm sure there will be a greater push for this and the necessary portion of funding from the provincial government.

I believe the current MB gov't has committed funding and resources to this. Why do you think Wab and his NDP will need to do more? Thats almost a reverse discrimination statement because the PC dont have an Indigenous leader you are assuming she doesnt support it?

[trueviking]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...nt-says-urban/

a couple more images.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by CoryB

^^ The reality is collections like the Vatican are holding have a finite number of historic artifacts that could be repatriated.

.

Artifacts from Manitoba?

Originally Posted by trueviking

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...nt-says-urban/

a couple more images.

Looks cool.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Any updates?

[GreyGarden]

I saw this today in the WFP:

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/lo...ion-slow-going

[1ajs]

slow and steady wins the race

[zalf]

Southern Chiefs Organization officially take possession of the Bay building:
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/it-s-a-m...ipeg-1.6337064

I had assumed they already had the keys. Anyway, I hope this thing gets going asap.

[zalf]

The SCO's vision for the site includes nearly 3,000 housing units, a health and healing centre, a museum, and restaurants. Daniels said they feel the responsibility of the project.

I'm quite sure an extra zero got added. Still, I'd love to see the mega-tower that would be required for the additional 2700 units.

[trueviking]

https://scoinc.mb.ca/a-new-future-we...hgahkinahgohn/

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by zalf

I'm quite sure an extra zero got added. Still, I'd love to see the mega-tower that would be required for the additional 2700 units.

300 Units is correct

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by CoryB

The reality is at some point there will be a national museum on truth and reconciliation and there will be national centres of excellence for indigenous languages and creative arts. Winnipeg is very much at a crossroads for being the national centre for these indigenous institutions and it will be an opportunity that only comes around once.

I would not hold your breath.

For the past 15 years, this was my main criticism of the CMHR Museum. Even though most Canadians wanted the treatment of the Indigenous people as the primary focus of the museum, the Aspers overlooked that, in favour of a watered-down Holocaust museum.

I don't see the point in building a second museum, when this subject could still be the focal point of the Human Rights museum. It would just be a waste of money to do so.