My gut reaction: this sort of looks like dropping an amusement park into the middle of a neighbourhood. So it’s no surprise to see the words “Disney” and “West Edmonton Mall” pop up in the promo materials.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the drawings look nice, but we’ve all been sucked in by architectural renderings in the past.
The good includes the pedestrian/cycling/transit connections (although they’d help turn north St. B into a parking lot on game nights), the retail/hotel development, and a water park that looks much nicer than what Leo has planned for Polo Park. The traffic flow also looks better than originally feared, although I’m still not sure how people in south Winnipeg get home easily.
The stadium itself continues to be the weakest component. It sits there like a beast, cutting off the rest of the project from existing development on Waterfront Drive. It also requires several blocks of surface parking, which ain’t gonna be pretty. I’d be a lot more impressed with this proposal if Waterfront were extended all the way through, and if there was some affordable residential development guaranteed as part of phase one.
There doesn’t appear to be any real connection with the existing neighbourhood, and overall this seems like another case of community obliteration/rebuild rather than revitalization. I’m sure there has to be some local concerns about particular properties, but I’ll let others who are more familiar with Point Douglas speak to those issues.
As for the deal, while it requires less money from the province and feds, ultimately the City is going to eat a lot of costs. It will sell the existing stadium site to Asper, but will have to use those proceeds (and maybe more) to pay for land assembly in Point Douglas and rerouting of Higgins. Once the existing stadium site, old arena/CTV site and the Leo water park get built, someone is going to have to add more traffic capacity to Empress and/or St. James.
Some great fodder for conversation at the lake this weekend anyway. Enjoy your time off folks!
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: asper stadium, City of Winnipeg
An excellent opportunity to emphasize alternative transportation options (cycling, transit, park and ride, kayak/canoe). Carpoolers could get a discount on parking fees.