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Exchange area to get parkade

Project to preserve heritage facade

By: Staff Writer

12/06/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 7

The King Building’s brick facade will be taken apart and then reassembled around parking/office structure.

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The King Building’s brick facade will be taken apart and then reassembled around parking/office structure. (WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

A new construction project is about to begin at the edge of Old Market Square just as crews are putting the finishing touches on the first phase of the Exchange District green space's $3.3-million facelift.

The city has issued a demolition permit for the 112-year-old King Building at the southwest corner of King Street and Bannatyne Avenue as a prelude to the construction of a new parkade that will preserve the red-brick heritage structure's facade.

The locations of the bricks in the King Building's east- and north-facing walls have been recorded and will be used to reconstruct the facade as part of a 160-stall parkade that will include underground heated parking and about 5,000 square feet of commercial space at the ground level. The original parkade design called for 186 stalls and 8,000 square feet of commercial space, but property owner Bedford Investments revised the plan when it added underground parking to the project.

Construction of the parkade will be complete by the summer of 2010. The city and downtown development agency CentreVenture are contributing a combined $2 million to the $7.4-million project, plus $800,000 in potential tax credits.

The current phase of the renovation of Old Market Square, meanwhile, will be completed in time for the June 18 start of the Exchange District BIZ's summer concert series. The square has new landscaping that includes a gradual slope in front of its stage.

Future upgrades will include a new stage and landscaping on the north side of the square, ideally to complement new structures going up alongside the Union Bank Tower as part of Red River College's renovation of the heritage building.

- Bartley Kives

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 12, 2009 B3

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7 Commentscomment icon

Why do we have to give anyone 2 million to build a parkade. Why can they not do it on thier own? Do we get the money back? I think we really need to think about where we are spending money right now. This is not a good use of public money.

CT, empty pigeon-infested buildings are indeed eyesores (so, too, are parkades), so how can the City and Provincie mitigate the problem of empty pigeon-infested eyesores? Letting an owner willfully neglect a property for nearly 20 years before helping them pay to demolish the building, doesn't seem like it will do anything more than encourage other property owners follow Bedford Investment's demolition-by-neglect formula.

But then, I myself don't own a heritage warehouse in the Exchange District , so my criticism has less validity right? Just like my criticism of the Bomber's performance less season has less validity because I am not a pro football player, and my criticisms of President Barack Obama are moot because I have not run for Federal office in the U.S.

@CT: You're missing the whole point of how Bedford Investments tried the old "demolition by neglect" trick. They bought this building several years ago when it wasn't in such bad condition, and then simply left it to rot. Years later they try to get approval to have it torn down because it's in such bad shape, conveniently ignoring the fact that it is their own deliberate neglect that caused it to end up in such bad shape to begin with. The City is then left with two choices - allow a wonderful building to disappear from a prominent Exchange District corner which would ruin the streetscape, or else chip in and help save the building.

The current plan actually doesn't seem that bad, but how it came about seems awfully shady to me.

People need to realize that empty, pigeon infested buidings -- regardless of whether or not they have heritage status -- are an eyesore.

The parkade is going to keep the facade and add more ground level commercial space -- great for another boutique or restaurant.

If people are so adamant about preserving heritage buildings then garner the capital to purchase them and put them to USE! Otherwise stop complaining

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot,
With a pink hotel, a boutique,
And a swinging hot spot.
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum.
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em.
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. "


Joni Mitchell

So, what's the lesson here?

If you buy a historic building on one of the most prominant corners in the Exchange, neglect it and let it rot long enough, the city will finally give in and let you tear it down. Not only that, they'll give you $2 million to build a parkade. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Parking is needed, but why can't we build parkades on existing surface lots instead of gutting the history in our downtown?

This whole project speaks volumes about the lack of a coherent and aggressive policy regarding the heritage architecture jewel that is the Exchange District.

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