A core concern A series exploring downtown Winnipeg

As part of an ongoing series, the Free Press is turning its focus to Winnipeg's downtown area, exploring the state of the city's core, and what can be done to improve it.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/12/2022 (1311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As part of an ongoing series, the Free Press is turning its focus to Winnipeg’s downtown area, exploring the state of the city’s core, and what can be done to improve it.

Once more into the downtown

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                A peaked roof pokes out above storefronts, a vestige of another time, at Kennedy Street and Graham Avenue in Winnipeg.

Posted:

In the opening decades of the 20th century, optimism for the bustling Portage strip, and the blocks lined up neatly around it, was overflowing. The City of Winnipeg was growing, booming with new European settlers and new business, signs of the wealth being extracted from the land in a young colonial country, and the promises of more wealth to come.

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It will take more than office workers' return to get downtown back on its feet

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                More foot traffic is needed for a vibrant and safer downtown, says Aimee Peake, owner of Bison Books.

Posted:

The plastic is still on the newly purchased couch.

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Too many U of W and RRC Polytech students are still fleeing the inner city as soon as classes end

SUPPLIED
                                The latest addition on Elgin Avenue houses 10 new programs, marking the most significant scale-up of the institution’s academic offerings in its history, and is surrounded by a new pedestrian corridor.

Posted:

There are no traces of the University of Manitoba’s downtown campus, a collection of science and arts buildings that once stood where manicured grounds now host family picnics — and, during the winter months, piles of snow — on Memorial Boulevard.

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An artist thrives in a precious, temporary gallery space in the increasingly unaffordable art heart of the city

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                The struggle to create is Jedrick Thorassie’s calling. Finding a place to make and sell it alongside other artists is getting tougher. He found a precious temporary reprieve in a gallery space on Arthur St. and hopes he can find a way to stay in the neighbourhood.

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Jedrick Thorassie sits cross-legged on 123-year-old floorboards, surrounded by paintbrushes, finished works, and dozens upon dozens of sketchbooks, each page filled with the pictures he’s seen and the ones he’s created.

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Inner city has lowest housing stock, increasing pressure to help homeless

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Downtown resident Brian Pincott enjoys the beauty of the city’s core, but he also laments what it could be.

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Brian Pincott lives in a home on Spence Street. He loves downtown Winnipeg — he was a city councillor in Calgary for a decade before moving here three and a half years ago and was immediately struck by what he calls some of the best “urban bones” in the country.

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Scouting for a younger Jets fan

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Eleven years after Winnipeg won back an NHL team, True North is facing off against inflation, lack of options and fear of crime.

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There was a time when a seat at a Winnipeg Jets game may have rivalled any night out at a pub or bar for some of the city’s younger fans.

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Amid a toxic drug crisis, Winnipeg and Hamilton go in starkly different directions

Stations for clients to safely use drugs at Carole Anne’s Place at YWCA Hamilton in Ontario.
CARLOS OSORIO FOR THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Posted:

In Hamilton, there's a pair of supervised consumption sites in operation, with a third on its way. In Winnipeg, there's a patchwork approach to harm reduction as advocates try, at the very least, to make it safer for users on the streets.

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Hosting services of many faiths, Knox United quietly models what downtown can be

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                A welcome sign at Knox United Church, an intercultural church and community hub in the heart of the Central Park neighbourhood of Winnipeg.

Posted:

It’s the last Sunday before Christmas, and though the weather outside is bitter, the inside of Knox United Church is almost a little too warm. Mostly, that’s the fault of the building’s overzealous old radiators, which minister Lesley Harrison jokes have a mind of their own; but also, it’s that the church is filling up with the global village of faithful who make it their home.

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Greening the concrete jungle, in Winnipeg and Edmonton

SUPPLIED
                                City of Edmonton’s Warehouse Park is set to be completed in 2025.

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In the leafy shade of Edmonton’s living-cities victories, Winnipeg advocates see hope for easing the grey expanse of 150 downtown surface lots to an urban oasis

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History

Updated on Sunday, January 1, 2023 3:03 PM CST: Adds link to Knox United story

Updated on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 6:43 AM CST: Adds link to concrete jungle story

Updated on Wednesday, January 4, 2023 12:40 PM CST: Rearranges stories

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Bombers defence still holds hope season can be turned around

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Bombers defence still holds hope season can be turned around

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read 6:05 PM CDT

One solitary, one-syllable word was all Mike O’Shea needed to try and describe what he had just seen.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had watched his defence get shredded for almost 400 yards in the rushing game alone in what was a 35-19 loss to the B.C. Lions on Thursday night before a stunned crowd of more than 31,000 at Princess Auto Stadium.

“Oof,” said O’Shea, before he explained things a bit further on the tactical side and provided some of the reasons things went sideways in such an important facet of the game.

It wasn’t that the description the head coach of the Bombers gave on that front wasn’t important, but the preamble to the soliloquy on how a series of errors and missed tackles wasn’t really necessary for anyone who had just witnessed this debacle.

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The bountiful harvest: Thousands of visitors flock to St. Norbert Farmers’ Market every Saturday

Melissa Martin 17 minute read Preview

The bountiful harvest: Thousands of visitors flock to St. Norbert Farmers’ Market every Saturday

Melissa Martin 17 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

While most of Winnipeg is still sleeping, or perhaps just starting to think about making the morning coffee, a patch of shade and sun just south of the Perimeter Highway is already humming with life.

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‘Good deal of synergy’ brewing in South Osborne

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

‘Good deal of synergy’ brewing in South Osborne

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read 6:56 PM CDT

Pub crawls could become the next South Osborne draw.

At least, that’s the hope of entrepreneurs in the area as three breweries build out locations in the Winnipeg neighbourhood.

Nonsuch Brewing Co. and Good Neighbour Brewing Co. have opened storefronts along the strip in the past three months. Dastardly Villain is creating a taproom and nanobrewery.

“I’m really excited to have these pubs and taprooms,” said Ben Shantz, board chair of the South Osborne Business Improvement Zone.

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6:56 PM CDT

South Osborne residents fail in bid to prevent construction of 131-unit apartment tower

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview

South Osborne residents fail in bid to prevent construction of 131-unit apartment tower

Malak Abas 3 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

A proposed 10-storey highrise on an empty south Osborne lot will move forward despite concerns from residents about the impact the building will have on nearby parking and traffic.

The city-owned lot at 425 Osborne St., which previously served as a gas station but has long sat vacant, will be developed into a mixed-use residential building with 131 units, 39 of which would be affordable, along with additional office space for the adjacent Winnipeg Transit garage and the Transit customer service centre across the street, along with a two-level parkade for tenants and Transit employees.

The property is being developed by the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. 2.0, and designed by Prairie Architects Inc.

At a meeting held by city council’s appeal committee Wednesday, several residents said while they supported the idea of more housing in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood, they had lingering concerns about the impact the development will have on the already-busy area.

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Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

A core concern: a series exploring downtown Winnipeg

3 minute read Preview

A core concern: a series exploring downtown Winnipeg

3 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023

As part of an ongoing series, the Free Press is turning its focus to Winnipeg's downtown area, exploring the state of the city's core, and what can be done to improve it.

 

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Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023

Drug site open house called off after media tipped off

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Drug site open house called off after media tipped off

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:09 AM CDT

Local business owners are miffed an open house for the upcoming supervised consumption site was cancelled after the media found out about it and interest swelled.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:09 AM CDT