C.N.R. East Yards Redevelopment ’84: A Showcase of Winnipeg’s Past and Future Report No. 17 __________________ by Solomon Aremu, Richard Brundrige, Jeffrey Lowe & Ioannis Ziotas 1986 __________________ The Institute of Urban Studies FOR INFORMATION: The Institute of Urban Studies The University of Winnipeg 599 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg phone: 204.982.1140 fax: 204.943.4695 general email: [email protected] Mailing Address: The Institute of Urban Studies The University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 C.N.R. EAST YARDS REDEVELOPMENT ’84: A SHOWCASE OF WINNIPEG’S PAST AND FUTURE Report No. 17 Published 1986 by the Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg © THE INSTITUTE OF URBAN STUDIES Note: The cover page and this information page are new replacements, 2015. The Institute of Urban Studies is an independent research arm of the University of Winnipeg. Since 1969, the IUS has been both an academic and an applied research centre, committed to examining urban development issues in a broad, non-partisan manner. The Institute examines inner city, environmental, Aboriginal and community development issues. In addition to its ongoing involvement in research, IUS brings in visiting scholars, hosts workshops, seminars and conferences, and acts in partnership with other organizations in the community to effect positive change. C.N .R. EAST YARnS REDEVEID:EMENT I 84: A SHOWCASE OF WINNIPEG 1 S PAST AND FUI'ORE Report No. 17 by Solomon Aremu Richard Brundrige Jeffrey Lowe Ioannis Ziotas originally submitted in fulfillment of course requirements of "land Development" (73. 716), Department of City Planning, Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba (Professor Earl levin, Instructor) . Institute of Urban Studies 1986 l?UBLICATION DATA Aremu, Solomon; Brundrige, Richard; Lowe, Jeffrey; Ziotas, Ioannis. C.N.R. east yards redevelopment '84: a showcase of Winnipeg's past and future (Report; no. 17) ISBN: 0-920213-37-5 1. City planning - Winnipeg (Man.) • I. Jeffrey Lowe. II. University of Winnipeg. Institute of Urban Studies. III. Title. IV. Series: Reports (University of Winnipeg. Institute of Urban Studies) ; 17. This publication was partially supported by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, but the views expressed are the personal views of the author and the Corporation accepts no responsibility for them.. Copyright 1986 ISBN: 0-920213-37-5 Institute of Urban Studies iii The authors wish to extend their profound appreciation to the individuals (and the respective organizations by which they are employed) interviewed in connection with this report. Their full, frank, and astute discussion of the background issues involved in East Yards redevelopment provided us with an otherwise unavailable dimension of insight--which was instrumental in this report's preparation. Alan F .J. .Artibise Mike Fay I.arry Boland Paul McNeil Al calder Bill Neville Peter Diamant Bill Rettie Ian Dickson len Vopnfjord Graham Dixon Ken Wong Karl Falk Tom Yauk A special "th.ankyou" is also extended to Edd Stawowy for his unselfish and expert volunteered service in corrpiling the photographic contents of this document; and to Michelle Buchanan for supplementary work on the study maps which accorrpany the text. The contribution of Professor Geoffrey Bargh, current Head of the Department of City Planning, University of Manitoba, in helping render the original report "publication-worthy" is gratefully acknowledged; as is the generous assistance extended by the Institute of Urban Studies, The University of Winnipeg, through its Director, Dr. Alan F.J. Artibise. v TABIE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents v List of Tables vii List of Exhibits viii List of :Maps viii Section 1. 0 INTROOOCI'ION: A FRESH I.OOK 1 1.1 Location of the Site 2 1. 2 study Objectives 6 2. 0 A BRIEF HIS'IDRY OF T.HE SI'IE 6 3. 0 A CATAI..OGOE OF EXISTING IAND USES 9 3.1 structures on the Site 9 3.2 Building Condition 12 4. 0 PHYSICAL DESCRIPI'ION OF T.HE SI'IE 16 4.1 The Topography 16 4.2 Functional Areas 16 4. 3 Physical Barriers 17 5. 0 DISCUSSION OF RECENT DEVEI.O:EMENT PROFDSAIS 23 5.1 Great West Life (Damas and Smith - 1973) 23 5. 2 All Park Proposal (Board of Conrrnissioners, City of Winnipeg 1975) 27 5. 3 Oxford (Smith carter Partners/Skidmore ownings Merrill - 1977) 29 5.4 Lakeview ("Riverside Park" Development - 1979) 32 6. 0 T.HE FDLITICAL AND JURISDICI'IO:NAL BACKDROP 34 6.1 The Actors and Their Roles 35 6. 2 Areas of Apparent Disagreement 48 6. 3 Areas of Potential Consensus 50 6. 4 Ways and Means of Breaking the Deadlock 51 7. 0 PRESENTATION OF T.HE CONCEPIUAL PIAN 56 7 .1 Philosophical Basis of the Site 56 7.2 Description of Specific On-Site Activities 57 7. 3 Some Possible Alternative Uses 78 7.4 Land-Use SUbdivision 79 7. 5 Sponsorship and Funding Sources for Individual Projects 79 7. 6 Some SUggestions as to Cost 83 7. 7 Phasing of Implementation 88 8. 0 CONClUSION 90 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTINUED Section NarES 94 REFERENCES 95 APPENDIX 96 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page l Functional Areas within Existing East Yard Site 17 2 East Yards Site Development 'Ihe Actors and 'Iheir Roles 36 3 Same Possible Scenarios for Resolving the OUtstanding Issues 'Ihwarting East Yards Development 54 4 Acreages Allotted by Parcel 80 5 Sponsorship and Funding 81 6 A Partial Listing of Estimated Costs for Individual East Yards Projects 85 7 Time Frame of Inauguration (and completion) of Individual Projects 89 viii LIST OF EXHIBITS Exhibit A Parks canada Archeological Excavation sites at "'Ihe Forks" 8 B Great West Life (1973) 25 c Oxford (1977) 30 D Iakeview "Riverside Park" (1979) 33 E ARC "'Ihe Forks" Riverbank Park and Inte:rpretative Centre (1978) 45 LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1 Site Location 4 2 Building Condition 10 3 Functional Areas 14 4 Binding Elements 20 5 land SUJ:x:livision 58 6 Staging 74 l l. 0 INTROIUCriON: A FRESH LOOK over the years since 1965, a host of potential alternative uses have been proposed and debated for the canadian National Railway's under utilized storage and transfer yards abutting Main Street South in downtown Winnipeg: showpiece park; cultural centre; high-rise office district; sports conplex; luxury apa.rtJ:nent towers; and national historic monument (to cite but a few of the more enthusiastically-received suggestions). No less than three conceptual plans (covering the entire site) - possessing varying degrees of merit and daring- have received serious official attention and consideration. Dozens of others, no doubt, never forsook their authors' doting custody for the harsh glare of public scrutiny. All, however, shared a cormnon. fate: cancellation, rejection, or postponement. Whether the result of inertia, fractiousness, market fluctuations, timidity, or skepticism, the East Yards still languish in much the same antiquated, e:rrpty, and rustbound condition as was the case twenty years ago. For want of vision and detennination, an unrivalled opportunity to salvage a key, unspoiled slice of Winnipeg's past - and, to fashion a glittering exhibition grounds of its present and future wares - has been squandered. 'Ihere is, by contrast, a rekindled sense of optimism taking root in the Winnipeg of the mid-l980s. High profile public and private investment and redevelopment efforts presently being undertaken are helping noticeably to better knit together the shopworn fabric of a downtown riddled by decades of neglect. Until significant inroads could be made in restoring the existing developed central business district to a semblance of vigour, the conventional planning wisdom had held that no conpeting large-scale downtown expansion projects should be pennitted to proceed. 'Ihere was after all, only a severely limited supply of "risk capital" with which to atte:rrpt to get a downtown "renaissance" unde:rway (what with a slack local economy - and the eyes of developers turned fixatedly toward the subu:!::bs). With large-scale renewal now in progress in "North of Portage" and 2 elsewhere in Winnipeg's core, a finner sense of downtown's identity is taking shape. New proposals are being "plugged into" previously corrpleted ones; the outlines of an overall "development plan" are gradually emerging. In view of the quickening pace of investment interest of late, pe:rhaps it is an opportune time to re-examine the C.N.R. East Yards - nOIN' that we have a more secure idea of hOIN' this missing central "piece" may best be fitted into the "jigsaw puzzle" of downtown development. Given the tmiqueness and symbolic eminence of this quite large tract of virtually vacant land, Winnipeggers' "go-slow'' attitude towards its ilrprovement becomes understandable. Whatever is ultiinately done with the site, there has been an insistence from "Day One" that quality of design must supersede the usual, commercial :llnperatives. '!he authors of the plan unveiled in this report hope that we have been tru.e to that tru.st. In sifting through past proposals, we have, we believe, culled those aspects worthy of retention. In preparing our work, we have benefitted innnensely from the conunents and suggestions of the kn01N'ledgeable authorities consulted throughout. lastly, in fonnulating our own ideas with VJhich. to leaven the plan, our appreciation of the task was made easier by being able to assess their appropriateness against the contextual backdrop of the recent spate of major redevelopment activity presently transfonning Winnipeg's core areas. l.l I.oca.tion of the Site See Map 1, Illustration 1. c.N. Railway's East Yard is located at the hub of both land and water­ bo:rne transport in the Winnipeg Metropolitan area. '!he land lies southeast of the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street, and northwest of the junction of Red and Assiniboine Rivers.