Downtown Winnipeg

Neighbourhoods

The Downtown Winnipeg Zoning By-Law defines the boundaries of the Downtown planning area, and several sectors within it. The downtown census area is slightly smaller, omitting a three-block extension at the north edge. There is also a significantly larger Downtown community area, used for Community Social Data Strategy for Winnipeg.

Waterfront District

The Waterfront District is a newly emerging mixed-use development located in the northeast corner of downtown Winnipeg. The district runs along the west bank of the Red River along Waterfront Drive and features Stephen Juba Park.[[File:Winnipeg's Waterfront district condominiums.JPG|thumb|Condominiums in the Waterfront District. The district is situated in the northeast corner of Downtown.|left]]The Waterfront District has seen a number of residential construction projects since 2005. Moreover, there have been plans to extend Waterfront Drive further north, to connect it with the Disraeli Fwy. Developer Leon A. Brown has offered up to 12 properties for redevelopment in the area. Sunstone Boutique Hotels had an $11-million plan to build a three-storey, 67-room boutique hotel on what is now a gravel parking lot, along with a new casual-dining restaurant in the one-storey brick former Harbourmaster's building. The plans also involve construction of a public plaza area at the south end of the property.

The design of the Waterfront District also led to a new road system that included Winnipeg’s first roundabout, at the corner of Bannatyne Avenue and Waterfront Drive.

Central Park

Main article: Central Park (Winnipeg)}}{{Unreferenced section

Central Park is one of Winnipeg's most densely-populated neighbourhoods with 13,755 people per square km according to the 2001 Census. Seventy per cent of all refugees coming to Winnipeg live downtown, in and around the Central Park area. Central Park includes many different ethnicities including Arabs, Vietnamese, Chinese, Ojibway, Filipinos, and African (more than half being African).

Exchange District

Main article: Exchange District

The Exchange District is a National Historic Site of Canada. Just one block north is one of Canada's most famous intersections, Portage and Main, the Exchange District comprises 20 city blocks and approximately 150 heritage buildings, and it is known for its intact turn-of-the-century collection of warehouses, financial institutions, and early terracotta-clad skyscrapers.

Winnipeg's theatre district is located on the east side of the Exchange District, home to the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, and Centennial Concert Hall which houses the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Manitoba Opera. The west side of the Exchange is home to Cinematheque, a small movie theatre located in the Artspace building on Albert Street.

The Exchange District's Old Market Square annually hosts the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, and the Manitoba Electronic Music Exhibition. Renovations to Old Market Square completed in 2012 added "The Cube", a $1.5 million stage, with a skin made up of 20,000 aluminum links. The stage contains a built-in lighting system, green room and two performance levels.

The district is home to Red River College's Roblin Centre and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute.

Broadway-Assiniboine

Main article: Broadway (Winnipeg)

Broadway-Assiniboine lies in the southern part of downtown on the north bank of the Assiniboine River. The neighbourhood is one of the more densely-populated in Winnipeg, with 15,452.2 people per square kilometre. It features many notable landmarks such as the historic Upper Fort Garry, Hotel Fort Garry, and the Manitoba Legislative Building. Broadway-Assiniboine features the "Assiniboine Riverwalk" and is home to many notable restaurants.

The population of Broadway-Assiniboine was 5,270 as of the 2016 Census. The most common transportation method of the people in South Portage is walking, with 31.8%, more than 6.5 times higher than the overall 4.9% for Winnipeg. The average employment income for the area is just $47,268, which is lower than Winnipeg's average employment income of $61,164.

Current plans are for a new bicycle-pedestrian bridge to connect McFadyen Park with Fort Rouge Park over the Assiniboine River. The bridge would be partly financed by a grant from the Winnipeg Foundation. There are three designs vying for final approval.

The Forks

Main article: The Forks, Winnipeg

The Forks is a 99 acre national historic, recreational, cultural, and entertainment area site in downtown Winnipeg, deriving its name from being located where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet. The Forks was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1974 due to its status as a cultural landscape that had borne witness to six thousand years of human activity.

South Portage

South Portage is the group of city blocks located between Portage Avenue, Main Street, Broadway, and Memorial Boulevard.

The population of South Portage was 1,865 as of the 2016 Census. The most common transportation method of the people in South Portage is walking, with 42.4%, more than five times higher than the overall 4.9% for Winnipeg. The average employment income for the area is just $52,267, which is lower than Winnipeg's average employment income of $61,164.

South Portage is the location of the main branch of the Winnipeg Public Library system, the Millennium Library.

The area also has the Winnipeg Convention Centre with 160000 sqft of meeting, exhibition and banquet space. Lakeview Square, the largest mixed-use development downtown in the 1970s, was constructed at the same time as the Convention Centre and completed in 1974.

Opened in 2004, the Bell MTS Place is located just south of Portage Avenue and is home to the Winnipeg Jets.

The area also has the Norquay Building, the Law Courts, Cityplace mall, and VJ's Drive Inn. There are numerous office buildings and hotels in this area, including some of Winnipeg's tallest buildings.

A 42-storey apartment building, 300 Main, is currently being built by Artis REIT, owners of 360 Main St. and Winnipeg Square. When completed, it will be the tallest apartment block in the city.

Winnipeg's public transit hub is located on the Graham Avenue Transit Mall, as many bus routes converge there.

Chinatown

Main article: Chinatown, Winnipeg

Formed in 1909, the area is home to many shops and restaurants including Asian grocery stores and an herbal products store.

Winnipeg's Chinatown covers 0.1 km2 northwest of City Hall and is home to about 600 people, of whom 90% are in the Chinese visible minority group. 40.5% of the area's residents speak neither English nor French (as compared to 1% of Winnipeg as a whole), while 71.1% of residents speak some variant of Chinese (including Cantonese, Mandarin and Chinese not otherwise specified).

River crossings

Downtown Winnipeg has four bridges that directly connect to other Winnipeg neighbourhoods or suburbs across the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. They are the Main Street Bridge, Midtown Bridge, Osborne Street Bridge, and the Provencher Bridge.

One of the first bridges in Winnipeg was the Main-Norwood Bridge. It carries traffic between St. Boniface, St. Vital, and points east from Marion Street. Originally a toll bridge, it carried Winnipeg's first horse-drawn streetcars between downtown and River Avenue in the early 1880s.

Osborne Street Bridge connects Osborne Village to the downtown core. The first iteration was built in the late 1880s. In the 2010s the bridge was upgraded with a lit wall using LED technology.

The Midtown Bridge carries traffic to and from south Winnipeg. It was first opened in September 1955. The Bridge sees upwards of 59,300 vehicles average weekdays.

The Provencher Bridge is the third one built. The first version, called the Broadway Bridge, was not engineered correctly and fell into the Red River four days after opening due to ice jams colliding with it. The second version outlived its usefulness and was replaced in the 2000s. The new Provencher Bridge opened to vehicular traffic in December 2003. Located adjacent to the Provencher Bridge is the cable-stayed pedestrian and cycling bridge, Esplanade Riel, opened in 2004. It features space for an indoor restaurant.

Other features

Sports venues

There are two major sports venues located downtown, Canada Life Centre where the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose have played since 2004; and Blue Cross Park, where the American Association's Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team have played since 1999.

Winnipeg Walkway System

Main article: Winnipeg Walkway

The Winnipeg Walkway system, popularly known as the Winnipeg Skywalk, is a network of pedestrian skyways and tunnels connecting a significant portion of the city centre.

Media

Main article: Media in Winnipeg

Several media organizations have broadcasting studio located in the downtown area, including television stations CTV, Global, Citytv, and Canadian specialty channel APTN; and radio stations QX-104, and 93.7 Nostalgia FM.

The television broadcast antennas for CBC Manitoba and ICI Radio-Canada Manitoba are located on the Richardson Building, while Global TV Winnipeg is located on top of 201 Portage Avenue.

Border Crossings, an internationally known arts magazine featuring Canadian art, publishes from offices in the Exchange District. Where Winnipeg magazine features listings of things to do in Winnipeg and is also published from the Exchange District.

Education

Isbister School is an Adult Education Centre operated by the Winnipeg School Division in the north Portage Avenue area. Other private schools serve business needs, such as CDI and Booth University College.

Notes

References

1. "City of Winnipeg Community Area Profiles".
2. "Map for OurWinnipeg Adopted by City Council".
3. Kylie, Aaron. (27 September 2016). "Six maps that put Canada's downtown cores in context".
4. (2023). "2021 Census Data - Downtown Zoning By-law".
5. "(UD) : 2001 Census". Winnipeg.ca.
6. (7 February 2019). "2016 Census - City of Winnipeg Community Area Profiles".
7. https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/architecture/media/CiP_2009_Marli.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (6 November 2021 {{Bare URL PDF). (March 2022)
8. McNeill, Murray. (4 July 2011). "Waterfront set for leap forward". [[Winnipeg Free Press]].
9. "Waterfront North".
10. (February 2011). "Harbour Master Hotel Landscape Concept Plan".
11. "Historic Exchange".
12. (July 1999). "The Exchange District A National Historic Site Heritage Interpretation Strategy". The Exchange District Heritage Partnership.
13. "Theatres". The Exchange District.
14. "Cinematheque". Cinematheque.
15. (19 June 2010). "Old Market Square". Winnipeg Downtown Places.
16. "The Roblin Centre". Red River College.
17. Forlanski, Tamara. (21 February 2013). "RRC opens high-end restaurant in Exchange". Global News Winnipeg.
18. (24 July 2019). "2016 Census Data - Broadway-Assinboine".
19. (24 May 2018). "City unveils three options for pedestrian/bike bridge over Assiniboine".
20. "The Forks National Historic Site of Canada".
21. (24 July 2019). "2016 Census Data - South Portage".
22. (17 October 2010). "Winnipeg Millennium Library". LM Architectural Group.
23. "Winnipeg Convention Centre". Winnipeg Convention Centre.
24. "MTS Centre / True North Arena". MTS Centre.
25. "Chinatown | Tourism Winnipeg".
26. "2006 Census Data China Town". City of Winnipeg.
27. (15 September 1955). "Bridge Opened: Another Needed". Winnipeg Free Press.
28. (4 June 2018). "2018 Traffic Flow Map".
29. (30 December 2003). "Esplanade Riel opens to public".
30. "Indoor Walkways". Downtown Winnipeg Biz.
31. (11 May 2019). "Historic Sites of Manitoba: Isbister School".