The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns - International ...

Ship Street, Sky, and The Strand. The derelict site was a former railway transfer track property and was a classic
brownfield. 32
CentreVenture championed the Waterfront Drive project by bringing together all levels of government and the private
sector. 33 Waterfront Drive was opened in August 2004, thanks in large part to $9.1M in funding from the Canada-
Manitoba Infrastructure Program. To date this initial investment has leveraged over $50 million in investments from
the private sector with over 200 residential units built and more than 36,000 square feet of commercial space
developed. 34 Development of this site provides a quality example of a high density, and mixed use community. Yet it
is also strategically located on the eastern edge of the historic Exchange District to connect the river with this
neighbourhood that also strives to grow its residential base.
A major investment ($5.6M) was also made in Winnipeg’s
historic Central Park to restore the park’s Waddell
Fountain and bring about site improvements. 35 The area is
home to a diverse population and about 70% of all
refugees who migrate to Winnipeg live in and around the
Central Park area. 36 Therefore the investment aims to
strengthen the existing communities around central park
and attract new residential development.
To further support these efforts the City and provincial
government recently doubled the size of their taxincentive
program. In 2010 the City and Province
launched a tax-incentive program that offered $20 million
worth of municipal property-tax and provincial educationtax
credits to developers who build new housing units in
downtown Winnipeg. The program was intended to last
five years but was fully subscribed within six months. It is
a form of tax-incentive financing that stimulates housing in
areas where the cost of renovations — and the additional
property-tax uptick flowing from the resulting property
reassessments — would otherwise make the
developments in question unprofitable. The City and
Province then doubled the size of the funding for the
program to $40M; which continued to help support
residential expansion within the core. 37
Waterfront Drive Neighborhood
View of Central Park
winnipegdowntownplaces.blogspot.com,
32
Centre Venture (2009). Waterfront Drive Development. Retrieved from http://umanitoba.ca/architecture/cp/Media/CiP2009/SakiyamaCIP.pdf. Accessed 2012
http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/27647/central-park-winnipegrejuvenated-grand-opening-waddell-fountain/
Accessed 2012
January 16.
33
Centre Venture (2009). Waterfront Drive Development. Retrieved from http://umanitoba.ca/architecture/cp/Media/CiP2009/SakiyamaCIP.pdf.
January 16.
34
Western Economic Diversification Canada (2007). $1.1 million Investment to reclaim Waterfront Drive property. Retrieved from:
http://www.wd.gc.ca/eng/77_9878.asp. Accessed 2012 January 24.
35
Western Economic Diversification Canada (2007). $1.1 million Investment to reclaim Waterfront Drive property. Retrieved from:
http://www.wd.gc.ca/eng/77_9878.asp. Accessed 2012 January 24.
36
Author Unknown.(2010). Central Park’s New and Improved Look On Display. Retrieved from http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/27647/central-park-winnipegrejuvenated-grand-opening-waddell-fountain/.
Accessed 2012 January 16.
37
Winnipeg Free Press (2011). Downtown Housing Incentive to Double to $40million. Retrieved from:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Downtown-housing-incentive-to-double-to-40-million-119919549.html?device=mobile&c=y. Accessed 2012
January 23.
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