MB Economic Fundamentals 2008-12

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The new cost of owning a home Big drop seen in new apartments

THERE`S been a dramatic drop-off in the number of new apartments being built in the city this year, and developers are blaming it on rent controls and high construction costs.

New Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. figures issued Monday show Winnipeg will likely finish the year with only 319 new apartment starts. That`s a far cry from the 800 started in 2007 and the 600 in 2006. And it comes at a time when the city-wide apartment vacancy rate is hovering at a mere 1.1 per cent. Jeff Powell, CMHC`s senior market analyst for Manitoba, said with vacancy rates this low, he expected to see lots of new apartments being built again this year.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/35787914.html

 

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Controversial cottage lot sale back on agenda

The council of Grahamdale could vote again this week on its controversial cottage lot sale on Lake Manitoba near Steep Rock.

The lot sale, defeated last council meeting, is on the agenda for the RM of Grahamdale`s council meeting Thursday.

The meeting has been preceded by a circular from the RM`s chief administrator Bev Yaworski defending the lot sale process for the Lafarge Lakefront cottage subdivision.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/bre..._on_agenda.html

 

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Housing boom finally over

WINNIPEG`S resale housing boom is over and the market is in retreat, new sales numbers released Tuesday show.

The Winnipeg REALTORS Association said 656 homes sold last month through its Multiple Listing Service. That`s a 25 per cent drop from November 2007`s total of 880 and comes on the heels of an 18 per cent decline in sales in October. WRA officials agreed the market has slowed and last month`s sales volumes were more in line with November 2003 -- the first year of the six-year market boom -- than November 2007, when homes were still selling at a fevered pitch.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/35857484.html

 

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We`re bucking global slump

Manitoba`s economy will once again post growth higher than the national average this year and next despite the global recession, the Canada West Foundation said. The Calgary-based think-tank`s latest economic profile and forecast for the province released this morning said the province`s diversified economy, which features strong non-residential construction and innovative manufacturing industries like buses and aerospace parts, will help fuel 2.3 per cent growth in 2008 and 2.0 per cent in 2009, according to Canada West.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/wer...obal_slump.html

 

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Developer walks away

Winnipeggers looking for rooms to rent may have to "move to Saskatchewan or Alberta," chided the owner of a Vancouver company that cancelled a $50-million apartment expansion in North Kildonan in the face of political opposition. Minutes before Mayor Sam Katz`s cabinet had the chance to vote on a proposal to add two new towers to an existing apartment complex on Whellams Lane, Devonshire Properties formerly withdrew its application for three zoning changes it needed before the company could add 331 new units to the property.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/dev...walks_away.html

 

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Rural schools court foreign students to boost enrolment

KIDS in junior high in Berlin, Rio de Janiero, Cancun or Seoul may be dreaming right this minute about going to high school in Virden, Souris, Minnedosa, Neepawa, or Killarney.

Those dreams could come true. A consortium of five rural school divisions is making a big push to recruit international students to help stave off the steadily declining enrolment plaguing schools throughout Manitoba.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/rur..._enrolment.html

 

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Neighbourhood investment pays dividends

Five years and millions of dollars worth of funding may not have completely transformed the Centennial neighbourhood, but it has helped build the foundations needed for its continued comeback. The five-year, $3-million project by the Winnipeg Foundation to help the neighbourhood -- whose boundaries are Princess and Sherbrook Streets and the CPR tracks and William Avenue -- is now complete.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/nei..._dividends.html

 

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Apartment vacancies hit record low

Winnipeg`s apartment vacancy rate has fallen to its lowest level on record -- a scant one per cent -- prompting some officials to label it a crisis.

"It`s really at a breaking point right now," Jino Distasio, director of the University of Winnipeg`s Institute of Urban Studies, said Thursday. "Provincial and federal authorities need to make a decision on what the strategy should be (for addressing the problem)."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/...record_low.html

 

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Safeway goes big at Madison Square

FRESH baked bread from a unique open hearth oven, free wireless Internet at an oversized Starbucks and an expanded selection of organic and health conscious products are some of the features at Winnipeg`s newest Safeway store. The Madison Square Safeway opened Thursday afternoon, 22 hours after the company closed two other stores -- at Polo Park and at Ellice Avenue and Wall Street.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/...son_square.html

 

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Turn public housing over to private sector: report

The Manitoba government should privatize its stake in running public housing, a bold move that would save money and in turn help even more Manitobans get subsidized housing, a right-wing think-tank said in a report released Friday. Frontier Centre for Public Policy research associate Daniel Klymchuk said 21,000 more Manitobans could get affordable housing if the provincial government sold its residential real estate portfolio.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/tur...tor_report.html

 

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MB Small Town Updates: 2008-12-14

 

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New cash for downtown skywalk

The City of Winnipeg will receive federal and provincial help to extend downtown`s weather-protected walkway system to the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

Ottawa and Manitoba are expected to announce at a press conference this morning that they will top up the city`s $2 million contribution toward the construction of two new skywalks. Those new skywalks would connect cityplace mall with the office building at 330 St. Mary Ave., and that building with the Delta Hotel, which is already connected to the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/new...wn_skywalk.html

 

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Waiting for the Hydro to go in, downtown businesses hope for new customers

Iwona Zimolag looks out the front window of her Edmonton Street café and patiently waits for the first wave of saviours to arrive. Zimolag and her husband, Robert, opened Viola Café 12 months ago in anticipation of a spring 2008 opening for Manitoba Hydro`s new high-rise office tower, which is located directly across the street and will bring more than 2,000 new workers into the downtown each weekday.

That`s 2,000 potential new customers for the Zimolags` fledgling little business, which she admits could really use the boost.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/..._customers.html

 

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Mayor back from Ukraine

Mayor Ken Brennan has returned home to Portage la Prairie after his trip to the Ukraine, and although he didn`t bring any kutia home for the Christmas season, he did bring with him news of a successful excursion to Kiev.

"The trip was very good. We really feel like we accomplished what we set out to do, and we hope that there will be meetings with some of the local employers this week," said Brennan.

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/Article....aspx?e=1348261

 

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City, province keen to renew deal

THE city and province are keen to renew a deal that`s showered millions of dollars on inner-city projects, but Ottawa has yet to decide whether it wants in.

The Winnipeg Partnership Agreement, a $75 million deal between the governments of Main Street, Broadway and Parliament Hill, is slated to expire next year after funding 220 downtown revitalization and inner-city renewal projects since 2004. The PA`s final $6 million was committed on Monday morning, as the city, province and Ottawa agreed to pay for most of the cost of extending downtown Winnipeg`s weather-protected walkway system. Each level of government will spend $2 million on an $8.7 million plan to build a pair of skywalks that will connect cityplace mall with the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cit...renew_deal.html

 

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Ikea expected to announce today it`s Winnipeg-bound

Sweden-based furniture chain Ikea is expected to announce today that it is planning to set up shop in Winnipeg.

A source, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Ikea is set to announce "something big" today involving a possible location for the store at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

Rumours about the retail furnishings chain coming to the city have popped up a number of times in recent years. In late November, Ikea Canada said it was "looking at Winnipeg in a very serious manner".

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2...762416-sun.html

 

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Retailers see more winners than losers with new outlet

It`s big, it`s bold, and it`s arrival is bound to cast a chill over other home furnishings retailers in the city. But retail industry officials say there`ll be more winners than losers if IKEA Canada gets the green light to build a new 350,000-square-foot store in southwest Winnipeg.

Local retail developer Sandy Shindleman said a development of that size -- the IKEA store is part of a 1.5-million square-foot retail development being planned for the corner of Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Way -- will generate a whack of new retail and construction jobs.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ret...w_winnipeg.html

 

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$18.5 M to redo roads for IKEA

The city and province will spend up to $18.5 million to redo recently completed roads to ensure Bergsbo bookcases and Bjursta cabinets can be sold at a Winnipeg IKEA store that will be one of the furniture giant`s largest in Canada.

As early as 2011, the Swedish-founded chain plans to build a 350,000-square-foot retail store to serve as the anchor tenant for a 1.5 million-square-foot retail development at the southwest corner of Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway. Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz called the $400-million development "a big win for the city," while Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said it represents "a great step forward."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/185...s_for_ikea.html

 

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City studying ways to widen Kenaston

CITY hall is already studying ways to widen the most gridlocked parts of Kenaston Boulevard, a plan in the works before IKEA announced it is coming to town.

The city has quietly commissioned an 18-month-study to look at where the road ought to be widened, how much it might cost and where the work should start. The "functional plan," which is being done by the MMM Group, looks at a long stretch of the major artery from Ness Avenue near Polo Park to Taylor Avenue. The next step is detailed design and construction plans.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cit...n_kenaston.html

 

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U of M stadium project heads to completion

IN their strongest language yet, the main players involved in the construction of a new stadium for Winnipeg said Wednesday a deal is imminent.

Senior Manitoba MP Vic Toews said he met with stadium proponent David Asper Wednesday morning to iron out additional details, and Mayor Sam Katz confirmed the city has already signed onto the deal, which will see a new football stadium built at the University of Manitoba. "Every day we`re making sure if we hit a nitpicking dispute we settle it," Premier Gary Doer added.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/u_o...completion.html