New report shows positive growth for downtown Winnipeg

Billions invested in downtown Winnipeg Emad Agahi on a new report that finds over $2 billion invested in downtown Winnipeg since 2005.

The Downtown Winnipeg Biz released a new report with numbers backing up a claim that downtown is the place to be.

According to its 2016 trends report, there is currently $1.26 billion worth of proposed developments in the downtown area.

There are more apartment buildings under construction now, than were built in the past ten years.

"The market conditions are ripe, the opportunity for private sector investment is excellent and there is no better time than now to invest in downtown Winnipeg," said Jason Syvixay, managing director.

"The trends report is a reminder that investments is happening in our downtown and the climate is optimistic for further growth."

More from the report:

Investment (Cumulative total in millions)

• Total Built (2005-2009): $783.19

• Total Built (2010-2015): $1118.87

• Investment Planned (As of July, 2016): $1264.80

Residential Units

• Total Built (2005-2009): 674

• Total Built (2010-2015): 768

• Residential Units Planned (As of July, 2016): 1,213

Other Highlights

• BOMA Best building certifications up from 26 in 2013 to 35 in 2015

• 9 new events in 2015, bringing total number of festivals to 62

• 20 patios installed by the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ since 2007

• Number of restaurants increased from 82 in 2013 to 103 in 2015

• CMHR said “Hello!” to nearly 495,000 people since opening to December 2015

• Downtown apartments under construction growing at a faster rate than the City since 2005

• 83.3% of downtown businesses are confident about the current and future direction of downtown Winnipeg

Local Entrepreneur testing downtown waters:

Eric Olek's clothing line, called Friday Knights, is for sale in a pop-up store at the corner of Carlton Street and Portage Avenue.

He is using downtown Winnipeg as his retail spring board.

"The concept of retail downtown is not a hard thing to wrap your head around, there are a lot of people down here and we want to bring more people down here,” he said.

The Downtown Biz said Olek's business is one of many attracted to downtown locations, because of the recent investment boom.

"That's the nice thing about downtown you can find restaurants, coffee shops and outdoor entertainment, and I think we need more of that," Olek added.