Portage Place

After the field trip to Polo Park and our discussion about the ways in which the other thriving malls in Winnipeg fit well with Meaghan Morris's genres of shopping centres, I wondered, where does Portage Place fit and how exactly is it atypical?

First of all, some history courtesy of YouTube:





After watching the first video, I saw some clear parallels between Morris's discussion of Green Hill and Portage Place:
1. Both shopping centers were welcomed or established with the hope that they would rejuvenate the community, thus allowing Maitland to retain its status as a town and downtown Winnipeg to recover from recent crime sprees, falling business, and the exodus of shoppers to south Winnipeg and suburban malls
2. In both cases, the future of small and local business owners was compromised, and in Green Hills' case, the owners who protested the shopping centre were demonized, while a much subtler but similar portrayal can be read into 24 Hours' report about the expropriated businesses
3. In addition to their function as shopping centres, both malls were also expected to jumpstart housing and pull more people into the surrounding area, which was done through a 100-home subdivision near Green Hills and the accompanying housing complex for Portage Place
4. Enthusiasm and support from the community on the day of the grand opening

There are also some very important differences:
1. Most importantly, in this age of corporate financial interests, the development of Portage Place was funded by all three levels of government
2. In order to build Portage Place, the city demolished five city blocks' worth of businesses, including Winnipeg landmarks like the Colony Theatre and newer buildings like the Toronto Dominion Bank
3. And tied to the first difference, Portage Place was developed under a unique partnership between the North Main Development Corporation and Cadillac Fairview, which also runs Polo Park Shopping Centre--making Portage Place a public place, open to community events in the Edmonton courtyard and pedestrians along its walkways until 12:30 AM.



Thousands of Winnipeggers courses through Portage Place on the day of its opening. The estimated total of 250 000 is over a third of Winnipeg's population, making the launch of Portage Place an important event indeed. It was the creation of a new landmark that would save downtown--even make it like Toronto, as one visitor remarked.

Toronto?

Has Portage Place worked for Winnipeg?

Place Promenade, the huge apartment complex, is connected to Portage Place by a skywalk, which then also connects the apartments to the entire skywalk system downtown:


If you happen to live at Place Promenade, there is little reason for you to leave the skywalk system. It really becomes an extension of your apartment complex. Ryan mentioned that he has a friend who lives in Place Promenade and also works in an office connected the skywalk system. His friend essentially never leaves the system, as he sleeps, eats, shops, and works downtown. So, while Place Promenade, and the adjacent senior's complex, have done is brought more people downtown but then kept them away from the streetscape, which then contributes nothing to the rejuvenation of the core area.

In addition, by offering the same stores as the other malls, Portage Place doesn't really compete with the suburban malls. Rather, the downtown mall is one you visit out of convenience. One of the important differences between people who frequent Portage Place and people who frequent St. Vital and Polo Park adds a third option to Morris's two: 'going shopping,' 'spending money,' and now, just passing time.

The reporter at the grand opening shares some foreboding news: no one seems to be buying anything. The 250 000 people passing through are coming to see what is new and be part of what is happening but without actually using the place for its economic purposes--to buy things.

The trend set on the first day has continued, I think, as two decades later, people still complain that there is no shopping downtown. Portage Place has done such a good job blending into the community, that it is seen for the most part as another passage to get to other places. While it is "monolithically Present" (67), it lacks the entertaining and constantly changing interior that attracts die-hard shoppers.

This is not to say that the unique collaboration between public and private corporations and the huge amounts of government funding don't churn out the occasional public event to grab an attendee or two. For instance, there is


Every Friday at lunch hour in the winter time, Edmonton Courtyard hosts some live music. For instance, there was Katelyn Dawn singing some pop covers and a bit of her own music:


However, the entertainment doesn't draw more people downtown, but instead, entertains the people who are already there. Without walking past the concert, I never would have known there was one taking place in the first place. Furthermore, the organizers clearly do not anticipate big crowds, as there are very few chairs and tables set up. Those that are set up are not filled, and the people who are listening to the concert prefer to stand back and hover--never really committing themselves to the place. Their body language tells me, I'm really about to go.