Downtown Winnipeg is an area of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

located near the confluence of the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

and

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

rivers. It is the oldest

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the seat of Manitoba's provincial government, and a number of major attractions and institutions. The City of Winnipeg's official downtown boundaries are: the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline on the north, Gomez Street and the Red River on the east, and the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River (''; french: Rivière Assiniboine'') is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a sing ...

on the south; the western boundaries of downtown are irregular, following along a number of different streets, back lanes, and across properties. Generally speaking, the western boundaries are rarely further west of Balmoral and Isabel Streets. In 2016, ''

Canadian Geographic ''Canadian Geographic'' is a magazine published by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, (RCGS) based in Ottawa, Ontario. History and profile After the Society was founded in 1929, the magazine was established the next year in May 1930 unde ...

'' produced a map that generalize Winnipeg's downtown boundaries. Neighbourhoods in the downtown area include the Exchange District,

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

, The Forks, and Chinatown. The downtown area is roughly .

Winnipeg Square Winnipeg Square (also known as the Shops of Winnipeg Square) is an underground shopping mall located at Portage and Main in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was built in 1979 by Smith Carter Parkin for the Trizec Corporation, and has 45 ...

Canada Life Centre Canada Life Centre (formerly MTS Centre and Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. T ...

Portage Place Portage Place is a mixed-use shopping centre located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Covering , it is located on the north side of Portage Avenue, between Vaughan and Carlton Streets and opened in September 1987. History In the early 1 ...

, and the flagship store of The Bay (closed 30 November 2020) are all located on the downtown section of

Portage Avenue Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

. On Main Street are Winnipeg's City Hall,

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, and the

Manitoba Centennial Centre Manitoba Centennial Centre is an arts and cultural district that covers a 34-acre area in the east Exchange District of the Point Douglas area in Winnipeg, Manitoba, linking several of Manitoba's important arts and cultural facilities. It includ ...

, which includes the

Manitoba Museum The Manitoba Museum, previously the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, is a human and natural history museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as the province's largest, not-for-profit centre for heritage and science education. Located close to City ...

, the Planetarium, the

Centennial Concert Hall Centennial Concert Hall is a 2305-seat performing arts centre located at 555 Main Street in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of the Manitoba Centennial Centre. The concert hall opened on March 25, 1968. It is the performing home of t ...

, and the Winnipeg Railway Museum. Although over 60,000 people work downtown, only 13,470 people actually live in the Downtown area. There are several residential projects under construction on Waterfront Drive and in the Exchange District, and the residential population of the area is projected to increase substantially in the next few years.

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 Stephen Juba Park, named after Stephen Juba, is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is a waterfront park on the western bank of the Red River of the North, Red River and runs from downtown Winnipeg to the Exchange District. The park features ...

.https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/architecture/media/CiP_2009_Marli.pdf Winnipeg's Waterfront district condominiums

The Waterfront District has seen a number of

residential construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

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 Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

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 A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

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

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). With the increase in the African population, Central Park has been transforming in recent years. It is now the home to the 'Central Market', with more markets planned to come. Many of the markets will sell handmade fashion and imported African crafts. During warm Saturday nights, live entertainment fills the air, residents enjoy free Sunday movie screenings to enjoy an evening outdoors. The Knox Centre at Knox United Church presents international films in various languages - with English subtitles - every Thursday evening.

Exchange District

The Exchange District is a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

. Just one block north is one of Canada's most famous intersections,

Portage and Main Portage and Main is an intersection in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, located where Portage Avenue (Route 85) and Main Street (Route 52) intersect. The corner is known as the "crossroads of Canada", due to its relative proximity to the l ...

, the Exchange District comprises 20 city blocks and approximately 150 heritage buildings, and it is known for its intact

turn-of-the-century Turn of the century, in its broadest sense, refers to the transition from one century to another. The term is most often used to indicate a distinctive time period either before or after the beginning of a century or both before and after. Ac ...

collection of warehouses, financial institutions, and early

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

-clad skyscrapers. Winnipeg's theatre district is located on the east side of the Exchange District, home to the

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Royal MTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country. It was founded in 1958 by Joh ...

, and

which houses the

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba. The WSO presents an average ...

, the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

, and the

Manitoba Opera Manitoba Opera is an opera company in Winnipeg, Manitoba that was founded in 1969. Its first production was a concert version of Giuseppe Verdi's ''Il Trovatore'' in 1972. Manitoba Opera is one of several western Canadian opera companies that f ...

. 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 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival is a Canadian jazz festival first held in 1989 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is usually held in June. The festival, organized by the Jazz Winnipeg organization and formerly called the Jazz Winnipeg Festiva ...

, 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 Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech) is a List of colleges in Canada, college located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the province's largest institute of applied learning and applied research, with over 200 degree, diploma, and cer ...

's Roblin Centre and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute.

Broadway-Assiniboine

Evening glow at Winnipeg exchange district (J)

Broadway-Assiniboine lies in the southern part of downtown on the north bank of the

. 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 Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company' ...

Hotel Fort Garry The Fort Garry Hotel—officially the Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre—is an early-20th-century hotel in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, that opened for the first time on December 11, 1913. Built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, it is ...

, and the

Manitoba Legislative Building The Manitoba Legislative Building (french: Palais législatif du Manitoba), originally named the Manitoba Parliament Building, is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, located in central Winnipeg, as well as being the twelfth pr ...

. 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

The Forks is a national historic, recreational, cultural, and entertainment area site in downtown Winnipeg, deriving its name from being located where the

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

, Main Street,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, 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 The Winnipeg Public Library (french: Bibliothèque publique de Winnipeg) is a public library system in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Branches provide programming for children, teens, and adults. The Library also contains an Outreach Department which works ...

system, the Millennium Library. The area also has the

Winnipeg Convention Centre The RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg (formerly the Winnipeg Convention Centre) is a major meeting and convention centre located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has five levels including indoor parking for 729 vehicles, and three levels ...

with of meeting, exhibition and banquet space.

Lakeview Square Lakeview Square is a full-block, mixed-use development in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. It opened in 1974 and was developed by Lakeview Properties, Ltd. History Jack Levit of Lakeview Development Ltd. (St. James) announced in October 1969 that hi ...

, 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 Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

. The area also has the Norquay Building, the Law Courts, Cityplace mall, and

VJ's Drive Inn VJ's Drive Inn is a burger joint in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, located at 170 Main Street. Overview The restaurant initially opened as Juniors in 1958, the name of the restaurant changed to ''VJ's Drive Inn'' in 1980. The restaurant is o ...

. 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

. 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 The Graham Avenue Transit Mall is a 9-block transit mall in downtown Winnipeg that is mostly reserved for Winnipeg Transit buses, as well as cyclists and pedestrians. 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 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 Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and Chinese not otherwise specified).

River crossings

Esplanade Riel Bridge, Red River, Winnipeg - panoramio

Downtown Winnipeg has four bridges that directly connect to other Winnipeg neighbourhoods or suburbs across the

and

s. They are the Main Street Bridge, Midtown Bridge, Osborne Street Bridge, and the

Provencher Bridge The Provencher Bridge (french: Pont Provencher) is a set of paired bridges—a four-lane vehicular bridge and a suspended pedestrian bridge (called Esplanade Riel)—across the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The bridge links downtown Winnipeg w ...

. 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 Osborne Village is a neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The area is bordered by the Assiniboine River on the north and west, Harkness Station on the east (see Winnipeg RT), and the Osborne Underpass on the south. History Osborne Village deriv ...

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 jam Ice jams occur when a topographic feature of the river causes floating river ice to accumulate and impede further progress downstream with the river current. Ice jams can significantly reduce the flow of a river and cause upstream flooding—som ...

s 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 A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

pedestrian and cycling bridge,

Esplanade Riel Esplanade Riel is a pedestrian bridge located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was named in honour of Louis Riel. It is a side-spar cable-stayed bridge which spans the Red River connecting downtown Winnipeg with St. Boniface; it is paired with a vehic ...

, opened in 2004. It features space for an indoor restaurant.

Other features

Sports venues

There are two major sports venues located downtown,

where the NHL's

and

Manitoba Moose The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets ...

have played since 2004; and

Shaw Park Shaw Park (formerly CanWest Global Park) is a baseball stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is located adjacent to The Forks, near the city's downtown, and is home to the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association. Features Shaw Park ...

, where the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

Winnipeg Goldeyes The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a minor-league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which they joined in 2011. Previously, the Goldeyes were members of the Norther ...

baseball team have played since 1999.

Winnipeg Walkway System

The

Winnipeg Walkway The Winnipeg Walkway System, also known as the Winnipeg Skywalk, is a network of pedestrian skyways and tunnels connecting a significant portion of downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The City of Winnipeg described the Walkway as a system of 14 skyways ...

system, popularly known as the Winnipeg Skywalk, is a network of pedestrian

skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclo ...

s and

tunnels A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

connecting a significant portion of the city centre.

Media

Several media organizations have broadcasting studio located in the downtown area, including television stations CTV,

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

, Citytv, and Canadian specialty channel APTN; and radio stations QX-104, and 93.7 Nostalgia FM. The television broadcast antennas for

CBC Manitoba CBWT-DT (channel 6) is a CBC Television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has common ownership with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBWFT-DT (channel 3). Both stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in Downtown Winnip ...

and

ICI Radio-Canada ICI or Ici may refer to: Companies and organisations * ICI Homes, builder, Florida. US * Former UK Imperial Chemical Industries ** ICI Australia, later Orica * Independent Curators International, New York City, US * Indian Concrete Institute * I ...

Manitoba are located on the Richardson Building, while Global TV Winnipeg is located on top of 201

. ''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 The Winnipeg School Division is a school division in Winnipeg, Manitoba. With 78 schools, it is the largest of six public school divisions in Winnipeg, as well as the largest and oldest school division in Manitoba. Its schools collectively te ...

in the north Portage Avenue area. Other private schools serve business needs, such as CDI and

Booth University College Booth University College (Booth UC or BUC)—incorporated as the Salvation Army William and Catherine Booth University College—is a private, Christian liberal arts university college located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is affilia ...

Notes

External links

City of Winnipeg SiteDowntown Winnipeg Zoning By-law No. 100/2004CentreVenture SiteDowntown Winnipeg BIZ Site
{{WinnipegNeighbourhoods Neighbourhoods in Winnipeg

Neighbourhoods

Waterfront District

Central Park

Exchange District

Broadway-Assiniboine

The Forks

South Portage

River crossings

Other features

Sports venues

Winnipeg Walkway System

Media

Education

See also

Notes

External links