As part of a larger effort to refresh downtown Winnipeg’s image, the Downtown BIZ hosted the first of its brand new Downtown Living Tours recently. Participants on the tour were given a ride around the Downtown and Exchange District areas in a classic trolley and were then taken to a condo development on Market Street to get a glimpse into downtown living.
“The purpose is to encourage people to live downtown; there are a lot of beautiful, new developments,” said Signey Gerrard, organizer of the tour that will happen once a month and showcase a different condominium development each time.
Many of the new condos are housed in older downtown buildings that have been revamped, adding a certain character to each unit that had participants excited about the prospect of living in the downtown area.
“It’s really exciting to see what downtown can become in the next few years,” says Sinan Leylek, who took the tour. “This is going to be a great place to live; it will be so vibrant!”
By offering the tours, the Downtown BIZ aims to make the area appear more accessible so that when searching for a new place to live, people will consider moving downtown and breathe life into what’s now an often overlooked area.
Especially with the amount of people working in the many office buildings nearby, the Downtown BIZ hopes to create a thriving downtown area akin to those of bigger cities like New York or Toronto.
Jessica Pushka, who works in the area and took the tour, said about downtown, “It definitely feels more accessible and trendy.” And as the trolley came to an end, many similar opinions were shared by those along for the ride.
The next one hour lunchtime tour will happen in early August. For those interested in learning more about the Downtown Living tour, visit www.myplaceisdowntown.com
