Article
Winnipeg’s Portage and Main Reopens to Pedestrians and CBRE’s Paul Kornelsen Is Here For It
August 11, 2025 5 Minute Read
For the first time in his life, CBRE Winnipeg Managing Director Paul Kornelsen strolled across Winnipeg’s historic Portage and Main intersection last month.
It was a gloriously sunny July morning in the Manitoba capital and Kornelsen was thrilled that he didn’t have to dip down into the dreary underground pedestrian concourse to cross the road.
That’d been the only option since 1976, when one of Canada’s most historic intersections was closed off to surface-level pedestrian crossings and replaced by a concourse linking shopping malls under the main office properties, including CBRE’s Winnipeg headquarters at 201 Portage Ave.
“To breathe in the beautiful prairie air and take in the historic downtown was really cool,” Kornelsen says recalling his maiden voyage crossing Portage and Main. “It was something growing up I never I imagined myself doing.
“We had all just accepted the fact that to cross the intersection you’d have to head underground.”
Revival of Historic Intersection
Kornelsen grew up just outside the city in the 1990s. “And you didn’t really want to come downtown, to be honest. The original Jets arena wasn’t downtown, and there weren’t many reasons to go there.”
He recalls celebrating Canada’s 2002 Olympic men’s hockey gold medal win at Portage and Main, but not much else drew him there over the years prior to 2013, when he began working downtown.
The city’s hope is that the re-opening of Portage and Main to pedestrians will spur a revival at Winnipeg’s historical nexus point. “It’s gone from being an intersection you had to get through to now having great potential,” Kornelsen says.
“We could create something really iconic, much like it was during downtown Winnipeg’s heyday.”
Kornelsen admits he was surprised at the efficiency of the reopening project. “It was a grind from October to June, with two lanes of traffic closed in the city’s busiest intersection,” he says, noting the transit system also had to be reconfigured to accommodate the reorientation of pedestrian traffic at Portage and Main.
“But they pulled it off and I’m impressed with how quickly it all came together.”
Circus Leaves Town?
The City of Winnipeg owns the underground concourse and manages the leasing of its lower-level retail space, but so far hasn’t said what it plans to do with the walkway, or circus, as it’s also known locally.
“The whole reason they were opening up Portage and Main was because the costs to repair all that underground space would be so exorbitant that they couldn’t justify it,” Kornelsen says.
The circus isn’t exactly a booming retail scene now. “There are one or two tenants down there that have some signs of life, but there is a lot left to be desired. It’s a path of travel and not a destination”
But closing the concourse could negatively impact the properties bounding that intersection, including the building that houses CBRE’s Winnipeg office, which is tied to the underground network now but could potentially be annexed from the connectivity if the circus is closed, which matters most in winter.
“At the moment it’s possible to walk several blocks indoors via the concourse,” Kornelsen explains, “but it’s on the wrong side to connect to the other retail on the south side of Portage Ave. if the circus is closed. There could be tenants in several of those buildings who are asking themselves the question at renewal time, “Do we move a block or two to the south, so we can walk a few kilometres indoors?”
All challenges aside, Kornelsen says it’s been nice to have Portage and Main opened up to pedestrians.
“Visually they accomplished what they were after. The unsightly concrete barricades blocking each corner are down and it’s been good to see people walking across the street. It’s livelier and more accessible.”
“Albeit it’s been in the nicer weather,” he adds. “We’ll see how it goes in the dead of winter when the prairie winds are whipping people in the face!”
Opportunity Abounds
With the reorientation of pedestrian traffic at Portage and Main, there’s great opportunity for the buildings that surround the intersection to reimagine their street-front offerings.
“To this point the buildings at the intersection have not traditionally been designed for anything customer-facing at the moment, aside from a few restaurant patios, but they could imagine something new,” Kornelsen says. “It feels so much more accessible to come across the street now.”
“There has been a lot of investment from all of the landlords at that intersection in the past few years and it’s ongoing. It comes at a high cost, but their commitment to the intersection and the city is so vital. Without their ongoing support it would be an entirely different situation.”
Ideally, Kornelsen says, the changes that come from the pedestrian traffic at Portage and Main will drive further investment in the intersection.
“My hope is that the building owners can work in the sandbox together with their tenants and the city and create something truly special that will do justice to the prestige of Winnipeg’s historic crossroads and elevate the city going forward.”
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