As unfortunate and sad as this is, I can see how they’re seeing this as temporary. It’s the lowest investment for the safest/quickest return in the short to medium term. A multi story retail complex this big would have had a harder time leasing. They obviously feel there’s enough demand for self storage in this area. We don’t think about a dense urban areas as a place for this, but the truth is wealthier people own stuff and space isn’t always available, I’m sure they’ll do well here. Hopefully in 10 years this whole corner/block gets redeveloped into something special
 
Years ago, when I lived at the Lexington on Carlton St. (no lockers there either), I rented a storage room that was located in the parking garage of Village by the Grange. I paid a minuscule $45 a month for a large unit, about 6 x 6 ft. These days you can expect at least $200/month, and not at Yonge and Bloor.
 
Basically what Taal & DarwinP said. Like car dealerships in other places, self-storage would probably be easier than other things to redo later once the market turns around. Not great, but perhaps better than something value-engineered to death that would be harder to fix for longer.
 
DarwinP said:
As unfortunate and sad as this is, I can see how they’re seeing this as temporary. It’s the lowest investment for the safest/quickest return in the short to medium term. A multi story retail complex this big would have had a harder time leasing. They obviously feel there’s enough demand for self storage in this area. We don’t think about a dense urban areas as a place for this, but the truth is wealthier people own stuff and space isn’t always available, I’m sure they’ll do well here. Hopefully in 10 years this whole corner/block gets redeveloped into something special
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I will say, I do understand incorporating the self-storage use, temporarily, for the upper most floors.

But I feel strongly that with proper investment in the building, there is more than enough interest from potential tenants in the Yorkville market to sustain retail on level 2 above.

You put the big box tenant on 2 above; and use the ground floor for smaller restaurant uses that could feature patios. The rear could be big box or storage.

The sheer amount of space and relative dearth of windows would make it ideal for a large-concept resto like 'Mandarin' and a full-service flagship supermarket on level 2 above. With smaller cafes/coffee shops fronting Bloor.

Additionally, no matter the usage, I think they need to do better on the facade. They really need windows above-grade, maybe not on every floor, but surely on two, and maybe above two they could be high-end displays.

This, as proposed, simply doesn't meet the level of design appropriate to the location. It's lazy.
 
Fascinating stuff here. Couple things

1. Does the attached residential tower (have they refurbed that btw? Interiors at least?) still rent to a lot of Queens Park staffers? Just wonder about prospective self storage customers.

2. Does this kill the underground path retail? Or is that greyed out area just presumed to stay the same.

3. All for anything that interacts at ground level.

4. Maybe we should stop thinking about how to maximize profitability on space and admit that we actually need things other than 80 storey towers of shoe box condos nobody wants.

Mink Mile? who cares. Don’t they have a Winners? Wasn’t there once an HMV? If they’ve got self storage in mind, they must have a business case. I mean, everyone screamed for more density, and now half of downtown is 300sq ft condos.

Granted, they could make it a Home Depot or Costco and it would be just as useful to me. Stop being so snobby about these things. Yall so desperately wanted density, so now all those people need other things.
 
fiendishlibrarian said:
Unpopular take: this may prove to be *very* popular with the nearby population in newer, smaller condos with little to no storage space and/or lockers. I live in Manulife and if the rates are reasonable, I might actually spring for a storage unit.
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Not just condos. I know a surprising amount of people in large houses that rent storage units. People love hoarding crap. 🤷‍♂️
 
Natika33 said:
Basically what Taal & DarwinP said. Like car dealerships in other places, self-storage would probably be easier than other things to redo later once the market turns around. Not great, but perhaps better than something value-engineered to death that would be harder to fix for longer.
Click to expand...
...the question being though if things do turn around, will they be reluctant to give up the self-storage space for retail?
 
xmyth_ said:
1. Does the attached residential tower (have they refurbed that btw? Interiors at least?) still rent to a lot of Queens Park staffers? Just wonder about prospective self storage customers.
Click to expand...

Can't speak to the tenancy, the condos are the condos, the current hotel is recent, so it's been re-furbed.

xmyth_ said:
2. Does this kill the underground path retail? Or is that greyed out area just presumed to stay the same.
Click to expand...

The concourse retail is unchanged by this proposal, the lower level 'Bay' space will remain retail and does not need to be subject to the ZBA.

Existing retail may be impacted somewhat by station expansion, but not by this project.
 
xmyth_ said:
1. Does the attached residential tower (have they refurbed that btw? Interiors at least?) still rent to a lot of Queens Park staffers? Just wonder about prospective self storage customers.
Click to expand...
Assuming you're referring to the apartments on top of the hotel, I lived there from 2010 to 2018 and don't remember hearing about any Queens Park staffers. They started to refurb some of the units when I was there (and charged a hell of a lot more for them), but most of the units were long term tenants paying dirt cheap rents so those units weren't going to be renovated.

A downtown Costco would be the dream and I bet it would be insanely popular.
 
Come on, do better. Use the deep floor plate for something useful like indoor sports facility. Cut out the central floorplate to create an open air atrium/courtyard and demise multi-level retail around it.
 
The first thing that should be stored there is the unfortunate “sculpture” of the two giant shiny cigarette butts that currently grace the entrance.
 
We seriously need better municipal data when it comes to figuring out people’s needs and uses.

Years back I talked to a dude who had just opened up a chicken joint. He told me about how he’d sat outside the the shop for hours and days, counting street traffic and pedestrians before figuring out if he’d sign the lease. They’re not just going strong today, but have opened other locations.

Wonder what data they used to determine storage use here.
 
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