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JasonParis said:
I think the best way to handle this is to have a competing Christmas market. Perhaps at Nathan Phillips Square or maybe Trinity Bellwoods. Or both! Many European cities have more than one.
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Yes, that's what jsmith predicted above. Not sure Nathan Phillips Square would have the same ambience of the Distillery (it would to me feel like the Nathan Phillips Square art show, but much colder), but I have no doubt other Christmas Markets will pop up. Trinity Bellwoods would be nice. The difficulty will be a practical one. The Distillery is all privately-owned, and they can program their space any way they want. Operating a Christmas Market in a spot like Trinity Bellwoods or on any street would require City permissions, and the process would inevitably give rise to some locals demanding limits on the permits to restrict noise, traffic, trash, nighttime operations, etc. The Distillery CM is held for 3 weeks, over 4 weekends, and I think it might be a challenge to get permission to do something similar in a number of spots in Toronto that would otherwise be suitable for such a market.
 
I think what will eventually happen, is that some concerns will be looked at - but over the coming years, it will become less popular as word of mouth spreads about the crowding, transport/parking options, prices and general sameness of the booths - thus almost self regulating.

I think all of this goes hand in hand with the evolution of the neighbourhood as a whole.

Initially, the revitalization of the Distillery was meant to spur development around it - using its uniqueness in the city as a drawing point. BUT, as more people and business move in to make it a complete neighbourhood, the need to have the distillery as a drawing point will butt up against the need to have it serve the residents in the community on a regular basis.

For instance, would the Distillery residents be better served by another pricey designer clothing store, or a 24hr pharmacy? Now, having a Shoppers set up shop here (which I know is forbidden) would ruin the ambience, BUT it would provide a constant flow of traffic and business that could spawn a halo effect for other businesses. It might also serve to keep residents from getting in their car and driving to and from a pharmacy elsewhere. (we may have a great walk-score, but I've never seen my neighbours streaming back to their condos on foot, No-Frills bags in hand)

Of course, I'm not saying to open the cobblestones up to mundane chains - but that as special as the distillery is, its going to have to find a balance in resident needs and commercial/tourist interests - during the Christmas season AND the rest of the year.
 
The West Don Lands along Front Street and Cherry Street will probably supply the corporate chain stores and restaurants for the area.
 
Torontovibe said:
The West Don Lands along Front Street and Cherry Street will probably supply the corporate chain stores and restaurants for the area.
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Agreed, and the Distillery is small enough that these businesses should be in walking distance.
 
This morning, there was a city truck collecting the crispy tree corpses lining Mill Street, next to Pure Spirit. Only one or two out of roughly twenty of these trees is clinging to life.

This stretch of Mill Street is badly in need of trees, but I really doubt that anything can survive here without a proper root management system.
 
grey said:
This morning, there was a city truck collecting the crispy tree corpses lining Mill Street, next to Pure Spirit. Only one or two out of roughly twenty of these trees is clinging to life.

This stretch of Mill Street is badly in need of trees, but I really doubt that anything can survive here without a proper root management system.
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That's a good start, it looks pretty bad and obvious now that the rest of the city is so green. Better empty holes for now than tree corpses.

They did replant all these trees once already since the building was completed, and at that time they seemed to have done significant work on the holes containing them, so it was disappointing to see them all die again almost immediately.

I also noticed recently that most of the trees on the other side of the "pointy" building within the Distillery are also dead.
 
It seems that trees can never survive on downtown Toronto streets. I wonder if we have a stealthy tree vandal that is spraying Roundup on City trees under the cover of darkness?
 
Also just wondering - I know we're being inundated with lists of dates and plans for the games, but the other list I'm wondering about is the list of dates that we can expect our new neighbourhood to come on-line. When the fences come down to the village area, when the new Mill St. and Front St. extensions are made accessible, when the YMCA is open to the public, King streetcar on Sumach, new shops opening etc.

And just as an aside - what ARE the plans for the Canary Diner? I hear it would be a great place for, oh, I dunno -- a diner!
 
Just wondering, now that the Games have wrapped, when we're going to start to see the neighbourhood normalize again. Events I'm looking to attach dates to are below, hoping that folks might have an idea:

- reopening of Cherry St.
- return to normal traffic on Mill St., Front St. & Trinity (including cab stand)
- public opening of Mill St. East of Cherry
- public opening of Front St. East of Cherry
- King streetcar service south on Sumach to Cherry St. loop
- Opening of YMCA (I've heard April 2016, but hoping for earlier)
- New retail within the Canary District
- Development of park space south of Data Centre (current car lot overflow)
 
Well, we've at least gotten word on this one -- traffic on Mill St. and Trinity have returned. Although there is currently a large portable generator and ongoing electrical work beside 33 Mill St. as they work to rectify their fried electrical system (I've heard the generator will be there for up to two weeks)
 
jsmith77 said:
Just wondering, now that the Games have wrapped, when we're going to start to see the neighbourhood normalize again. Events I'm looking to attach dates to are below, hoping that folks might have an idea:

- reopening of Cherry St. Apparently by September 30 BUT they then have to close it again for 6-8 weeks at rail bridge to dig a sewer.
- return to normal traffic on Mill St., Front St. & Trinity (including cab stand). Some open, rest soon. Trinity between Eastern and Front is PERMANENTLY one-way northbound.
- public opening of Mill St. East of Cherry. Maybe not until 2016 when new buildings open
- public opening of Front St. East of Cherry Maybe not until 2016 when new buildings open
- King streetcar service south on Sumach to Cherry St. loop Not until 2016.
- Opening of YMCA (I've heard April 2016, but hoping for earlier) Bet it's April.
- New retail within the Canary District. When residents move in in early 2016, I assume.
- Development of park space south of Data Centre (current car lot overflow.) ??? are there any plans yet?
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Three things -

1. Welcome to Cacao 70 for joining the Distillery business community, taking up the vacant space in the bottom of 33 Mill St.
2. I see the Distillery Christmas Market is now set to run four full weeks from November 20th to December 20th. Curious to see if this is going to help spread out the crowd, or make things tough for an additional week.
3. Noticing that Cityzen Urban Lifestyle has put signage on one of the cinderblock buildings in the triangle lands. Can't seem to find any news on this as a possible development.
 
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