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^ I've also noticed that. 2013 seems to be the year of the revivification of Yonge Street. I especially notice it at Yonge/Gerrard with Aura, but more notably the northeast corner of the street. Just in the past year most of the junky shops is now Starbucks, Bami Boys, etc!

As for the McDonalds, I guarantee it's an additional location. As one who goes to Ryerson, students have to go down to the Eaton Centre food court for the McDonalds, and it's always extremely packed. This additional location will hold the load off the Eaton Centre location, and also fills in the Mickey D's gap between College and Eaton Centre.
 
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devjohnson said:
^ I've also noticed that. 2013 seems to be the year of the revivification of Yonge Street. I especially notice it at Yonge/Gerrard with Aura, but more notably the northeast corner of the street. Just in the past year most of the junky shops is now Starbucks, Bami Boys, etc!

As for the McDonalds, I guarantee it's an additional location. As one who goes to Ryerson, students have to go down to the Eaton Centre food court for the McDonalds, and it's always extremely packed. This additional location will hold the load off the Eaton Centre location, and also fills in the Mickey D's gap between College and Eaton Centre.
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Right I agree ... also, there already is a small McDonalds a couple blocks of the one we're all talking about ... in other words, they have a lot of location !


A couple new spots for lease: The old 401 games spot (They moved further north on Yonge, much larger location), there was a kabob place just to the north of the ryerson student center (i.e. abutting the new building).

Hopefully something interesting will come to both those spots !
 
If a story about a McDonald's is news on Yonge Street then the situation is worse than I thought.

I find it amazing how the city has allowed the street to rot and while almost every other street in the city in the last 40 years has seen a huge increase in outdoor cafes, restaurants, and ambience Yonge Street seems to be the sole exception. Considering it is still the most entertaining street in the city for people gazing it's a damn shame you can't sit down anywhere and do it.

I also find it to be very bad urban planning to allow the city's true main drag to be slowly turned into a condo canyon. If there was one street in the city that should not have any tall buildings it's Yonge between Bloor and Queen lest it just turn into a Asia high rise neon strip with all the benality it entails. Van {I never met a condo tower I didn't like} couver, made a very good step in the redevelopment of Granville by baring all new construction along it's main retail strip of anything over 5 stories. Of course they also have the bus-only section and far wider sidewalks which has led to a huge increase in the number of restaurants, cafes, pubs, and nightlife.

Considering all the attention given to new neighbourhoods and developments it's quite shocking and depressing how the city treats it's main street with such indifference.
 
I agree. To be fair though the City offered incentives to landlords to repair their frontages, most didn't take advantage of it. As for the condos there was no firm planning document in place to prevent what happened (Aura, 501, 460 + the Dundonald & Yonge project), that will change in September when Council [hopefully] approves the Downtown Yonge Planning Framework. Perhaps once the landowners realize they can't sell their tiny slice of property for millions to land assemblers they'll get serious and take the appropriate care of their properties.

ssiguy2 said:
If a story about a McDonald's is news on Yonge Street then the situation is worse than I thought.

I find it amazing how the city has allowed the street to rot and while almost every other street in the city in the last 40 years has seen a huge increase in outdoor cafes, restaurants, and ambience Yonge Street seems to be the sole exception. Considering it is still the most entertaining street in the city for people gazing it's a damn shame you can't sit down anywhere and do it.

I also find it to be very bad urban planning to allow the city's true main drag to be slowly turned into a condo canyon. If there was one street in the city that should not have any tall buildings it's Yonge between Bloor and Queen lest it just turn into a Asia high rise neon strip with all the benality it entails. Van {I never met a condo tower I didn't like} couver, made a very good step in the redevelopment of Granville by baring all new construction along it's main retail strip of anything over 5 stories. Of course they also have the bus-only section and far wider sidewalks which has led to a huge increase in the number of restaurants, cafes, pubs, and nightlife.

Considering all the attention given to new neighbourhoods and developments it's quite shocking and depressing how the city treats it's main street with such indifference.
Click to expand...
 
ssiguy2 said:
If a story about a McDonald's is news on Yonge Street then the situation is worse than I thought.

I find it amazing how the city has allowed the street to rot and while almost every other street in the city in the last 40 years has seen a huge increase in outdoor cafes, restaurants, and ambience Yonge Street seems to be the sole exception. Considering it is still the most entertaining street in the city for people gazing it's a damn shame you can't sit down anywhere and do it.

I also find it to be very bad urban planning to allow the city's true main drag to be slowly turned into a condo canyon. If there was one street in the city that should not have any tall buildings it's Yonge between Bloor and Queen lest it just turn into a Asia high rise neon strip with all the benality it entails. Van {I never met a condo tower I didn't like} couver, made a very good step in the redevelopment of Granville by baring all new construction along it's main retail strip of anything over 5 stories. Of course they also have the bus-only section and far wider sidewalks which has led to a huge increase in the number of restaurants, cafes, pubs, and nightlife.

Considering all the attention given to new neighbourhoods and developments it's quite shocking and depressing how the city treats it's main street with such indifference.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more.
 
I was downtown Vancouver the other day and walking along Granville and what a difference a few years make. The street is teeming with people with cafes, bars, and restaurants, and the odd musician plying their trade. This could not happen on Yonge as there is no where for outdoor patios or even musicians except at tacky Dundas Square.

Yonge is the most pedestrian unfriendly street in the city. This is made even more obscene that is relies on people getting there by transit more than any other street in the city. The overwhelming majority of people an Yonge didn't get there by car but the car lanes get 80% of the width of the street and Yonge is also bike unfriendly. They need to get rid of 2 of those car lanes from atleast Bloor to Front. I think Yonge would do better if they completely closed down the street from College to Queen.
 
Cannot agree more ... though I don't think shutting it all down is a good idea; 2 lanes either direction is fine.

But I'd almost rather that expenditure be spent on Queen W ( maybe to trinity bellwoods ) ... just a much more interesting stretch, but a project along these lines on Yonge could change that.
 
It doesn't seem to be on the radar at all. Yonge has been taken for granted over the years and it shows.

It's a sloppy, unattractive, pedestrian unfriendly mess with no long term plan than to stick condos on it. The more glass boxes that are allowed to get built the more plain and uninteresting it becomes. The city seems completely indifferent to the plight of it's main drag. The city still views Yonge as little more than just another street to funnel cars down.

Also, before anyone blames Ford, Miller also let the street rot except for Dundas Square and even there he didn't dare take away any traffic lanes. Yonge could become the fun people watching mecca it use to be if the city actually decided to make it for people.
With the slowly but surely construction of glass boxes along the route and no long term plan for the street, it will gradually lose it's appeal. Yonge is suffering death by a thousand cuts and by the time the city decides to do something {after the standard 10 years Royal Commission} they will find that Forever Yonge will be a street of a bygone era.

Yonge isn't dying by so much poor planning but a complete lack of planning and supreme indifference from City Hall.
 
I have to disagree about the dieing part ... if anything its been improving over the years; Less dollar stores more restaurants and the like; I expect this trend to contiue. Of course none of this has to do with the terrible public realm ... I think folks in Toronto are used to it though, terrible public realm in general and so it doesn't hamper the transformation of an area.
 
ssiguy2, for a "pedestrian unfriendly" street, Yonge still manages to be packed with people more than any other street in the city.
 
Yes I think in that sense he is confused (though a lot of folks lament about the better days decades ago on Yonge when there were more entertainment venues). But his argument about a terrible terrible public realm are spot on !

The section a little south of Bloor to College (not within an actual BIA) is the worst / no trees / crappy small sidewalk / no plantings ... one of the worst section of active streets in the greater core !


If we could do only half of what Vancouver did with Robson street; It would be amazing !
 
Downtown Yonge is vibrant, but it doesn't have an identity like Yorkville and Queen West do (high end shopping and everything trendy, respectively). That's a problem. We can think of it as a "main street" with a little of everything, but Toronto isn't a small town. You can find banks, chain retailers and ordinary bars and restaurants all over the city. At least the area around Dundas Square has taken on an identity as a tourist district.
 
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So, to follow on that previous note about the Yonge Street Mission being sold, I was wondering what people have heard about or think of this "POSSIBLE NEW DOWNTOWN TORONTO MALL", on the east side of Yonge from Gould up to Gerrard:

ryerson.png


YongeGerrardMap.jpg


from:

Retail Insider.

(sorry if this has been previously posted here or elsewhere; I skimmed the last few pages of the thread but didn't find anything)

What would happen to the Zanzibar sign? :) The Yonge St. Mission engraving? That nice front of the building north of the Zanzibar? Is it all going to get nuked? I feel conflicted. I mean yeah, this stretch is kinda junky (at best), but it's got character. I guess I'm not that enthused about the prospect of a bunch of monotonous chain stores/restauraunts colonizing that chunk. (names mentioned in the link include Target, Walmart...)
 
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