Mint said:
It would appear that the signs have been taken down lol
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I noticed that when I passed by around 6pm,.... TTC station manager doesn't know why they're missing,.... reviewing security cameras,.... now it could get interesting,...
 
Uncle Meat said:
If anyone here still doubts that the Yonge/Sheppard is among the worst traffic areas on the continent, you should have done your research before posting.
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I've done my research... I live there. You can get in one of those Zipcars at the Impark lot at 5:30 pm on a weekday, drive along Yonge to Finch and back, and you'll be out of the car by 5:40 pm. I don't know where this "worst traffic area on the continent" line came from, but it's simply not true. Even just in North York, several intersections are a lot worse - Bayview/Sheppard, Finch/Leslie, Steeles/Don Mills, Steeles/Woodbine, Black Creek/Lawrence, Sheppard/Dufferin, and probably a few others that I rarely deal with.
 
Your research is at odds with the City's official statements and numerous online articles. Bayview/Sheppard has relatively recently overtaken Yonge/Sheppard as the busiest intersection in the GTA. Yonge/Sheppard has very similar volumes of traffic and to state that Bayview/Sheppard is a "lot worse" is inaccurate and misleading.
 
I took Sunnyray's advice and called the number listed on the sign. Had a short conversation with some gentleman who did not state their name. They said that the sign was posted by the TTC ... ILLEGALLY. They stated that the latest delay is due to TTC's fault in obtaining the "necessary approvals", among other reasons. He expects the tunnel will be open next week. They also said that the 5 previous delays were essentially not their fault but the TTC's, citing "limited working hours" and other unspecified hurdles. The gentleman said that no one wants the tunnel open soon than he does. I was then politely asked to refrain from calling this number further.

It would now be interesting to find out what the TTC thinks about this.
 
I emailed the mysterious Jonathan at Bazis last week, the same guy whose cell number was posted on TTC signage. It's Jonathan Gold, Bazis project manager who replied that it was the TTC causing all the delays which is not true. He said the city building inspector will not attend until all paperwork is sent in and more testing is required. I sent him a few more questions but his reply was just a link to Emerald Park info. Here's the email reply from EP.


"Thank you for your email, please note that if you are inquiring about the status of the Emerald Park TTC tunnel connection we are pleased to share with you the good news.
Construction of the tunnel is complete, and we have held our first-pre-inspection meeting with the City of Toronto Buildings Department for occupancy of the space.
The city has requested we provide our final fire-alarm verification, contractor letters and consultant documentation in order to schedule our final occupancy inspection with both the TTC and Toronto Buildings. We anticipate the above mentioned documentation this week, December 12 - 16 2016.
A finally occupancy walk-through to occur shortly afterwards, followed by opening the tunnel connection to the public."

No new info in that email. Amazing that it takes about 2 weeks to compile the paperwork, then they have to book a date with the city inspector, the holidays are coming, so we will see if it opens in 2016 or 2017. If it was any other builder, I think another condo could have been built in the time it's taken to complete this tunnel.
 
Right now, the officially unnamed person who "can" give the most accurate answer for the opening of EmeraldPark TTC subway entrance is likely the same person answering that phone number,.... of course, "can" and "does" are two different things,... the accuracy of and level of crap in his answers so far has made the PsychicNetwork look good,.... but at least I don't have to pay a psychic reading fee when I call that phone number,....

2 weeks for paperworks from Bazis is considered record speed,... A number of the EmeraldPark retail stores have took about 9 months from retailer lease commitment to actual store opening (even longer for noodle place next to Presotea), the main delays are caused by Bazis getting around to do the paperwork to approve store renovation; afterwards dealing with the City for Building & Occupancy Permit and required licenses is a breeze!

Judging from the last couple of weeks, it seems there's a walk-through every week generally on Fridays (I suspected last Friday's walk-though didn't go well as I heard hammering within EmeraldPark TTC entrance on Monday), and if everything is fine the best case scenario would be that EmeraldPark TTC entrance opens the following mid-week on Wednesday. The problem is, it's already mid-December and we'll have another full week before the Holidays when organizations are reduced to minimal skeleton staff levels. Thus, if Bazis can't get it opened by next week, it'll likely drag into the New Year. At this point, I'm still betting on my February opening! After all, this is Bazis,...

And before the Bazis shills starts hawking again,.... EmeraldPark's 583 residential-condo owners, 60 office-condo owners and 75 Pacific Mall type cubicle store owners paid a premium of approximately 10-15% extra for their units due to the direct TTC subway connection; which they have already been denied of for 21 months and counting. A $30million class-action lawsuit at EmeraldCity (Sheppard & DonMills) cites a 10-15% premium in valuation lost (VS other similar condo units) due to developer not completing promised direct subway connection: "North York condo developer faces $30-million lawsuit" - "Buyers cite 'misrepresentation' and breach of contract for promised subway, mall connection"
https://www.thestar.com/business/2014/04/27/north_york_condo_developer_faces_30million_lawsuit.html
How effective was the class action suit against the EmeraldCity developer,.... here's the proposed direct TTC connection with TTC approval dated a few months later:
https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Co...ce_Connection_at_Don_Mills_Subway_Station.pdf

It seems the only way to get irresponsible developers to do what they've promised to do is a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit or public shaming of their executives.

The EmeraldPark residential-condo board along with the retail and office-condo board are both relatively new still (about 9-months and 2-months old) and should consider partnering with some of the area's existing ratepayers group for a stronger voice and to learn the ropes with regards to community advocacy and dealing with various city departments and provincial agencies. Yonge Corridor Condominium Association, Avondale Community Condominium Association and West Lansing Homeowners Association comes to mind.


The sad part is,... Bazis' e-condo (Yonge & Eglinton) will also have direct TTC subway-LRT connection,... so the City, TTC and e-condo residents and retailers will likely have to go through the same crap again when that project gets close to completion,... likely starting in about 1.5-2 years.
 
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The 3 unit pharmacy has bailed. Another coffee shop is coming to EP in the food court area making a total of 3 coffee shops, 4 if you include Starbucks. A money exchange shop will open next to the escalator on the main entrance side. We got real trees added in the food court, makes the area feel warmer and more inviting.

Actually on second look the pharmacy phone number is the same as the number on the for lease sign. Just another case of the unit owner opening there themselves due to high fees then seeing the food court units quickly renting out and therefore have reverted back to trying to lease it out.

Update: The unit near the main entrance will not be a coffee shop but instead a Sushi shop.
 
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Bill123 said:
The 3 unit pharmacy has bailed. Another coffee shop is coming to EP in the food court area making a total of 3 coffee shops, 4 if you include Starbucks.
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Where is the Starbucks going to be built? And what's the third coffee shop? (aside from Tim Hortons)
 
Starbucks kiosk on 2nd floor with the Metro & LCBO. There are gas, hot/cold water pipes and drainage near the escalators for it however they have not begun renovations. Third coffee shop is called Bean House.

2nd floor continues to be a total mystery. However we know that Metro owns its own space and the LCBO unit is owned by a foreign holding company/trust by the name of Wonmak Inc. We know Metro does not want to open there because it does not want to compete with Whole Foods/Longo's however why is LCBO not coming in? A recent call to their customer line has the phone girl saying "oh we have had lots of inquiries about the Yonge-Sheppard location" and that the opening date is still "to be decided" (no explanation given or found). The magnifying glass is now focused on this peculiar Wonmak Inc. company that owns the space LCBO is on. Digging into Wonmak Inc. yields no further information leading me to think that it is used as a trust company of sorts. The name however sounds Cantonese.
 
Bill123 said:
We know Metro does not want to open there because it does not want to compete with Whole Foods/Longo's however why is LCBO not coming in? A recent call to their customer line has the phone girl saying "oh we have had lots of inquiries about the Yonge-Sheppard location" and that the opening date is still "to be decided" (no explanation given or found).
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My guess is that it's only going to open if/when a grocery store opens up beside it. That seems to be a model the LCBO is pushing a lot lately (see Maple Leaf Gardens or Yonge and St. Clair), and I wouldn't be surprised if the grocery stores are actually responsible for operating the LCBO to some extent.
 
I think Metro, Starbucks and LCBO will probably all bail. I'm hoping everything comes together but retail here just seems like a disaster. The layout of the mall is terrible, Bazis got so greedy that I don't even know what you could do with the size of some of these units, food court is in the worst place possible, no entrance facing Yonge... why?, TTC saga is still ongoing (ugh), THREE entrances now have broken doors... I could go on.
 
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