This is probably one of G+C's best designs from their entire portfolio. That's not saying much though since their portfolio is pretty pathetic and uninspiring as a whole.

Overall this looks pretty decent.
 
I might be late to the party here, but does anyone know why ground level retail is not happening here?

It's on St Clair, I don't get it.
 
mrxbombastic said:
I might be late to the party here, but does anyone know why ground level retail is not happening here?

It's on St Clair, I don't get it.
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This specific stretch of St. Clair Ave. W. (i.e. between Spadina Avenue and Avenue Road) does not have any ground-related retail. It wouldn't really fit in the surrounding neighbourhood, which is predominantly residential. Historically, this area was home to small medical / dental practices.
 
OneLocation said:
This specific stretch of St. Clair Ave. W. (i.e. between Spadina Avenue and Avenue Road) does not have any ground-related retail. It wouldn't really fit in the surrounding neighbourhood, which is predominantly residential. Historically, this area was home to small medical / dental practices.
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I get that but having some small retail spaces would be nice. Instead of requiring folks to walk to Yonge or to the Spadina strip for a carton of milk or coffee. Main + Main are contemplating retail across the street on St Clair so it can happen!

I've always through that was a flaw in Code Condos infront of Sir Winston Churchill Park. Imagine having a coffee on an outdoor patio in the summer soaking in that sun and view over the park. *Chef's Kiss*
 
mrxbombastic said:
I get that but having some small retail spaces would be nice. Instead of requiring folks to walk to Yonge or to the Spadina strip for a carton of milk or coffee. Main + Main are contemplating retail across the street on St Clair so it can happen!

I've always through that was a flaw in Code Condos infront of Sir Winston Churchill Park. Imagine having a coffee on an outdoor patio in the summer soaking in that sun and view over the park. *Chef's Kiss*
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Sorry, but the nose in the air group for this area would oppose any retail From Deer Run to St Clair West Station and would totally be out of place.

Not sure where Main + Main is in this area as I don't know of a site for them at this time, but where they are building by Oakwood, it replacing exiting retail spots. That is also a retail area as well.

As for Sir Winston Churchill Park, my comment stands for no retail as well. Nothing stopping sitting up something on the land, but only good for the summer only.

I know/shot a dozen or so new developments in the past 10 years where retail space is still empty. Retail can't happen everywhere as it would overkill the market and force them out of business. Take a walk along St Clair and see how many empty spaces there is. Queen St is another good street to look at to see the same thing.
 
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It seems rather foolish to oppose retail here. You only benefit from the convenience of having useful businesses within walking distance. There's no such thing as "too rich to walk", despite some people's pretensions.
 
I won't go as far to say I oppose retail here but, the narrative that if you build retail space it will be occupied is not accurate. There is nothing worse than empty retail spaces in the landscape.
 
IMO- Toronto needs to figure out a good in-between for major streets that might not support retail now, but could in the future. Either-or-doesn't work- you either risk ending up with empty units, or stymieing retail growth in the future.

I've always thought that live-work units were a good compromise, but I wonder if there could be any other design considerations that could allow residential units to be converted to retail in the future?

Heck, if this commercialization is driven by the unit owners themselves, it might even produce a more vibrant form of retail over the standardized big-box-big-management templates we see in many developments.
 
WislaHD said:
I would really like to see a developer experiment with live-work unit blocks instead of townhomes on these larger master plans.
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And there's no reason that a townhome couldn't also have a workspace facing the street at ground level.

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I'm still standing by for the other renders, which will probably show the trademarked G+C White/Black alternating motif non-sense we always see with them somewhere in this project.
 
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