MetroMan said:
I fear you’re probably right ]. The Shoppers across the street will be closing soon to make room for a full block development that encompasses it and the old MEC store.
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Unless you have information I am not aware of, not quite the case. These sites have two different owners, and have received City approvals for two different purposes.

1. The MEC site (400 King Street West) and is owned by Plaza. While MEC (and the couple of smaller outlets on the west side of the property) left a while ago, some of the space has already been released and occupied by a sports memorabilia shop, while there is now signage for a 'Kitchen Plus' store soon to open in the former main MEC site. The Plaza site is to be a primarily residential building.

2. The Shoppers location, 388 King Street West, is owned by Allied Properties, and is part of the larger overall site which extends northwards on the west side of the street up to and including 88 Peter Street, and has been approved for commercial use / office space.

While 400 King Street West Plaza project may get underway within the next couple of years or so, the Allied project is probably further away. The Allied building has City zoning approval for 33 floors and 800,000 square feet of space. Judging by Allied's other recent initiatives, it looks like Allied may be trying to build up a stronger critical mass in the area with the 540 - 544 King Street West, and the Adelaide and Spadina (379 - 391 Adelaide and 96 Spadina) projects recently receiving City approval, prior to launching a building of this scale at King and Peter Streets.
 
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AHK said:
Unless you have information I am not aware of, not quite the case. These sites have two different owners, and have received City approvals for two different purposes.

1. The MEC site (400 King Street West) and is owned by Plaza. While MEC (and the couple of smaller outlets on the west side of the property) left a while ago, some of the space has already been released and occupied by a sports memorabilia shop, while there is now signage for a 'Kitchen Plus' store soon to open in the former main MEC site. The Plaza site is to be a primarily residential building.

2. The Shoppers location, 388 King Street West, is owned by Allied Properties, and is part of the larger overall site which extends northwards on the west side of the street up to and including 88 Peter Street, and has been approved for commercial use / office space.

While 400 King Street West Plaza project may get underway within the next couple of years or so, the Allied project is probably further away. The Allied building has City zoning approval for 33 floors and 800,000 square feet of space. Judging by Allied's other recent initiatives, it looks like Allied may be trying to build up a stronger critical mass in the area with the 540 - 544 King Street West, and the Adelaide and Spadina (379 - 391 Adelaide and 96 Spadina) projects recently receiving City approval, prior to launching a building of this scale at King and Peter Streets.
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No insider info. I only had superficial awareness that there’s a proposal for this block and someone I asked at Shoppers said they’d be moving out at some point. Thanks for the more detail information.
 
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The lights are great and very welcome. I work nearby and spend a lot of time around here in the evening and especially with all the construction and dead empty lots so much of the area at street level is very dark and doesn't feel nice at all — sidewalks cast in a heavy gloom. Would love to see more of this kind of human-scale lighting on buildings all around the city.
 
concrete_and_light said:
The lights are great and very welcome. I work nearby and spend a lot of time around here in the evening and especially with all the construction and dead empty lots so much of the area at street level is very dark and doesn't feel nice at all — sidewalks cast in a heavy gloom. Would love to see more of this kind of human-scale lighting on buildings all around the city.
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Definitely my favourite podium in this area and probably the best example of façadism in Toronto. The towers aren't stacked on top, the brick is original, the character is really kept intact. Really hoping for some good retail here.
 
I really wish they had not put the EIFS vertical boxes and spandrel on the King Street side of the podium, obviously attempting to mimic the Westinghouse. It's cheap-looking and the Peter Street side is without. They would have been better off having both sides of the podium looking like the Peter Street side, and not attempting anything Westinghouse-ish.

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Westinghouse would have stuck out like a sore thumb without the nod to it on the King West side. With the nod it feels woven into the fabric of that block. That said, I also like that the other block doesn't have it. Carrying that theme to Peter would have felt like over kill.
 
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