[interchange42]

I don't get the negativity. The older darker halls are still there if you want the more intimate areas, and the new areas are bright and airy and shiny and new, and all that, and the new Gourmet Fare was really comfortable and welcoming when I was there, and I find the new Sporting Life to be absolutely gorgeous, one of the most beautiful stores in the city. You can read my front page story with a couple dozen pics here, but here are another 14 pics that didn't make the cut:

42

 

[junctionist]

It's impressive, but it looks like it could be anywhere. The older parts of the mall have those landscaped fountain courts, couches and the soaring tent roof of the food court that give the mall its character. The new areas should have some art or architectural features to give them character.

 

[interchange42]

I don't get how this…

could be more anywhere, than this:

That new hall in the first pic looks as distinctive to me as the original hall in the second photo.

Neither represent something that could not have been built somewhere else. This is not old Amsterdam where every house is skinny and has a hook at the peak, nor Venice where there's a mooring for a gondola in front of every palazzo. We come from everywhere so our ideas are very global village. Like everything in Toronto, Sherway's halls are a more of a time than they are of a place, and every expansion of Sherway has been successively lighter and brighter than the hallway built before it. The French limestone that underlies your footsteps in Sherway's older halls is still there supporting your stroll through the new halls as well, so even as the scenery changes a bit, you're still treading on terra cognita.

I think this all comes down to simple familiarity. The new halls are a departure from the low-ceilinged ambiance of the original S, so they get called out for being unrecognizable. Walk them a couple times, and you'll know where you are.

42

 

[Tim MacDonald]

Me too - not the first mall in Canada (that honour goes to Eaton's), but my first real suburban mall experience.


I checked out the 'new' mall last night... Some of my thoughts:

1) It lost its charm - it's just as generic as Yorkdale now.
2) I really, really liked the late 80s throwback of the old mall.
3) It no longer feels cozy and exclusive.
4) The food court is beautiful, but generic (nothing, and I mean nothing, can be as good as eating under the lush plants and tents of the old one).
5) I like that they used the same stone as the original mall (quarried from France).
6) Is Holt Renfrew renovating? I'm still unclear on their status in the mall.
7) Parking is awesome now.

Question for Retail Insider (if you still troll the forums) - what happened to Burberry, Louis Vuitton, etc.. Their spots seem to have been leased to other companies.

I thought Holts was bolting for Square One and that the Sherway location would eventually close.

 

[interchange42]

The Holt's is still there for the time being, and it remains a mystery as to whether or not it will close when the Square One store opens. Apparently Cadillac Fairview doesn't have the final word from them. If Holt's does decide to stay, no doubt the current store will close for a while to be rebuilt. It looks rather underwhelming next to everything else around it now.

42

 

[junctionist]

I don't get how this…

That new hall in the first pic looks as distinctive to me as the original hall in the second photo.

Neither represent something that could not have been built somewhere else. This is not old Amsterdam where every house is skinny and has a hook at the peak, nor Venice where there's a mooring for a gondola in front of every palazzo. We come from everywhere so our ideas are very global village. Like everything in Toronto, Sherway's halls are a more of a time than they are of a place, and every expansion of Sherway has been successively lighter and brighter than the hallway built before it. The French limestone that underlies your footsteps in Sherway's older halls is still there supporting your stroll through the new halls as well, so even as the scenery changes a bit, you're still treading on terra cognita.

I think this all comes down to simple familiarity. The new halls are a departure from the low-ceilinged ambiance of the original S, so they get called out for being unrecognizable. Walk them a couple times, and you'll know where you are.

42

There aren't many malls with landscaped courts like Sherway Gardens where the interior corridor changes direction. They're almost like landscaped public squares or main intersections through which all the mall's foot traffic funnels through.

Also, you're wrong. Like Amsterdam, we have a vernacular that's distinctly Toronto. The most famous example is our narrow and tall house, the Bay and Gable.

 

[toaster29]

I've noticed a sign for Indigo coming soon. Does that mean the Chapters across the street is closing? Is the condo proposal for that area still going ahead, and if so, does that mean the big-box stores will all be closing? I notice there are a few new retail outlets along North Queen, and haven't heard anything about the proposal for condo proposals at Queensway/North Queen in some time. Anyone have info?

 

[interchange42]

I assume the Chapters will close when the Indigo opens beside the new Gourmet Fare in the Spring of 2016.

There's still an application for rezoning of the bigbox land across The Queensway for a residential/retail mix, but I believe it's not being pushed at the moment because the City's Planning Dept is doing a Sherway Area Study to determine future plans for the whole area between the railway and the QEW, the 427 and the Etobicoke Creek. It's likely several months before that plan will be finalized.

42

 

[officedweller]

I don't get how this…

View attachment 55730
...
42

The top pic reminds me a lot of malls in casinos in Las Vegas (which would mean high end)

 

[muller877]

I assume the Chapters will close when the Indigo opens beside the new Gourmet Fare in the Spring of 2016.

There's still an application for rezoning of the bigbox land across The Queensway for a residential/retail mix, but I believe it's not being pushed at the moment because the City's Planning Dept is doing a Sherway Area Study to determine future plans for the whole area between the railway and the QEW, the 427 and the Etobicoke Creek. It's likely several months before that plan will be finalized.

42

That's a huge potential for redevelopment even if you just include the area west of N Queen. I'm glad the city is working on a plan or else there could be a bunch of box stores and no cohesive plan (i.e. like it is now).

A big issue for this block is the power lines that cut through the site. If they could be moved parallel to the tracks west of Manstor Rd then the whole site opens up to a community all connected to transit via a new GO stop (the East Mall/West Mall analysis in the recent Metrolinx study).

It's a big area...bigger than the Mr Chrisite site at Park Lawn. I'm hoping for a Humbertown style development sans vehicles (no low-rise neighbours to complain about the intensification).

And if done right it can make Sherway a destination via transit. Have the GO stop due north of N Queen St and make it a straight pedestrian friendly street from the GO Stop right into the doors of Sherway (plus a shuttle bus). And a GO/retail Parking lot north of the tracks (on the West Mall) which will reduce the traffic on N Queen and the parking structure will have easy access to both the 427 and QEW.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

There is an ongoing city planning study for the area:

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/c...nnel=82e352cc66061410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

UT thread: http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/sherway-area-study.21509/

AoD

 

[interchange42]

One month after the opening of the northwest expansion, there has been progress here and there. It's going to be a couple of years before Sherway is fully through this series of changes.

At the northwest corner, The Keg is looking closer to opening. Across the driveway to the west, there's space for another restaurant where nothing is going up yet.

Indigo is to open just east of the new Gourmet Fare with some ground floor space, and more space above. Nothing much seems to be going on here currently.

Further to the east, Joey's is also progressing. Signs outside both this restaurant and The Keg say they are hiring, but there's no opening date posted anywhere.

At the east end, there's little new on the exterior of the former Sears and and future Saks.

Inside however, new posters on the hoarding are boasting of not just the Saks, but also Pusateri's. We've known that Pusateri's would be running the food halls at Saks, but I'm not sure that it was known that they would be branded as Pusateri's.

There are a few more stores open in the new corridor now which weren't reading for the coming out party in September, including L'Occitane, Free People, L'Oro/Omega, Davids, and more.

There are more opening in November, including Gap and Baby Gap which are relocating from elsewhere in the mall. Samsung has opened temporarily in the Centre Court, but will open in expansion in November too.

In the hall below the old Gourmet Fair, some stores have moved, which others are having new spaces readied for them. Banana Republic is one that's open in this hall for a few more weeks as a spot of the Centre Court is prepared.

Don't know where Hallmark and Hollister are moving. A new spot is being readied for Guess. Meanwhile, nothing other than curtains on the old Sporting Life yet.

Outside the old Sporting Life, there's a little more progress where the building will be expanded.

To the east of the old Sporting Life/new Nordstrom, another parking deck is under construction.

42

 

[interchange42]

So, several weeks later, here's the latest at Sherway Gardens.

Work continues on the former Sears to turn it into a Saks, a Pusateri's Food Hall, and a Sport Chek.

Joey is supposed to open in a couple of months:

The Keg has been open a short while now:

Gap and Gap Kids have relocated to the new section.

Samsung. Well, they're trying.

Birds has a diamond pattern in the windows that wasn't there back on opening day:

Caudal: first to market* French spa products store in Canada: (*I think)

Tory Burch. This is one of the new stores to the mall that has opened in one of the older halls, as the retailers move here and there to open larger stores, etc.

Uno de Cinquenta has a bullet nose, separating the new carving hall on the right from the older hallway on the left.

Montreal retailer Judith and Charles need to light up their name for the purposes of photography.

The hall heading down to where Nordstrom will be built is gradually being emptied of stores. Banana Republic is the latest to move to a new location, while Guess is next. Not sure when Hollister moves.

The former temporary Banana Republic is now a temporary emergency exit as the old south exit here is now closed for the Nordstrom redevelopment.

Finally, down in front of where Saks and its Pusateri's Food Hall are going is a public art installation by artist John McEwen, titled "The Miracle", which depicts a mare and her foal. We have a front page article up here about the creation of this rather intricate welded steel artwork.

42

 

[toaster29]

Oh SportChek is moving in too? Guess that will leave another empty spot across the street on North Queen. Seems like stores are opting to get back into malls. I understand when it comes to malls that have heavy transit traffic, but most people drive to Sherway and can drive across the street to SportChek, I wonder what the thought process was, same with Indigo.

 

[interchange42]

The site where Indigo is, is up for redevelopment in the mid-term. The site where Sport Chek is, is up for redevelopment in the long-term. You won't recognize the area by the time you're dead.

42