Pretty cool mix of tenants.

Does feel heavily skewed to food and beverage (I was expecting more retail but given the pandemic effect on shopping habits, i'm sure a lot of retailers wanted to reassess).

I wonder how all these restaurants will perform given the existing restaurant density in King West. Also, interested in seeing how this record inflation will impact restaurants (discretionary spending is the first to go). Hope O&B thought this through!
 
Pretty cool mix of tenants.

Does feel heavily skewed to food and beverage (I was expecting more retail but given the pandemic effect on shopping habits, i'm sure a lot of retailers wanted to reassess).

I wonder how all these restaurants will perform given the existing restaurant density in King West. Also, interested in seeing how this record inflation will impact restaurants (discretionary spending is the first to go). Hope O&B thought this through!
Idk, try getting a table for four at any king west restaurant tonight (Friday) - they're all heavily booked. Anecdotally, people's spending habits seem to have returned (somewhat to normal) with respect to going out for f&b fun.
 
Last night

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Idk, try getting a table for four at any king west restaurant tonight (Friday) - they're all heavily booked. Anecdotally, people's spending habits seem to have returned (somewhat to normal) with respect to going out for f&b fun.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not under the impression it's going to be a ghost town, and especially not on weekends.

Was wondering specifically about how strong the business case is for all those restaurants on weeknights.

I'm speaking anecdotally as I've observed outings being reduced from 2-3 to 1-2 per week, within by broader group of friends. Could be an age thing / people having kids / pandemic behavioural change thing.
 
*All* of the major restaurants (8, I believe?) were given to O&B. Much internal disagreement and consternation about this...
Honestly I feel like that's a bad decision just from a risk management perspective - restaurants are prone to high failure rates and you are going to give all of your restaurant spaces to a single tenant who is doing something at a scale never before seen, likely only increasing the risk of failure? I feel like it's a bad recipe as if one goes down, you may lose all 8.
 
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not under the impression it's going to be a ghost town, and especially not on weekends.

Was wondering specifically about how strong the business case is for all those restaurants on weeknights.

I'm speaking anecdotally as I've observed outings being reduced from 2-3 to 1-2 per week, within by broader group of friends. Could be an age thing / people having kids / pandemic behavioural change thing.

I think it just creates more of a destination. People already go to King west for dining and entertainment, it would just make it more of a destination.
You'd still go out for example 1-2 a week but instead going going to Yorkville, you'll come to King West cause you can pick among all sorts of restaurants and hang out and go for drinks, shopping before, to a gym class etc. just more choices and more of a vibe

You know the "I want to be seen" vibe...King west is famous/infamous for
 
maybe it's too early but I'm not totally blown away, many of the retailers seem kinda generic and like expansions of stuff we already have in the city but... maybe my mind will change? Don't get me wrong there are some new stuff but I'm just turned off by seeing Tokyo smoke, rogers, nail salons... yawn.
 
The retail mix isn't perfect, much like the development has its shortcomings.

In spite of those shortcomings though, this has to be one of, if not the best project in Toronto since at the very least the turn of the century if not one of the best developments in the city period.

Yes that's incredibly high praise, but when this project started out its scale was unprecedented in Canada at the time. It was the largest site in the country and now it's beautifully coming into fruition. The massing is unique and interesting and has a fantastic big city feel. The design and materials (particularly the residential towers) are top notch and classy, and the few weaker parts quickly fade into the background amidst the sum of all the parts.

The contributions to the public realm are likewise incredibly significant and even if the initial occupants don't look perfect, the space itself is going to turn out incredible.

I don't think aesthetically this is the best of the new developments in the city, but as a whole, I'd be hard pressed to find a project that's better.
 
Is there a launch date for this project?

Like, opening date? Good question.

If you mean units, condos are all sold except a few penthouses still available, and the 3 rental buildings won't start leasing up until right before they open
Index Exchange will be opening the office to employees between mid may and early june depending on internal construction timelines. we are going to occupy the 26-31st floor i think
the rentals will be taking reservations starting NEXT summer 2023 and move-ins a few months later. and last i heard the condos arent going to close till next fall 2023
 

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