Miscreant
Senior Member
Interesting, though, that this application was made the same day as the Shopper's acquisition was announced.
Yeah, that's what came to my mind, too...
Interesting, though, that this application was made the same day as the Shopper's acquisition was announced.
Bauhaus:
I think we are probably looking at 2-3s of retail and 5s of offices. Maybe similar in idea to the ex Toronto Sun King Street office retrofit.
AoD
http://amsterdambeer.com/amsterdam-brewhouse-press-release/
No word on if the new Queen's Quay digs will be open that late, though. :/
Loblaws current HQ is 443k sq feet http://www.gsai.ca/projects_commercial.html
Shoppers HQ is 257k sq ft. http://www.altusinsite.com/index.ph...perty+Management+Ltd&UpdateMarket=2174&view=0 http://www.cbre.ca/o/torontonorth/AssetLibrary/243ConsumersRoadBuildingSpecifications.pdf
So what does the UT community think is the highest and best use for this site? Will the Whole Foods up at Bathurst & Front have an impact? What does this neighbourhood need the most? Service retail or something very unique and urban?
I think this site is and will remain fairly separate from Front Street.
The bridge is just a psychological barrier, particularly for pedestrians.
Not that it will stop everyone, by any means, but enough so that I don't see, north-of-the tracks folks coming south on mass or vice versa.
I think that a Loblaws supermarket is a given, and much needed; and if I recall the LCBO was expected as a tenant at one point, and would be an obvious fit.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of mixing grocery/food/drug (the weekly/daily convenience shopping) w/other forms of retail. I don't see the shopping journeys as related, for the most part.
ie. I don't go out in search of ingredients for dinner and impulse buy a new suit or a TV.
Of course there are times when co-location is just a feature of a desirable spot.
I don't really see basis for large 'mall shopping' on the site, though, or some other completely incongruous combo.
It might make sense of to have a full, flagship 'Shoppers'; I'd be shocked if Loblaw's didn't plunk down a Joe Fresh, and I think perhaps a full service restaurant would be good as that area is short of them in my opinion and there is ample space.
For a city w/banks popping up just about everywhere that area is also short on those, so that might be a good, if uninspired fit.
I think the highest/best use is food-focused shopping and a corporate HQ for Loblaws.