[steveve]

Took a look inside World On Yonge today.

Firstly some exterior shots. These are passable, but not the most attractive. The hotel/office tower is the most awkward of the bunch (It quite literally looks like two buildings stacked up on one another with grey spandrel madness at the top).

Moving on to the inside, unsurprisingly the place was pretty dead. There have been many comparisons to Aura for the inside stall treatment, and yes, it's almost the same concept. But the inside of World is much less depressing thanks to the open area in the middle and lots of skylights/natural lighting. It’s also got some decent finishes and balcony railings. So ya, it looks a lot better than Aura’s retail for sure.

Dead Hallways:

I ate at a place called 'Sakura Sushi’ at the food court, quite appetizing and recommendable.

There is also a tiny ‘Greek’ food stall as well:

The first fatality of the mall is called ‘Sushi Burger’. I was told it closed down already:

On the lower level I was surprised to see a massive tarp covering it. There supermarket coming here is called Seasons. Not the korean supermarket Galleria as I thought it would be. (it was also kinda funny how the tarp inflated and deflated due to the pressure down below). I’m sure the place will liven up dramatically once the grocery opens, bringing in more pedestrian traffic.

 

[DarkSideDenizen]

Thanks for the set of photos, but wow, Yikes..

 

[bAuHaUs]

Yes great photos, and yikes is putting it nicely, this has turned into a disconnected retail centre. It doesn't feel right, and i'm afraid that only the residential tenants in these buildings will frequent the retail shops. I don't see passerbys stopping to park and shop here. Also noticed that the national retailers haven't moved into this project.

 

[interchange42]

On the lower level I was surprised to see a massive tarp covering it. There supermarket coming here is called Seasons. Not the korean supermarket Galleria as I thought it would be.

Great tour Steveve, thanks!

Seasons is a Chinese supermarket with one location in Brampton currently.

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[ultran00b]

There's actually a huge underground parking lot that I found by chance when exploring this project. People who drive will come to the stores, but sadly none of them are open yet and there aren't any big name retailers setting up shop in this project. If there could be an anchor tenant for World On Yonge, I think many of the shops would have more of a chance surviving the next year or so. This project screams Great Splendid Tower (failure of a plaza across from Pacific Mall).

 

[Edward Skira]

People used to shop at the previous strip mall quite extensively and they drove. Might do the same here.

 

[interchange42]

This project screams Great Splendid Tower (failure of a plaza across from Pacific Mall).

That project is only a mall though, right? There is residential and office space here (and even a hotel coming - who will be operating that? anyone know?).

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[taal]

The office tower is the worst I think ... the inside of the retail portion isn't too surprising ... but I bet it'll do better then Aura ... quite a bit better, there is a market for these places up in Markham IFF folks can drive there, and they can.

 

[Torontovibe]

Some of those pics remind me of Aura's retail, while others remind me of Pacific Mall. In both cases, it's not a good thing. This is going to be a hard sell.

 

[pipolchap]

Nice! Willowdale is in need of a second chinese grocery store. I'm not satisfied with only the one at Leslie and Finch.

 

[steveve]

Exterior shots from today. I actually like how the middle tower looks from this angle.

 

[interchange42]

The fish-eye wide angle lens distortion in the first two images really lends itself well to the curves on these buildings Steveve.

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[MafaldaBoy]

Details on the signage system that will be installed soon:

PDF

 

[bob smith]

The 4 seasons supermarket opened this week and they seem to be getting a lot of volume. The mini-mall looks much better now. They've also constructed the mini park. All in all the complex is shaping up.

There is a commercial area underneath the two towers as well. All in all I saw the following:
-sign for a new sports bar to be opened
-sign for a pharmacy
-3 doctors clinics
-at least 3 dental offices (2 up and are running)


Here are some new pics of the outside

 

[steveve]

Went to seasons recently, overall, from above it looks good. Lots of colour and neon lights illuminate the open-ceiling portion, however, the rest of the actual grocery doesn't look amazing. Low ceilings, tight aisles and walkways, and not-great looking floors (it's the 'unfinished' look a lot of places try to sell). But I will once again emphasize the part of the grocery that is open to above. Skylights add a lot of natural light and it's a nice view with the floors above.

On the contrary, it was actually pretty busy with a lot of pedestrian traffic. Even the upper floors had more people as a result. Definitely the anchor for the entire project and ultimately will probably save this from forever ghost-town.