Can we save Yorkville?

I've lived Yorkville for a long time and take no relish denigrating it. But I've always been bothered by a falseness in the commercial realm. There are hundreds of hair salons with few customers and few staff. I've seen restaurants with NO staff or customers at any time. Many businesses are not going concerns. Consider that little mall inside the Yorkville, Cumberland, Bellair boundary (where the Coffee Mill was). It’s practically empty.

Many of the businesses are money laundering fronts, and have no intention of creating a vibrant and viable atmosphere. It greatly harms Yorkville Avenue.

I wonder how the city might find a way to shake these guys lose by auditing the businesses or something. It’s like a cancer and you can feel it.

buildup said:

I've lived Yorkville for a long time and take no relish denigrating it. But I've always been bothered by a falseness in the commercial realm. There are hundreds of hair salons with few customers and few staff. I've seen restaurants with NO staff or customers at any time. Many businesses are not going concerns. Consider that little mall inside the Yorkville, Cumberland, Bellair boundary (where the Coffee Mill was). It’s practically empty.

Many of the businesses are money laundering fronts, and have no intention of creating a vibrant and viable atmosphere. It greatly harms Yorkville Avenue.

I wonder how the city might find a way to shake these guys lose by auditing the businesses or something. It’s like a cancer and you can feel it.

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All neighbourhoods, particularly one's that make a name for themselves, go through cycles. Yorkville from 1950's to 2010's is probably the most extreme example of this in Toronto, maybe even North America . . . and it is still changing today. Maybe some day it will become a forgotten working-class backwater again . . . then some cool kids on their hoverbikes will discover it and it's become trendy again.

But in all seriousness, there are dozens of hair salons, nail places and nearly empty restaurants all over the city. I suspect many of the properties these places occupy are owned by landlords who are just waiting for a developer to offer them enough so they can retire to the south of France. Other may already be owned by developers who are just waiting for the right time to redevelop. In either case the landlord doesn't want new successful tenants because successful tenants are harder to evict, plus most successful tenants want long term leases. These landlords just want tenants who can pay enough rent to cover the carrying costs of the property and who make the place look occupied, but who are easy to evict on short notice.

hmm not sure I understand ... many of the mini malls have struggled for years and years, nothing new. The store fronts themselves are always cyclical, there are some vacancies now yes, but they come and go. I don't think the # of non very high end shops have increased; You point to 'hair salons' but many of these are very expensive and cater to high end clients ..

Cumberland will be torn down soon enough which will fix that ..

buildup said:

...
Many of the businesses are money laundering fronts, and have no intention of creating a vibrant and viable atmosphere. It greatly harms Yorkville Avenue.
...

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Is this a known fact? If so, I simply wasn't aware of this.

howl said:

I suspect many of the properties these places occupy are owned by landlords who are just waiting for a developer to offer them enough so they can retire to the south of France. Other may already be owned by developers who are just waiting for the right time to redevelop. In either case the landlord doesn't want new successful tenants because successful tenants are harder to evict, plus most successful tenants want long term leases. These landlords just want tenants who can pay enough rent to cover the carrying costs of the property and who make the place look occupied, but who are easy to evict on short notice.

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You may be right, I hadn't thought of this.

Yorkville, like the rest of the city, is in a constant state of evolution. Conspiracy theories are rarely helpful in analyzing economic, retail and demographic cycles.

That's a beautiful cityscape. There's a great built form, a public realm with buried overhead wires, healthy street trees and ornamnetal street lights, pedestrian laneways, beautiful public spaces, and subway transit. What more can you want in a city neighbourhood? People will always want to shop and live here. Yorkville's biggest threat is developers who want to demolish its Victorian urban fabric for high-rise buildings. If it loses its charm, it loses its appeal. Fortunately, York Square was recently saved.

"Yorkville, like the rest of the city, is in a constant state of evolution. Conspiracy theories are rarely helpful in analyzing economic, retail and demographic cycles."

You describe money laundering and business fronts don't exist anywhere at all, or just not in Yorkville?

buildup said:

"Yorkville, like the rest of the city, is in a constant state of evolution. Conspiracy theories are rarely helpful in analyzing economic, retail and demographic cycles."

You describe money laundering and business fronts don't exist anywhere at all, or just not in Yorkville?

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You have provided us with no evidence of your suspicions. If you have facts, share them, not just vague hunches presented as gospel.

thecharioteer said:

You have provided us with no evidence of your suspicions. If you have facts, share them, not just vague hunches presented as gospel.

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Actually I prefer, and will continue, to share my hunches as gospel. There are too many businesses in Yorkville that remain running for long periods of time despite the fact they have few customers and indifferent service. You just don't see that as often elsewhere in the city.

Get off your chariot and walk the street.

Keep one thing in mind; High end retailers need much less foot traffic to stay a float, you see this with stores on Bloor as well, where they don't have a huge amount of customers, but the few customers they have typically tend to buy a lot.

I have no idea what particular place you are referring too so the above may not apply but just keep that in mind .. and I've seen this in many other cities with high end retail strips as well, the sidewalks tend to be busy but the shops not as much.

Yorkville will be fine. The BIA is one of the most well resourced in the city.

junctionist said:

Yorkville will be fine. The BIA is one of the most well resourced in the city.

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To clarify I was referring to Yorkville Avenue, not Bloor.

buildup said:

To clarify I was referring to Yorkville Avenue, not Bloor.

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My sense is that Yorkville is at a bit of a turning point. What was once mini malls filled with independent boutiques have been pushed out along with rising rents. See 99 yorkville, which was up until recently home to 2 longstanding businesses (The Coffee Mill and The Paper Store).

The flipside is that landlords have raised rents and the existing stock of buildings don't really fit the demands of modern retailers (ceiling heights are probably too low, buildings are choppy). A lot of what exists now in Yorkville has been awkwardly hybridized; renovated beyond its old victorian history, but not modern enough for today's tenant needs.

One developer I know had this to say: the entire core of yorkville should be redeveloped.

It will be interesting to see what the renovation of Hazelton Lanes brings to the area. When proper, modern retail is left available (i.e. where anthropolgoie and diesel are) there is clearly a demand, its that the older buildings aren't as attractive (with a couple of exceptions, Yorkville Mews being one of them).

buildup said:

To clarify I was referring to Yorkville Avenue, not Bloor.

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The BIA covers most of the area.