Work continues to progress toward the reopening of Maple Leaf Gardens with a renewed exterior, completely new interiors, new uses, and likely a new name. The former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Carlton Street at Church Street in Downtown Toronto sat mostly empty after the hockey team moved to its new home at the Air Canada Centre, occasionally opening for filming or temporary art installations. Soon however the building will reopen with an LCBO store, a Joe Fresh, and a huge new Loblaws grocery store on the ground and second levels, while Ryerson University will use the upper levels of the bulding for its new athletics centre.

Rumours are that the stores will open about a month from now; the weekend of November 12th/13th is said to be the target date. Ryerson has not declared a particular date yet, but its intention is to move in a few months from now during the winter of 2012.

UrbanToronto member androiduk in particular has been persistent in bringing us photos of progress on the building; some of his recent ones are the following. 

Work to renovate the Carlton Street marquee progresses, image by androiduk 2011.10.04

Work to renovate Maple Leaf Gardens progresses on the ground floor, image by androiduk 2011.10.06

Restoration work on the building's exterior is being overseen by E.R.A. Architects. Interior design for the new structures and for Loblaws is by Turner Fleischer Architects. BBB Architects and Stadium Consultants International are responsible for the Ryerson University Athletic Centre interiors.

UrbanToronto has pubished a dataBase page for the project which contains both renderings, several of which have never before been published in such high resolution on the internet, and plans for the building including a cross section which will help you understand how everything will fit under the Gardens' iconic roof, reproduced here.

Cross section showing the new uses within the historic Carlton Street building

For a thorough look at Ryerson's terrific new athletic facilities, including weight training rooms, a multi-court gym, and the arena itself with a hockey game underway, please click on the dataBase link below. To see more of androiduk's photos, or to join in the discussion on this building, click on the associated Projects & Construction link.