As construction of Camrost-Felcorp's Imperial Plaza comes closer to completion, we are now learning more about the retail additions preparing to open up shop on the ground floor of the restored 23-storey Imperial Oil Canada building at 111 St. Clair Avenue West. In our last update, we announced the planned July opening of a new LCBO location on the east side of Imperial Plaza's ground floor, and now Longo's has announced plans to open a new urban concept market on the west side of the ground floor.

Ground floor of Imperial Plaza, viewed from the north side of St. Clair Ave. West, image by Craig White

With opening tentatively scheduled for September, the 8,500 square foot Imperial Plaza location will be the supermarket chain's fifth urban concept market in central Toronto, offering goodies like a fresh salad bar, a gourmet made-to-order stone pizza oven, a deli counter with hundreds of types of cheeses, and more tweaks aimed at making meals simpler for area residents. The store will also include a full service Starbucks coffee shop.

Ground floor of Imperial Plaza, image by Craig White

Anthony Longo, Longo Brothers Fruit Market President and CEO declared “Our Market stores are a great way for shoppers to get some of the best Longo’s has to offer. This Imperial Plaza location will become a welcome destination for people who enjoy eating well. We’re looking forward to bringing our passion for great fresh food to the area with our urban concept Market store.”

Ground floor of Imperial Plaza, image by Craig White

The addition of a grocery store, cafe, and LCBO will help fill a retail void on St. Clair between Yonge Street and St. Clair West Station. In addition to benefitting residents of Imperial Plaza, the additions will also serve residents of Camrost-Felcorp's future Blue Diamond at Imperial Plaza development, a new condo tower with 226 units, planned to the immediate west of Imperial Plaza.

Ground floor of Imperial Plaza, image by Craig White

The spaces for the two retail units promise to be among Toronto's most beautifully decorated as each will be graced by one half of The Story of Oil, a heritage protected mosaic work by the late York Wilson that spans across what was once the lobby of the headquarters of Imperial Oil. We look forward to seeing how the stores' finishings will highlight the outstanding artwork.

The Story of Oil as it appeared in the lobby in April, 2011, image by Craig White

Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for these projects, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.