Toronto Westlake | 153.31m | 48s | Onni Group | P + S / IBI

From a week ago.

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I like the red brick, but I'm not sure there'll ever be enough greenery mixed in along the internal street here. The Metro is a terrific store…

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better brick then just all glass/spandrel I suppose ...
 
The brick is the one thing that saves this project from being an all-around disaster. If the podium was all glass and spandrel, this whole complex would be a complete eyesore.
 
There's nothing redeeming about that wall of brick and glass base along the Park Lawn Road frontage. Because the entrance to the Shoppers Drug Mart is from within the complex, this whole stretch is basically a dead street frontage. What a wasted opportunity, especially considering the prominance of this building at the Park Lawn Intersection.
 
blur said:
There's nothing redeeming about that wall of brick and glass base along the Park Lawn Road frontage. Because the entrance to the Shoppers Drug Mart is from within the complex, this whole stretch is basically a dead street frontage. What a wasted opportunity, especially considering the prominance of this building at the Park Lawn Intersection.
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You can't enter the stores from the main street? So that means you have to go into that part that looks like a typical suburban strip mall? So basically you have just created a dead, lifeless main street, which will only make it harder for the South Beach stores/restaurants up the street to create the kind of synergy needed to do well. Oh I don't like that at all. I haven't been there but just by looking at those pics, I do not like it. I find the average strip mall quite unattractive. This was obviously meant for cars and not prioritized for pedestrians. I was expecting something much more pedestrian friendly. Lawrence Plaza type developments, I thought were a thing of the past.
 
Think the handle got lost. Pointless pippy poo as no way Fury would lend use of his helicarrier's lifting capabilities.
 
This is suburbia. Inward facing development is unfortunate but, expected. This is a far cry from a typical strip mall.
 
Well, take off the condo towers on top and it sure looks like a strip mall to me. I thought this area was going to have more of an urban vibe with all the tall towers and high density. You have 60 story towers going up in this district, so it's not what most people think of, when they hear suburbia. Aren't we trying to move away from that old suburban model? I'm really disappointed to see this turning into the suburban style I hate.

Why not take the opportunity to turn both Lakeshore and Park Lawn into destination shopping streets? Give the area a central meeting space and focus retail development around it. I don't understand how they are creating a successful retail area by building retail that can't be accessed from the main streets. That intersection should be a focal point, not a dead zone. I think that's just really bad planning on the part of the city. A whole area plan should have been done before they allowed condos to go up. So what is the retail focal point or gathering place of this area? (besides the water)
 
Torontovibe said:
Well, take off the condo towers on top and it sure looks like a strip mall to me. I thought this area was going to have more of an urban vibe with all the tall towers and high density. You have 60 story towers going up in this district, so it's not what most people think of, when they hear suburbia. Aren't we trying to move away from that old suburban model? I'm really disappointed to see this turning into the suburban style I hate.

Why not take the opportunity to turn both Lakeshore and Park Lawn into destination shopping streets? Give the area a central meeting space and focus retail development around it. I don't understand how they are creating a successful retail area by building retail that can't be accessed from the main streets. That intersection should be a focal point, not a dead zone. I think that's just really bad planning on the part of the city. A whole area plan should have been done before they allowed condos to go up. So what is the retail focal point or gathering place of this area? (besides the water)
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There's two retail spots that will open directly onto Park Lawn - one will be a Scotiabank and the other is still looking for a tenant...

Metro and Shoppers face in - fair enough. There is nothing strip-mally about this retail, at all. I can find many things to criticize about Westlake, but the retail is done properly.
 
The retail is not done 'properly.' I can think of any number of retail outlets (Shoppers and Metro included) that feature two entrances. It wouldn't have been hard and would have gone a long way towards humanizing this long-neglected stretch of road.
 
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