Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

I don’t understand comparing the size of food courts at Union with the Eaton Crentre.....they are two entirely different types of buildings/locations.....I don’t see how their foodcourts’ relative sizes matters at all.

Absolutely. These are two totally different types of buildings. People go to Eaton Centre to spend hours. People don’t go to Union to spend hours. It’s a transit point. Yes Union obviously needs food options but expecting people to hang out Union as long as they would at Eaton Centre, and therefore they would have similar level of demand, is a fundamental misunderstanding.

Back in the day before any of this construction the food options were sometimes busy but never bursting at the seams. That should give you a good idea of the baseline level of demand for food.
 
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I was at Union yesterday, and saw a crew wheeling an old light fixture away through the York Concourse from the Great Hall. Can't say exactly where its from, but it was a long and tall thing, and looked much like the lights in the transition area between the Great Hall and the West Wing.
 
I was at Union yesterday, and saw a crew wheeling an old light fixture away through the York Concourse from the Great Hall. Can't say exactly where its from, but it was a long and tall thing, and looked much like the lights in the transition area between the Great Hall and the West Wing.
There are several of these and they seem to be rehabilitating them one by one. The one over the east exit of Great Hall was done a while ago but there are several (e.g. near VIA Lounge) that have missing glass and old sodium bulbs.
 
Absolutely. These are two totally different types of buildings. People go to Eaton Centre to spend hours. People don’t go to Union to spend hours. It’s a transit point. Yes Union obviously needs food options but expecting people to hang out Union as long as they would at Eaton Centre, and therefore they would have similar level of demand, is a fundamental misunderstanding.

Back in the day before any of this construction the food options were sometimes busy but never bursting at the seams. That should give you a good idea of the baseline level of demand for food.

Mcdonalds was bursting at the seams before.. but that was because everything else was closed and the location was tiny.
 
Cinnabon was open quite late before as well.

I would expect that McD’s, Timmy’s and probably Pizza Pizza at least will be open pretty much until the last patrons/commuters are gone for the night based on the hours they generally keep on the street. I’m usually passing through late (10-11pm) and am hoping there are more options than McD’s or Gateway/INS moving forward.
 
Cinnabon was open quite late before as well.

I would expect that McD’s, Timmy’s and probably Pizza Pizza at least will be open pretty much until the last patrons/commuters are gone for the night based on the hours they generally keep on the street. I’m usually passing through late (10-11pm) and am hoping there are more options than McD’s or Gateway/INS moving forward.

I can see the usual suspects being open later. Mcdonalds, Tims and Pizza Pizza for example. No need for Amano, Union Chicken or Paramount to be open later.. even the sushi place really does not need to be open that late (who eats sushi at 11 pm?)

When a game is going on people want quick food on their way to or leaving Scotiabank arena and maybe even a coffee.
 
Union will (eventually) be a real 'cross-roads' I bet it will be busy well into the evening and on weekends.
Eventually, I'm sure you are correct.

Day 1, I suspect we'll see horror stories here, and in the less reputable main-stream media about how underused it is at certain times of the day, and all the wasted money.

I'm surprised they are opening this, before the open the Bay concourse, and connecting the lower level cleanly into the subway.
 
Union closes around 1 am as a building IIRC so dont expect late night post night club options there.

I think the shops will gradually increase their hours if they see the foot traffic increasing.
 
dry run today. Looks like Metrolinx employees were given the opportunity to try out the food establishments first.
 
The bottom line IS the bottom line. Restaurants will be open @ Union during hours in which they can make $$$ and as Union will (eventually) be a real 'cross-roads' I bet it will be busy well into the evening and on weekends.

I can already see parts of it being open around 6 am. Tims is open at 6ish right now (at the Kiosk) and the station is heavily used at that time.
 
Eventually, I'm sure you are correct.

Day 1, I suspect we'll see horror stories here, and in the less reputable main-stream media about how underused it is at certain times of the day, and all the wasted money.

I'm surprised they are opening this, before the open the Bay concourse, and connecting the lower level cleanly into the subway.

I can already picture BlogTO having an article with the headline "Nobody uses the Union Station Food Court" only for it to be an article about usage on Day 1 or about usage at 9 pm.
 

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