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Woodbine Centre

slickpete83 said:
I wonder what the turn over rate is
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Very high. Amazon has perfected the meat-grinder approach to hiring. They will hire anyone who passes a drug test, without interview. They have performance expectations that, if not met, can lead to summary dismissal. They don't care about you, you are just a replaceable cog.
 
I would prefer Woodbine Centre in its current state be demolished and replaced with an indoor theme park capable of competing with the likes of Wet'n'Wild Toronto and Canada's Wonderland. Cineplex (or another company) could run this indoor theme park. An indoor theme park would be great, especially during the winter.
 
Johnny Au said:
I would prefer Woodbine Centre in its current state be demolished and replaced with an indoor theme park capable of competing with the likes of Wet'n'Wild Toronto and Canada's Wonderland. Cineplex (or another company) could run this indoor theme park.
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Honestly, given the proximity to the racetrack and the airport I would rather see a hotel there. The days of large scale amusement parks are waning as real estate becomes limited.
 
Johnny Au said:
I would prefer Woodbine Centre in its current state be demolished and replaced with an indoor theme park capable of competing with the likes of Wet'n'Wild Toronto and Canada's Wonderland. Cineplex (or another company) could run this indoor theme park. An indoor theme park would be great, especially during the winter.
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Is the site big enough? The Downsview Airport site might be a better location to become our version of Yas Island with "Ferrari World", etc.
The people who post here on UT love all those kind of things they have in the UAE, right? 🤣
 
Sub_Human said:
Is the site big enough? The Downsview Airport site might be a better location to become our version of Yas Island with "Ferrari World", etc.
The people who post here on UT love all those kind of things they have in the UAE, right? 🤣
Click to expand...

I don't know that the above is a land use idea I'm compelled by............

But on the subject of site size.........

1620324512881.png


That's 20ha or 50 acres

For comparison, Canada's Wonderland is 93ha/230 acres; inclusive of natural areas and all the surface parking.
 
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Well look what I found, a Case Study On Repurposing Vacant Retail Malls :


It definitely looks like something is in motion, this survey i linked above was done in May 2020.

Some notable quotes:

The survey asked respondents: “If you can, please provide the following information about a vacant retail mall sale or acquisition transaction in your market.” The survey asked respondents to provide information on five malls. For each mall, the respondents were asked to provide 1) name of the mall; 2) location of the vacant mall. 3) subsequent use of the vacant property; 4) sources of equity financing; 5) sources of debt financing; 6) acquisition cost per square foot; 7) percent discount or premium of the price compared to the prior sales price; 8) going-in cap rate; 9) number of months the property was vacant before acquisition; and 10) size of the property in acres; and 11) if rezoning was required or not.

Among the 94 distinct vacant malls that respondents identified the use of the vacant mall, 31% reported that the vacant mall was turned into a retail store, or a popup, or had new tenant anchors. The next major uses were as a mixed use space (16%), warehouse (9%), and multi-family/residential building (7%). Respondents also reported that vacant malls were repurposed as delivery/distribution centers (5%), health care/hospitals (4%), and community colleges (4%). Other uses were as churches, offices, sports/fitness centers, call center, data center, self-storage spaces, flex spaces, or even as a cricket stadium or a police precinct.

All respondents were asked: “In the past five years, where you engaged, or know someone in your market, in the sale or acquisition of a closed or vacant retail mall?” Of 2,638 respondents, 21% (550) reported Yes, 78% (2,088) reported No, and 2% (46) did not answer the question.

1620355630120.png


If you look at Woodbine, you'll notice some key information omitted (Subsequent Use, Sources of Equity Financing and Sources of Debt Financing column). Which is an indicator of 1 of 2 things: 1) the slum landlord did not respond to the survey question or, 2) a deal was in the works at that time and had yet to close, thus the information could not be provided at the time of the survey.
 
While I will not rule out option 2) I think the owner couldn't be bothered to fill out the survey. After all, this is the same guy that uses stock photos of outdoor amusement
parks for the Fantasy Fair.

Exhibit A from Woodbine's website:

1620397718451.png
 
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If Amazon is really thinking of a Fulfillment Centre on this site and if the city ever allows something like that to happen, it would go down as one of the biggest failed urban planning decisions in this city's history (if ever built).
 
A candlelight vigil will be held this coming weekend. The landlords of the deceased request that all donations be made to Shop-A-Lot (located on the lower level - former Zellers)'s
soda section.

Even if the application for rezoning is denied, I vote to rename this thread The Amazon Centre. The Amazon Prime Fantasy Fair does have a nice ring to it, too....
 
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