Toronto Maple Leaf Square | 185.92m | 54s | Lanterra | KPMB

whatever said:
Unless things have changed the restaurant was supposed to go in the top right corner of the 2nd floor (NE corner of podium), the bar had the two floors on the bottom right (SE corner), and the apparel store was immediately west of the restaurant, tho I honestly can't remember if it was first or second floor (I think first, but I could be mistaken). The Longos was at the NW corner (and basement).

Those plans are either old or inaccurate or they've made changes to the building. There should be a set of publicly accessible doors shown at the western end of the second floor galleria, unless they deleted the doors after they were installed
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The original plan was for the sports bar to be two floors in the SE.....no change there (and it will be an amazing place).....The fine dining was originally going to be across the hall on the second floor from the sports bar (so the NE) but they changed their mind about that and it is now going to be in the NW.......as far as I know there have been no alternative plans developed (yet) for the NE.

The sports store, I believe is on the ground floor on the north side (but I can't remember if it is NE or NW but I think it would NE.

All of those operations are MLSE (so they are, both, a parnter in the ownership and a very significant tenant in the building)....it was not the original plan to close Centresports but, rather, redirect that to be mostly to serve people inside the ACC while the new store would take their expertise/product outside the doors of the ACC (ie get at the 5 or 6 million potential customers in the GTA who, on any given night, don't actually have tickets to the event going on inside)....that may have changed though....I don't know.

Similarly, the restaraunts are targeted to bring their very extensive (and quite high quality) food and beverage experience outside the doors of the arena. The fine dining one will be like going to the Platninum lounge and the RealSports will be more like an Air Canada Club/Hot Stove lounge experience.

As for non-MLSE tenants.....Longos are in the basement and TD Bank will be on the ground floor on the SW side.

After accounting for the 4 MLSE leases (sports bar, fine dining, sports store and the previous location for fine dining) and TD and Longos there is very little space available for lease....although if MLSE decide to not use the former fine dining space for anything and decide to sub-lease it there is a bit more.

Things will get very busy very quickly and the activity around this place will be very active.
 
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"Similarly, the restaraunts are targeted to bring their very extensive (and quite high quality) food and beverage experience outside the doors of the arena."

So we can expect the $8 dollar half-pints of molson and $5.50 for a slice of PizzaPizza? oh well, at least our dollars are well spent by MLSE in getting our city such succesful local franchises. Oh wait...
 
Mr.Tang said:
"Similarly, the restaraunts are targeted to bring their very extensive (and quite high quality) food and beverage experience outside the doors of the arena."

So we can expect the $8 dollar half-pints of molson and $5.50 for a slice of PizzaPizza? oh well, at least our dollars are well spent by MLSE in getting our city such succesful local franchises. Oh wait...
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I was referring to their own restaurants (Platinum Club, Air Canada Club, Hotstove Lounge) that are excellent restaurants but currently only accessible to people inside the arena and, even then, only to people with premium tickets. These are excellent restaurants with great menus, fabulous rooms and great service. The goal in opening MLSE opening restaurants (both fine dining and casual sports bar) outside the arena in Maple Leaf Square was to expand their brand and audience to people who currently don't have access....I think they will be very, very, successful.
 
March 27

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Those shots are EPIC in its purest form!

Seriously awesome shots! I've never seen MLS look so slim/tall! They will go together just fine with ICE!
If you ask me, these towers look very different depending on where you're standing!
Once again. sweet shots! I think thats a new angle for all of us!:D
 
Thanks Steve. This isn't my view but one I've posted from in the past. It gives a great sense of the canyon potential down Bremner.

For example, compare these two:
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Condo Critic: Maple Leaf Square isn't just for fans
March 27, 2010
Christopher Hume

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/column...-critic-maple-leaf-square-isn-t-just-for-fans


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Toronto Star/Christopher Hume
The nine-storey podium at Maple Leaf Square helps create the public spaces at street level and will become the sort of place that attracts sports fans and non-fans alike.

...


Even before it’s done, Maple Leaf Square has changed the landscape of Toronto. It represents one of those rare, perhaps unique, situations in which a corporate agenda forms the basis of an exercise in city-building. The new neighbourhood, tucked in behind the Air Canada Centre, the Gardiner Expressway and York St., is organized around a large public space defined by various buildings. The ACC forms the backdrop to the space; already, the obligatory giant screen has been installed, the better to see Leaf and Raptor games. Given the nature of corporate sports and the fact that it involves large numbers of people (and money), it’s no surprise the new precinct is designed with all this in mind. In other words, sport moves in and out of private and public realms with absolute ease. For example, many fans would rather watch a game in a sports bar than by themselves at home. If the psychology of the crowd lies at the heart of fandom, here’s a place that gives these forces full play.

It helps that the Maple Leaf Square neighbourhood has been nicely planned and that the new buildings are of such high architectural quality. This is especially important as the surroundings tend to be made up of the infrastructural leftovers of an earlier age, a time when the city was twisted into weird contortions to accommodate the automobile. Even though the footprint of the new district feels relatively small, it is a vertical village, tall, dense and very urban. But by paying attention to the public realm, these mixed-use densities will become the driving force that animates things.


Maple Leaf Square, York St. and Bremner Blvd.

True, this twin-towered development remains a bit of a construction site, but there’s no doubt that it is and will be a vast improvement over what was there before – a parking lot.

Designed in a neo-modernist manner, this is architecture of big sweeping gestures and convincing details. From a city-building perspective, the hard work is done by the podium that extends along all four sides of the property. It stands about nine storeys high and helps create the public spaces at street level.

Because the project has been broken down into a series of apparently discrete elements, it avoids the monolithic quality that deadens so many large-scale schemes. Complexity, after all, is a pre-condition to urbanity, as is congestion. Maple Leaf Square embraces both.

As a result, when you come here you don’t feel you have left the city behind. Neither do you feel it occupies land that rightly belongs to the car. This is pedestrian-friendly territory, the kind of area that will attract non-sports fans as well as diehards, which in Toronto, are all that remains. But were the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup one season, the square would be Ground Zero, Celebration Central.


Grade: A
 
Not sure where to put this so I'll add it to the MLS thread.


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Click here for the high-res, extra large version
 

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I must say this is an example of a project where the finished product far exceeds the renderings. When I first saw the renderings for this project I thought it look uninsipired and the podiums looked like looming closed boxes. But now the project just looks amazing..the variety of materials and shapes, the way the light works on the buildings,,and the urbanity of the podiums. The sense of drama it gives to the skyline whilst going past on the Gardiner is also a great addition the city. Great job MLSE!
 
The main problem with this area is it's boring! No where exciting within a 30 minute walk other than the SLM area, which is rather restrictive. Contrast that to my area, and I have the Junction, Bloor West Village, Roncevalles, Bloor and Lansdowne, Perth/Wallace, St Clair, or Parkdale to chose from.
 
urbandreamer said:
The main problem with this area is it's boring! No where exciting within a 30 minute walk other than the SLM area, which is rather restrictive. Contrast that to my area, and I have the Junction, Bloor West Village, Roncevalles, Bloor and Lansdowne, Perth/Wallace, St Clair, or Parkdale to chose from.
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Yeah... this stretch doesn't have enough of a "downtown" feel to it... There are too many open lots/fields, especially as you get near to the CN Tower... We need a couple more stores (starbucks, etc..) to get some more people to the area who aren't going the the rogers center, CN tower, or the ACC... Luckily, MLS will have retail (like the longos) and there's tons of development going on (18 york, ice, aquarium proposal, etc.).. Its getting there though! :D
 
urbandreamer said:
The main problem with this area is it's boring! No where exciting within a 30 minute walk other than the SLM area, which is rather restrictive. Contrast that to my area, and I have the Junction, Bloor West Village, Roncevalles, Bloor and Lansdowne, Perth/Wallace, St Clair, or Parkdale to chose from.
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How is this area boring? This is where all the most imprortant events in the city happen at all levels, local and national. You've got the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Conventions, including my favorites Importfest and CIAS. The areas you mention are all great from but are not the same draw that professional sports national and international conventions are. I think boring is all perspective, but coffee, lunch or brunch in the junction is all great, and probably makes for an ideal sunday or day stroll. I'll remember Importfest honies and $500,000 European and Japanese rides way more than I'll ever remember a quick cafe ou lait on bloor street no matter how exciting you think the flavour there is.
 
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