As unfortunate and sad as this is, I can see how they’re seeing this as temporary. It’s the lowest investment for the safest/quickest return in the short to medium term. A multi story retail complex this big would have had a harder time leasing. They obviously feel there’s enough demand for self storage in this area. We don’t think about a dense urban areas as a place for this, but the truth is wealthier people own stuff and space isn’t always available, I’m sure they’ll do well here. Hopefully in 10 years this whole corner/block gets redeveloped into something special
I will say, I do understand incorporating the self-storage use, temporarily, for the upper most floors.
But I feel strongly that with proper investment in the building, there is more than enough interest from potential tenants in the Yorkville market to sustain retail on level 2 above.
You put the big box tenant on 2 above; and use the ground floor for smaller restaurant uses that could feature patios. The rear could be big box or storage.
The sheer amount of space and relative dearth of windows would make it ideal for a large-concept resto like 'Mandarin' and a full-service flagship supermarket on level 2 above. With smaller cafes/coffee shops fronting Bloor.
Additionally, no matter the usage, I think they need to do better on the facade. They really need windows above-grade, maybe not on every floor, but surely on two, and maybe above two they could be high-end displays.
This, as proposed, simply doesn't meet the level of design appropriate to the location. Its lazy.
