I work right by that area. It's a little dead, but getting better. The buildings on the south (left side of the picture) have a lot of retail, but it faces onto the square at Yonge and Queens Quay rather than out onto Harbour Street (which is the street pictured). The bar is the Harbour Sports Grille, which is pretty busy most days, especially for games.
The buildings on the right is new, and other than a Subway and an ice cream shop, doesn't have any retail. But the store fronts are all there, and I figure that retail will come once the 2nd phases of the complex are completed.
The whole area is getting better. There used to be such a dead spot between the rail tracks and Harbour Street for so long - all vacant lots and parking lots. Now there's a lot of construction.
The one thing they could do which would really improve the area, I think, is put some retail in the tunnels under the tracks at York, Bay and Yonge. It would provide a connection between the financial district and the area south of the tracks. Right now, it's just a big, scary black hole.
