Dead/Decaying Malls of Greater Toronto

[Towered]

I've heard rumours that it will be torn down soon and turned into a expanded and wider space for the Gardiner and an expanded off ramp at Kipling, but these are rumours.

I certainly hope there's no truth to that. Society has made more than enough needless sacrifices to car culture.

 

[ShonTron]

I've heard rumours that it will be torn down soon and turned into a expanded and wider space for the Gardiner and an expanded off ramp at Kipling, but these are rumours.

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

 

[Northern Light]

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

The curved on-ramp portion (north to west) should be made a hard right, removing any on-street acceleration lane and making it safer for pedestrians. Ideally the south-to-west ramp would be similarly aligned, either a hard right or left to access the highway, removing the angled divergence/acceleration lane.

We can't waste opportunities such as this to fix the dangers to pedestrians and cyclists in our road system.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I've heard that too, as the current Kipling off-ramp is substandard - a gentler and wider approach would be required to bring it up to modern standards, as it was originally a northbound-only ramp. But will only require a sliver of land - the rest of the property will most likely become condos and townhouses, like much of the rest of that section of the Queensway.

It is indeed the plan and my understanding is that it is funded as a part of the Gardiner Expressway rehabilitation project, though that stretch of the Gardiner isn't scheduled to be reconstructed for another little while.

I believe they plan on adding an additional lane westbound from Park Lawn to the collector/express split as well as from the collector/express merge to Lake Shore eastbound to improve traffic flow, though that does not require any land takes like the Kipling interchange improvements do.

edit: here is the report:

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-45956.pdf

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

Here's the Zellers Outlet in the Kipling Queensway Mall, which closes soon. You almost have a "what year is it?" moment before walking in. And yes, I know the thread isn't specifically about the store but it's certainly "dead and decaying" in there!

 

[kade1064]

woodbine mall in Toronto is pretty much dead but the food court is FIRE

 

[JasonParis]

Eeek, not even matching furniture anymore.

 

[Towered]

Eeek, not even matching furniture anymore.

Yup - a quick stroll through the place clearly shows an ambivalent owner that gave up on the place years ago.

 

[Northern Light]

Not exactly pertinent to this proposal; but as I don't feel this merits its own thread, I'll stick it here:

Toronto Public Library has a signed a new lease, for a relocated, and drastically expanded library branch at Bridlewood Mall.

They will go from ~8,000ft 2 to ~20,000ft2.

In addition, they will be co-located (directly abutting) a large new lease by the City of Toronto's Employment and Social Services division (TESS), who are taking 33,000ft2.

So between the two agencies/departments they will have 53,000ft2 on the upper level of the mall.

Fixturing (subject to the relevant approvals) will be begin July 2021, with opening by September 2022.

Of note in all this is that it may has some relationship to broader plans for the mall.

First, the Library Board Report: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca...h-relocation-new-lease-agreement-combined.pdf

From said report:

The new lease term is 20 years, suggesting that there is no intent to revisit the development of the portion of the mall to which the Library and TESS are moving in the near-term future.