My point is - will the city/residents/developers get their acts together to make this a complete neighbourhood? It's been on the right track for the most part, but I don't think that height and the density that comes with it is going to help. I think the area needs more non-tourist-retail, and office space to balance things out, keep Distillery residents from having to get in their cars and head elsewhere to spend/make money.
I walk through/past the Distillery several times a week, and now regularly through the Canary District as well. I agree that despite the unfortunately large remaining gaps, the area is on the right track. The opening of the 514 Cherry line was momentous. I hope momentum continues now that the Pan Am Games are in the past.
All the new retail in the Canary District is non-touristy: the YMCA, the Running Room, the Gears cycle shop, a couple decent restaurants, a coffee shop, and so on. I highly doubt that any of these would ever survive directly within the Distillery, as it is a tourist destination and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But residents can visit businesses in the surrounding neighbourhoods and both realms can coexist.
I've been to the Meatpacking district in NYC and stayed near at the Gansevoort : it's a very hip, high-end hotel that would bring a younger demographic of visitors into the area, and up the "cool" quotient of the Distillery which currently seems to attract a bit of an older/stodgier tourist demographic. And yes, the Gansevoort is not cheap, so guests there will have money to spend. This would be a boon to the Distillery and inject money into the surrounding businesses that we could all benefit from.
But I respectfully disagree that height or density would harm the area: in fact, that's exactly what it needs. Right now the only thing missing in the Canary District is people. Frankly, it remains a bit of a ghost town. We need many more people to create life on the streets, in the shops, and to encourage private development to fill those remaining gaps. Density/height is the way to do this while keeping the streetscape active. I see no reason to shy away from density in what is essentially part of the downtown core of Canada's biggest city.