Toronto Hudson's Bay Centre Renovations | 32.87m | 6s | Brookfield | Adamson

ProjectEnd said:
We were never going to get a new, tall, tower because the space between the existing buildings isn't wide enough. We were never going to demo the existing office tower because the replacement cost would outweigh the profit. Reclad and refurb was *always* going to be the name of the game here. I'm sorry but if folks thought we were going to get Langham Place or Ginza-Six-meets-Shibuya-Sky you were only deluding yourselves.
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Cost to replace was always going to be sky high but was the 4th option ever considered: building a connected building, essentially widening the existing office tower, and then going taller? Or would cost be prohibitive again due to the subway below and cost to re-enforce the existing office building?
 
isaidso said:
Cost to replace was always going to be sky high but was the 4th option ever considered: building a connected building, essentially widening the existing office tower, and then going taller? Or would cost be prohibitive again due to the subway below and cost to re-enforce the existing office building?
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Cost wasn’t the only issue. See the OPA comment for reference.

Any redevelopment would require site wide changes. With multiple owners, and one of them already doing their own thing - there was no way any major changes would’ve taken off.
 
Not about HBC's renovation, but saw this article in Toronto Life about a notice of appropriation for Sabai Sabai in the building across the street (81 Bloor East) for Yonge/Bloor station expansion. They are closing later this month. I didn't realize that work (or at least preps) on the expansion would start so soon!

torontolife.com

"We were just starting to ramp back up after Covid": Sabai Sabai's co-owners on being kicked out to make way for a TTC project

It's the second time the restaurant has been uprooted by urban development
torontolife.com torontolife.com
 
Rascacielo said:
Not about HBC's renovation, but saw this article in Toronto Life about a notice of appropriation for Sabai Sabai in the building across the street (81 Bloor East) for Yonge/Bloor station expansion. They are closing later this month. I didn't realize that work (or at least preps) on the expansion would start so soon!

torontolife.com

"We were just starting to ramp back up after Covid": Sabai Sabai's co-owners on being kicked out to make way for a TTC project

It's the second time the restaurant has been uprooted by urban development
torontolife.com torontolife.com
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Wow! I was so surprised that an extremely busy and seemingly successful restaurant was randomly closing. Had no idea this was the reason.
 
alklay said:
This is so bland, so uninteresting, that it is even difficult to comment on it.

I remember in the 80's the owner had a redevelopment proposal that had basically, on the outside anyhow, an 80's Chrystal Palace vibe. Think the entrance of any mall during that time period. Except the whole complex was covered in glass. And as dated as that would probably look today, it would still be more interesting than this proposal.
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I remember that too! I think it was Trilea who owned it.
 
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Rascacielo said:
Let what be possible? That sounds like Melania Trump's "Be Best" slogan ;)
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"Be the best ugly bunker you can be?" I dunno; though I'm a believer in certain measure of optimism; and I endorse ambition and aspiration, once in a while, the slogan should be "Stop being what you are, no one likes you that way" 😀

Or a more pessimistic, @Amare - worthy take "You're unfixable, just give up" LOL
 
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Also, the Bay's closing has obviously affected foot traffic in the mall (subway commuters aside). I wanted to go to the Shoppers a few weeks ago around 7.30 pm and found it was already closed. There was a notice saying that the store would now close at 7 pm, "to give our hard-working staff a well-deserved break".
 
Northern Light said:
"Be the best ugly bunker you can be?" I dunno; though I'm a believer in certain measure of optimism; and I endorse ambition and aspiration, once in a while, the slogan should be "Stop being what you are, no one likes you that way" 😀

Or a more pessimistic, @Amare - worthy take "You're unfixable, just give up" LOL
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But now i'm actually debating whether they should just keep the bunker seeing what's being proposed at the moment. Decisions, decisions.🤔
 
Amare said:
But now i'm actually debating whether they should just keep the bunker seeing what's being proposed at the moment. Decisions, decisions.🤔
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I vote for demolish it while the station is being worked on; and revisit the replacement structure idea sometime over the intervening 6-8 years and come up with something better than the current proposal.
 
Rascacielo said:
Also, the Bay's closing has obviously affected foot traffic in the mall (subway commuters aside). I wanted to go to the Shoppers a few weeks ago around 7.30 pm and found it was already closed. There was a notice saying that the store would now close at 7 pm, "to give our hard-working staff a well-deserved break".
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To be fair, that store has always had odd hours. Probably because there's that big heritage store about 100m away with late hours. Oh, and the other at the Manulife Centre that's open until 9. Really, the one in HBC (like the LCBO there) is positioned primarily to take advantage of rush hour subway traffic. The staff break is a ruse; you're lucky to find more than a single person manning the cashes and self-checkout; almost no-one at the makeup side and maybe one person stocking.
 
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