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Leslieville / Studio District

It's at the NE corner of Queen and Jones
 
Sorry, just getting caught up on the old BK location turning into a Starbucks - I suspected it could be a Sbux - the shape it was taking matched their newer suburban standard. Plus the location across the street was clearly not getting the traffic they wanted. Disappointing it will have a drive-through - that's the last thing we need. I know the city won't permit any NEW drive-throughs, but I guess this already was permitted because they're using the same building.
 
The junk land on Laing St seems to be up for sale.
It's environmentally contaminated though.

In November 2015 it was listed under Sale of Land by Public Tender:
Assessed Address:
52 Laing Street Rear $58,743.39
Assessment Roll #: 1904 08 1 290 03750 0000
PIN: 21391 – 0142 (LT)
Part of Lots 39 & 42, Plan 214
Being Part 3 on 64R15768
City of Toronto
Land Titles Division of Toronto Registry Office (No.66)
Landlocked Residential Vacant Land
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONTAMINATED
Click to expand...

Perhaps Colliers bought it and are reselling it? I wonder if it can be developed on at all.

Whatever happens, hopefully it happens soon because it's an ugly site.
 
Murals: I like Elicser and Mediah. I prefer the latter because it's got some verve but it's abstract and not terribly historical. Although I don't know if we need to be historical with this thing. Either way, I welcome the splash of colour.
 
Elicser is the best
 
Hit the new Starbucks this weekend. It's huge inside with tons of seating...the biggest Starbucks I've been in aside from the one in Amsterdam. Sadly, the patio out front is a bit undersized. It was fairly busy on Good Friday, with a steady stream of cars through the drive thru.

All in all, a nice addition to the neighbourhood. It's going to be a busy place in the summer with that prime spot along the MGT. Good riddance to the old BK.
 
I'll have to check it out, but just reading about it here, a Starbucks patio at a location with a drive-through sounds wholly unappealing. A bit of exhaust with one's latte. But like I said, to be fair, I haven't been there yet.
 
The patio is the biggest let down. Barely room for a few tables, and indeed, the drive thru exit wraps around the front so your view is tainted by cars exiting around every minute or two on a busy day. I can see why they want the drive thru, but leaving it out would have opened up fifteen more feet of space out front for an expansive patio that would have made for a lovely stop along the MGT there.

Also too bad is that the view across Lakeshore is of the massive concrete wall of the TTC Leslie Barns. Maybe the situation will improve with the addition of the landscaping and trees, but right now it's just a big wall.
 
GM Canada plans new complex in downtown Toronto
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...-complex-in-downtown-toronto/article29659468/
General Motors of Canada Ltd. plans to return to the downtown Toronto core with a new complex that will house a separate Canadian head office for its Cadillac division and eventually a sales outlet.

The auto maker has purchased a site near the east side of downtown – currently occupied by a film studio – that will also serve as the Canadian head office for its Maven car sharing service, the centre of some research and development activities, a sales and service centre that will focus on electric vehicles and e-bikes. It will be called the Toronto GM Mobility Campus.

“It gives us the base we’re looking for to have General Motors re-enter downtown, but not in the traditional sense,” David Paterson, GM Canada’s vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs said Monday.

GM has been absent from the downtown core in Toronto for more than a decade and has been examining properties and ways to start vehicles in that part of the city for several years.

“This is the one property we’re investing in,” Mr. Paterson said.

Part of the plan involves a dealership, he said, although not in the traditional sense.

“We’ll do something that suits the neighbourhood, but it is part of the plan to have that,” he said.

The site is not far from what is now a row of luxury auto makers along the Don River and the Don Valley Parkway along the east side of Toronto’s downtown core.

But mass market brands are moving into the area as well. Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. opened a dealership in the area that is scheduled to move next year into a new auto campus being built by Downtown Auto Group that will include Hyundai Auto Canada, Nissan Canada Inc., and Toyota Canada Inc. outlets.

The GM site will likely the auto maker’s Buick, Chevrolet and GMC brands and possibly Cadillac, Mr. Paterson said.

The development will provide jobs for between 130 and 150 GM Canada employees, he said. Some of the jobs will be transferred from the company’s head office in Oshawa, Ont.

Detroit-based General Motors Co. has established a separate head office for its Cadillac brand in New York, so establishing a separate Canadian head office for the division is consistent with GM’s own moves and what other auto makers such as Volkswagen AG and others have done with their luxury units, Mr. Paterson said.

GM Canada research and development offices in Oshawa and Waterloo, Ont., are working on applications for autonomous and connected vehicles.

The downtown Toronto research jobs will be another centre for that and other work.

In addition, “we’re going to be doing a lot more electric vehicle sales as well as other urban-oriented vehicle sales, so there will be a bit of specialization there,” Mr. Paterson said. “Doing e-bike development, being downtown with the bike lanes kind of makes sense for us in that area.”

The Maven car-sharing business involves the auto partnering with condo developers to offer a fleet of GM vehicles to condo buyers, who will pay for the service through their condo maintenance fees. A pilot project is under way in New York and there are discussions with some developers in Toronto, but no agreements have been reached yet.

GM Canada and the film studio, Cinespace Film Studios, have agreed to a one-year lease that will allow the studio to pursue plans to build a larger space in the city’s Portlands area.

The full GM development could take “a number of years” to go through planning and approval, Mr. Paterson said.
Click to expand...
 
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