Shops at Don Mills (redevelopment, Giannone Petricone/Pellow + Associates )

[Ahab]

Too bad mcewan isn't open yet. That probably would be worth a special visit if you are not nearby. Not sure how long mcewan can stay open in this economy though, so you might need to get there shortly after it opens if you are interested.

The mall will definitely put a premium on the price of those condos that will be built. It would be nice if the mall is successful as it could spur redevelopment of the other stripmalls in the area. I think this mall is fantastic for the neighbourhood.

Nearby Fairview will likely see a decline in traffic, especially in the summer.

 

[ProjectEnd]

wow, you really know your bus routes. I should start taking the TTC more (to be "green" ). I've taken the bus less than 5 times in my life. The only route i remember taking was from Fairview Mall bus to Yonge/Sheppard Subway station (when they didn't have the Sheppard subway line).

I wonder how many 996 Turbo owners do take the bus?

 

[ShonTron]

Three options:

Lawrence East (54, A) from Eglinton Stn.
Don Mills (25) from Pape Stn.
Lawrence/Don Way (162) from Lawrence Stn.

54 shortest distance, 25 most frequent, 162 only has hourly service

162 is now half-hourly!

Thanks for the pics Wylie.

 

[spider]

Have the designers of this project ever seen snow?

In the bad old days huge plows simply shoved the snow into piles, no sidewalks, bike racks or garbage cans in the way just miles of wide open parking lots.

Now there will be no more shoving snow because there is no where to shove it, enter the Bobcats, hand shovellers and dump trucks. Very expensive and very slow.

How many snow storms will it take before some brilliant young up-and-comer proposes building a roof over the whole damn thing.

Why would a supposedly pedestrian friendly complex like this have Valet parking?

 

[Tuscani01]

Have the designers of this project ever seen snow?

In the bad old days huge plows simply shoved the snow into piles, no sidewalks, bike racks or garbage cans in the way just miles of wide open parking lots.

Now there will be no more shoving snow because there is no where to shove it, enter the Bobcats, hand shovellers and dump trucks. Very expensive and very slow.

Um.. have you ever seen how snow is removed in the city? I don't see how this will be any different. Drive a sidewalk plow up and down the sidewalks, add some salt and you are done. The roads are done exactly the same way the parking lots were done before.

The only time they will need to remove the snow is when we get crazy amounts of snowfall... but every mall/retail parking lot has to deal with that regardless of the design.

 

[interchange42]

There appears to be a second level on top some of the shops. Are these offices?

Yes, there are some upper level offices over some of the stores.

42

 

[spider]

Um.. have you ever seen how snow is removed in the city? I don't see how this will be any different. Drive a sidewalk plow up and down the sidewalks, add some salt and you are done. The roads are done exactly the same way the parking lots were done before.

The only time they will need to remove the snow is when we get crazy amounts of snowfall... but every mall/retail parking lot has to deal with that regardless of the design.

If the city had built a street layout such as this, short narrow blocks with almost all "T" intersections and curb variations to allow angle parking I assure you it would not be plowed, for evidence visit any similarly configured back lane in town. Unlike the city who really doesn't care whether you like their reason for not plowing your area the Don Mills complex has to care because their targeted clientel is not going to put with anything, including clambering over windrows left by both the sidewalk and road plows, but clean dry pavement.

I guess you have never operated or watched a snowplow being operated. Shoving snow around tight 90 degree corners just doesn't work.

 

[Dan416]

To me this place screams "we really wanted to build a mall, but we couldn't afford the roof" (or the tiling, or the heating and AC).

But other than that, it's interesting. At least you can walk between stores. That's very hard to do at Heartland.

 

[adma]

I wish we did things more the Dutch way. Subdivide the property so that the streets are public.

Ah, Lijnbaan in Don Mills

 

[SP!RE]

^ ^ Yes, the Lijnbaan district was also in my head hahaha. Not gonna lie.

 

[luxome]

augh...i drove there today because i wanted to enjoy a long walk in the beautiful day. The sky became a little grey when i arrived. Just as i was pulling in, the rain/storm began....so i turned around and went back home

 

[Torontovibe]

What's up with suspicious security?

I got interrogated at The Don Mills Shops

When I was walking around filming and taking pictures Saturday, a very young, security guard asked me "why are you taking pictures?". When I asked him if there was something wrong with that, I liked the design, he said he just found it strange that I was walking around taking pictures and that he saw me there the day before, also taking pictures and he wanted to know why. I was getting pissed at this point, especially because it was bull-shit. I told him I have not been in Don Mills in about 5 years and asked why was he lying. I asked him what I was doing wrong and did he see all the other 100 or so people also taking pictures. I was getting a bit hot under the collar and at this point he started to back off, saying I was wearing sunglasses, so maybe he was wrong, and that I could continue taking pictures, which is what I did. What was up with that? lol I asked him if I look like a terrorist and did he want to check my bags. lol I was hoping to get stripped searched.
FUCKIN' SECURITY!!!

I will post some pics tomorrow, along with a video I filmed. Eva Avila and Jully Black were in the square doing a concert. I think the development is pretty nice. I like the design of many of the buildings and they don't look cheap or fake. I'd change a few things but over-all, it's pretty good.

 

[Torontovibe]

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

The parking lot.

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By Torontovibe at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25

By torontovibe, shot with DSC-N1 at 2009-04-25


For those of you who, like myself, prefer video.
http://torontovibe.ning.com/video/the-shops-of-don-mills

 

[nfitz]

hehe, i did. 25 bus south from Don Mills Station.

That's probably the fastest too about 15 minutes.

About 20 minutes from Pape station on the 15; 20 minutes from Eglinton on the 54.

I wouldn't take the 162 from Lawrence, it's about 25 minutes, and only runs every 30 minutes.

And you all forgot the 54 from Lawrence East station, which also takes about 20 minutes.

So it's pretty much in the middle of everywhere ... or nowhere.

Great pictures - I go past on Don Mills Road almost every day, and doesn't look that great from there (I think the parking long along Don Mills Road is very disappointing). I'll have to go in and check it out.

There's a good map at the easy to remember URL:
http://www.cadillacfairview.com/notesdata/is/cf+pdf.nsf/0/DF72A76B80E140F5852575A4001B97F1/$FILE/Don%20Mills%20-%20Shops%20at%20Don%20Mills_shopper_4_26_2009_1_01_09_AM.pdf

So what happened to McEwan's ... they had a lot of press earlier this year, but no sign of them now?

I made my first ever visit to Scarborough Town Centre (why not I thought, I had to take the Skytrain to McCowan, and figured I'd check it out on way back, as I needed to grab a couple of groceries, and perhaps a six-pack ... don't know how I've never got there before). What a hole! In particular I wanted to check out Loblaws and Best Buy - but after fighting my way through the Wally World (what a hole!) I stood there at the entrance to WalMart, and could see Best Buy and Loblaws in the distance, with a huge parking lot to cross in the pouring rain - what kind of moron designs these things? Turned around and went back inside - didn't need sausages that badly. The stores in side were pretty boringly banal - the only thing that caught my eye was what might be an interesting persian carpet store, and what appears to be a very good music store (instruments ...). Though I did manage to snag the new Caprica DVD for $19.99 in HMV (oddly it was $19.99 in the back, and $21.99 in the front of the store - but the clerk was quite happy to charge the lower when I mentioned the sign in the back said $19.99 ... strange place). On paper this new Don Mills Centre seems much more sensible that Scarborough Town Centre.

 

[SP!RE]

Good God it looks busy in those photos for a mall that was absolutely dead before. How exciting a change!