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Smart Centre developments

Recent article in the Post City about this new SmartCentre (and Walmart, by extension) off York Mills Road, between Leslie and Don Mills. Essentially, the concerns discussed in the article are traffic based, although increased competition to local retailers like Longo's just on the other side of the train tracks is surely an underlying issue.

http://www.postcity.com/Post-City-M...bility-of-York-Mills-Walmart-raises-concerns/

Possibility of York Mills Walmart raises concerns

Area businesses could be impacted if big box giant arrives

BY TODD AALGAARD

news1-walmart-f8ec4ebe.jpeg
 
Wal-Mart? In THAT part of town? REALLY (spent my teen years close by. Not exactly Wal-Mart demographic)?
 
^ That was my initial reaction too when I heard about this proposal, which now seems to be under development. The discussion begins on page 2.

The interesting thing is that this SmartCentre location essentially straddles the 'tonier' Bayview-York Mills neighborhood and the 'quietly getting really expensive' Donalda-Three Valleys Drive neighborhood at Don Mills-York Mills. Most people I talk to are also surprised that there is not just a SmartCentre going up here, but a Walmart as the anchor tenant.

Walmart as an anchor store sets the tone for the rest of the plaza and for other potential retailers who may be considering taking up shop at this location. It'll be interesting to see which retailers come in. High end retailers may want to tap into the demographics of the neighborhoods to the west and south, but I'm not sure if they'd be willing to align themselves with a 'Walmart plaza'. It shall be interesting to see.
 
Keep in mind the entire Don Mills neighborhood i between Steeles snd the DVP, the entire sheppard neighbourhood, and the Victoria park and Lawrence east neighbourshoods would also be in the catchment area for this store. Those areas are not as alluent.

Still fun to see a Walmart next door to a longos though.
 
UD2 said:
Keep in mind the entire Don Mills neighborhood i between Steeles snd the DVP, the entire sheppard neighbourhood, and the Victoria park and Lawrence east neighbourshoods would also be in the catchment area for this store. Those areas are not as alluent.

Still fun to see a Walmart next door to a longos though.
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Now this was exactly my original point back on page 3. I can see a large number of people coming in from the northeast, east and southeast, but if you look at the existing Walmart locations, you'll note that those areas are pretty much covered (map here). Warden & Eglinton to the southeast and both Kennedy & Sheppard and Scarborough Town Centre to the east. At the end of the day, developers will develop whatever makes them money. Hopefully it all has a positive effect on the city and the community.
 
yyzhyd said:
A new SmartCentre is about to be built at Hwy. 427 & Hwy 7 in Vaughan.
http://www.smartcentres.com/locations/vaughan-hwy-427-hwy-7

Curious who will be locating here as several of their anchor tenants (e.g. Walmart, HomeDepot etc.) are already located closeby.
Click to expand...

That's interesting.

I believe the Home Depot at Hwy 7 + Weston moved to Major Mac and Weston. Maybe this location is far enough for another Vaughan location? I'm not sure if there is a closer Brampton Home Depot. (edit: there is one at Airport Rd. down the street, possibly too close to this area).

With the way Best Buy is going, I'm not sure what other anchor tenants could be for this development. Maybe a big grocery chain and a Shopper's Drug Mart (I could see the Martin Grove one closing and opening up here maybe).

According to the site plan there is only room for one big anchor tenant.
 
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narduch said:
That's interesting.

I believe the Home Depot at Hwy 7 + Weston moved to Major Mac and Weston. Maybe this location is far enough for another Vaughan location? I'm not sure if there is a closer Brampton Home Depot. (edit: there is one at Airport Rd. down the street, possibly too close to this area).

With the way Best Buy is going, I'm not sure what other anchor tenants could be for this development. Maybe a big grocery chain and a Shopper's Drug Mart (I could see the Martin Grove one closing and opening up here maybe).

According to the site plan there is only room for one big anchor tenant.
Click to expand...

Don't really think of Shopper's as an anchor but agree that you could see the Shopper's & No Frills at Martin Grove/Hwy 7 moving here.
There isn't a Loblaws "Real Canadian SuperStore"in this part of the GTA so hopefully that, or even a Costco/Lowes as they tend to locate near major Highways.

Wishlist for me from their tenant pool would be:
Costco
Real Canadian SuperStore
HomeSense
Toys R Us
UrbanBarn
Nando's
Pizza Hut
 
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From this link:

For Cities, Big-Box Stores Are Becoming Even More of a Terrible Deal

Big-box retailers’ new tactic to slash their taxes is the latest example of why cities are better off saying no to the boxes and cultivating Main Streets instead.

In February, the library in Marquette, Mich., announced that it was cutting its hours.


It wasn’t that its Sunday programming was any less popular, or that it had gotten the short end of the stick in next year’s budget planning. Instead, thanks to a new method that big-box stores are using to game the tax system, Marquette Township owed a $755,828.71 tax refund to the home improvement chain Lowe’s. Essential services like the library, the school district, and the fire department were on the hook to pay for it.

The Peter White Public Library would now be closed on Sundays.

Marquette has been hit hard by a tactic that the country’s biggest retailers are using to slash their property taxes. Known as the “dark store” method, it exemplifies the systematic way that these chains extract money from local governments. It’s also the latest example of the way that, even as local governments across the country continue to bend over backwards to attract and accommodate big-box development, these stores are consistently a terrible deal for the towns and cities where they locate.

Marquette is one of the countless places that has bought into big-box economic development. Over the years, the township in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan spent millions extending water mains, law enforcement, and other infrastructure and services to its big-box commercial corridor along U.S. 41. When the Lowe’s opened there in 2008, local officials including the mayor turned out for a “board-cutting” ceremony—the home improvement center version of a ribbon-cutting.

Then, less than two years later, Lowe’s flipped the script. The mega-retailer, which reports annual net sales of about $50 billion, went to tax court to appeal its property tax assessment. Marquette had pegged the taxable value of the store, which had just been built for $10 million, at $5.2 million. In front of the Michigan Tax Tribunal, an administrative court whose members are appointed by the state governor, Lowe’s won assessments that were, instead, $2.4 million in 2010, $2 million in 2011, and $1.5 million in 2012.

“We honestly thought there had been a mistake,” says Dulcee Atherton, the assessor for Marquette Township. “We had the building permits that said it was worth $10 million. We couldn’t believe the audacity, really.”

What was worse was the methodology that Lowe’s, and the tax tribunal, had used to arrive at the lower figures...
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You know, at this point in Toronto's development history, open air surface parking lots should be considered criminal. Put it on top or below the Wal-Mart, then you'd have room for lots of other stores that would be walkable distance from Wally-world. At the very least they should build a multi-level parking garage. I'm sure I'm dreaming.
 
Therion said:
You know, at this point in Toronto's development history, open air surface parking lots should be considered criminal. Put it on top or below the Wal-Mart, then you'd have room for lots of other stores that would be walkable distance from Wally-world. At the very least they should build a multi-level parking garage. I'm sure I'm dreaming.
Click to expand...

There are a few newer Walmart's with parking below the store.

There is a store in Downsview (Keele, south of Finch) and one in Scarborough (Eglinton and Markham I think) built with parking below.
 
Work has started on the 427/7 SmartCentre in Vaughan.
Based on the layout on the website it is pretty clear that Costco will be the anchor tenant on the SE corner.
 
yyzhyd said:
Work has started on the 427/7 SmartCentre in Vaughan.
Based on the layout on the website it is pretty clear that Costco will be the anchor tenant on the SE corner.
Click to expand...

Good catch. The gas bar gives it away.

This Costco would be approximately half way between the existing Woodbridge and Brampton locations.
 
yeah the gas bar was a dead giveaway. :)
Really curious to see who the other tenants are... Have heard from some sources that there's a Toys R Us and a HomeSense along with a Buffalo Wild Wings
 
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