HMV isn’t a part of the 10 Dundas East complex. You’re pointing out a Yonge Street issue. Retailers on Yonge haven’t generally been successful because there’s a massive retail black hole between Queen and Dundas.
Again, what I’m proposing isn’t an expensive fix. Tenants finance and build their own spaces. Replacing Winners with a pair of restaurants with their entrances open into the second floor lobby rather than closed off with a wall as Winners is, would improve the central space.
Doing the same for the food court would swap an ugly, cheap open space with restaurants that’d better frame the space, improving the feeling of the common spaces as a result.
That’s not to say that the common spaces don’t need some TLC. Better lighting can go a long way. The cheap yellow lighting and flooring don’t do the interior design any favours. But this isn’t a multi million dollar reorganization. The spaces are exactly where they need to be. It’s their uses that are wrong.
Taking escalators up to the movie theatre isn’t a problem. People take the world’s longest escalator (and often have to walk up the stairs because those escalators are broken) at Scotiabank Theatre. The problem as I’ve pointed out is that the theatre experience starts 4 floors up, out of view. If the the theatre starts at street level, with box office as soon as you walk in and movie posters outside, the intended use of the building is immediately obvious to passers by.
Tearing down the building is a non starter. It’s just not going to happen. Ryerson still owns the garage and they’re not going to give up the classrooms. The same issues that existed when PenEquity came up with Metropolis and the necessary cooperation with Ryerson, still exist. This isn’t a matter of a large developer buying up the entire block like what happened with Honest Eds. Ryerson isn’t selling.