APTA-2048
Senior Member
A look inside through the fence.
Toronto 2 Queen West | 34.44m | 7s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler
- Thread starter AlbertC
- Start date
picard102
Senior Member
such a shame that Cadillac did not build that 220m tower on the site
agreed
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
bgobgo
Active Member
Came here to post that G&M article. AoD beat me to it. But I have a question - what is the expected completion date for this??
Lumber King
New Member
Really like what this could become, hopefully it ends up nice.
daptive
Active Member
This looks like a perfect place to move the Apple store into! They’ve done some amazing restoration work in heritage buildings around the world.
pw20
Active Member
Harry Rosen was meant to take the space.
Contra
Senior Member
Too many columns for their standards.
daptive
Active Member
True for their usual mall stores but theres precedent for stores with columns. Paris Opera comes to mind. What did the Atmosphere in this building look like before? I can’t imagine they had too many issues with the columns.
Contra
Senior Member
From what I gathered in the past - unless there is a VERY compelling reason (like a historical structure in your post), they are avoiding columns as much as possible per the new "Public space" approach to their stores. If you look at nearly all of the stores in the past while they are nearly columnless. Only chance would be if there has been a store design for this space prior to the philosophy change in interiors and programs.
MetroMan
Senior Member
There are plenty of New Apple Stores with columns.
This brand new build in Thailand has columns:
This one in London, too:
The best comparison to 2 Queen is this store in Brooklyn, where they exposed the brick façade, and yes, kept the columns:
2 Queen is actually an ideal place for an Apple Store if they’re going to remain at the Eaton Centre (which I absolutely think they will). They’ve passed on multiple openings on prime spaces at the Eaton Centre including at Yonge/Dundas which Samsung ultimately took and next to the new bridge across from their current location which Harry Rosen took.
Apple no doubt has the pick of the litter on location given that they’re the highest grossing store per sq/ft at the Eaton Centre and drive traffic to the mall. That they said no to all those other opportunities tells me that they’re waiting for the absolute best. You can’t get any better than a Queen and Yonge address with a street entrance on the corner.
The one problem is that 2 Queen doesn’t connect directly to the mall other than a roundabout maze that’s previously required going through Sport Chek. If they took over Armani Exchange as well, that would allow Apple to have an entrance into the mall. If they took over m0851, that’d be a pretty big Apple Store and completely change the face of the Queen Street entrance.
WislaHD
Superstar
Taking over the Armani Exchange is probably the better of the two.
MetroMan
Senior Member
I meant taking over both. Armani Exchange is visually blocked by the elevators from virtually any vantage point. It’s also very dark. It’s not a good flagship location.
Another alternative is if Apple also used the lower level of 2 Queen and then opened into the Richtree foodcourt in the Eaton Centre’s lower level right next to the subway entrance.
pw20
Active Member
I'll repeat: Harry Rosen had leased the space (I believe the deal still stands). It was supposed to connect on the second floor directly to the existing Harry Rosen store.
UrbanFervour
Active Member
Any idea who is leasing the rooftop addition? (Also, at the risk of beating a dead horse, does anyone know why downtown Toronto still only has one little, perpetually overcrowded Apple store? lol ) :/