Toronto Bloor & Dufferin | 122.35m | 37s | Hazelview | Turner Fleischer

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Some quick shots of the boards from today's open house. Apologies – I only had my phone, and couldn't get a clear angle on the site plan.

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The "Artist Mews" – a pedestrianized area.

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The refurbished Kent school.

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The square looking towards the park in the SW corner.

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What they're calling the "High Street", a new semi-pedestrian mid-block street N/S between Bloor and Croatia.

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The idea of creating a pedestrian-oriented retail village from scratch is a trend nowadays, whether it's the Galleria Mall redevelopment, the Well, Daniels Waterfront, or the Celestica redevelopment. They look good in the renderings with a high-quality public realm depicted, though it may be problematic that these villages tend to be inwardly focused, hidden from the main street (where we traditionally find retail in Toronto) and may not be able to grow organically beyond the confines of the original development site into full-fledged business districts.
 
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I was at the open house today too. The renderings are pretty, but I agree that the success of all of that flashy retail is hardly guaranteed.

They put a lot of work into the presentation which was appreciated by everyone I spoke with. The towers in the renderings are vague but imply a lot of height that many in the neighbourhood will balk at, in spite of the location next to a subway station.

The community hub housed in Kent looks very promising.

Overall, I think it's not a bad first stab. We'll see where it goes after this.
 
The one thing this "high street" does have going for it is that it will become the nicest and quickest way to the Dufferin Mall from the subway. People can take the Russet Avenue exit and walk straight down.
 
As Regent Park's population grows, and as the retail mix on the market street shakes out over the next few years, things will improve.

All of the off-arterial shopping streets in these multi-block developments depend upon adequate population (onsite and off, and a midday population helps significantly), an engaging public realm, and getting retailers that people want to patronize on a repeat basis. I'm not sure what employment space they'll have on the site beyond the retailers themselves and the cultural hub in Kent school, but it's quite the team they've assembled here—there are some brilliant people at these companies—so I think they've got a good chance of pulling getting the recipe right here.

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Beautiful project, but the visuals of the high street make it look almost like a public space.

This development has three separate pick-up and drop-off circles at grade. Could the developers put the one that requires high street access one level below grade instead? This would allow for the high street to be pedestrianized most of the time, only allowing vehicles for special occasions.

The space looks amazing in the renders, but everything is idealized. To have an interesting miscellany represented in the renders, the developer will need to welcome different kinds of retailers/restaurants -- not only big brands and companies with deep pockets, but smaller businesses. They would need to have small storefronts, lower rents and flexible leases to get the most interesting mix. The primary demographic in this area is young, ethnically diverse, and not too much disposable income. Will this development offer things to attract the wider area?

This is a good start, and hopefully this will improve with iterations to something of the caliber of Mirvish Village.
 
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This is great. Like some have said, way better than what I was expecting.

I think that this is the right way to do retail malls. Not enclosed, and with only one level of retail. In my opinion, it's better than the Well in that respect. We don't need any more shopping malls in the central city (The Eaton Centre's destruction of Yonge Street is proof of that).
 
I like what I'm seeing so far. Permeability of the site from Bloor to the Dufferin mall is key.

Regarding enclosed malls: I used to have similar views but I now feel it's a highly appropriate built form in Toronto even if it really does decrease street vitality. Now that I have kids and elderly parents I find enclosed malls essential for quality of life during the winter months. I'm all for Street vitality in fact it's essential to my livelihood but I'm for A and B, not A or B.
 
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