Toronto Eaton Centre (Ongoing Renewal) | ?m | ?s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler

Calvin said:
This is the Eaton Centre thread, isn't it?
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It's the thread for the redo of the north end of the mall (the main Eaton Centre retail thread is in the retail forum). The relationship between the north end of the mall and surrounding buildings and spaces, including discussions as to failures and successes of the Yonge Dundas intersection, is on topic. To the extent that involves a bit of a discussion of Yonge Dundas Square is perfectly natural, including brief comparisons to nearby NHS.
 
Johnny Au said:
It is hard to believe that NPS is Canada's largest city square, with an area of 4.85 hectares.
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I think the sad thing about NPS is how it is used.
While I was traveling in Madrid this winter (a city comparable to Toronto's size), I was amazed by how vibrant Plaza Mayor was. There are restaurants and bars on all three sides of the plaza, and hundreds of people were eating and drinking wine/beer on a random evening, mostly standing (without any city events of course). in NPS, we have a hero burger place and some food trucks selling burgers and fries, and that's it. I have never heard anyone say "let's hang out/meet at NPS this evening".
Bottom line is, the city should do more to make NPS a more popular place to be.
 
They were testing the lights alongside the Nordstorm last night, they actually had 3 of the LED strips going, which I had not seen before. I must admit, I'm getting pretty excited hanging out around the Eaton Centre these days with all the fancy lighting and whatnot, can't wait for the restaurants to open up and flex out my AMEX... lol! Yonge and Dundas restaurants are a madhouse on Friday and Saturday nights, so these guys will have no problem filling up once they do open.

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ksun said:
I think the sad thing about NPS is how it is used.
While I was traveling in Madrid this winter (a city comparable to Toronto's size), I was amazed by how vibrant Plaza Mayor was. There are restaurants and bars on all three sides of the plaza, and hundreds of people were eating and drinking wine/beer on a random evening, mostly standing (without any city events of course). in NPS, we have a hero burger place and some food trucks selling burgers and fries, and that's it. I have never heard anyone say "let's hang out/meet at NPS this evening".
Bottom line is, the city should do more to make NPS a more popular place to be.
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It is plenty full of people doing that at lunch when the weather permits.
 
interchange42 said:
I was not in favour of using the whole site at One Bloor East to be used for a square, which Chris Hume stumped for when he saw it with the earlier buildings torn down, as the backdrop of surrounding buildings would have been ugly. (Who wants a public square when the edges of the square are hideous? None of the buildings surrounding that site are built to take advantage of a square there (since there isn't one), and while The One could theoretically have been designed to favour the square were there one, the buildings to the south (which are awful) could de redevelopment candidates, but the Xerox Tower and Two Bloor East would be tough ones to fix. I'm glad enough, in the meantime, that we're getting something of such quality on the site instead of a square there… but Bloor-Yonge could use a public space.
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Aside from The One, the only opportunity I see for a public space at Yonge & Bloor is to tear down this RBC podium.

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I don't think queen west or Yonge and bloor need a public square. It would not suit queen west, and would only contribute to the gentrification/ commercialization of the strip, pushing the great independent businesses further west. I like that families don't congregate on queen west, and that it still has a touch of counter class going on. Keep the commercial public events away, except stuff like nuit Blanche.

NPS could be improved but as someone who walks through there most days - it's pretty active. Not to mention all the events that happen there in warmer months, like Toronto outdoor art exhibition, or nuit Blanche, there are often random rally's and stuff. So it's not dead. But sure it could definitely be improved.

Dundas square is always bustling, and as Caltrane mentioned very exciting lately, the square could have better access around Dundas and Victoria I agree and I am anxiously awaiting the Sam the Record man sign to go up.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
I don't think queen west or Yonge and bloor need a public square. It would not suit queen west, and would only contribute to the gentrification/ commercialization of the strip, pushing the great independent businesses further west. I like that families don't congregate on queen west, and that it still has a touch of counter class going on. Keep the commercial public events away, except stuff like nuit Blanche.
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Interesting. Why do you feel that public squares necessarily draw only 'families'? It sort of depends on where the square is, no? Does Washington Square Park in NYC draw families? Place Blanche in Paris? Piccadilly Circus in London? The parking lot at Soho and Queen sort of already functions as an ad hoc square with vendors setting up stalls there, street entertainers, and people watching on from the surrounding patios. To my mind, providing more defined space here would only encourage more of these sorts of activities. People would come just to hang out and soak up the very kind of vibe you're talking about. Can you imagine fountains here and entertainers in the summer when Queen Street is a busy draw?
 
Besides which, that entire stretch of Queen West was gentrified and commercialized by chains and big money decades ago now. The used & indie bookstores, dusty appliance shops and whatnot are long gone. It's a vibrant strip but we needn't pretend it hasn't already pretty much surrendered to a certain tourist-friendly glossiness.

And yeah, squares don't draw only families. They draw a gamut of types.
 
Yea I dunno. I like fountains and all but a fountain where that parking lot on queen is? No. Can't picture it. Wish I could. A concert square would be cool. But I just can't imagine the city orchestrating something edgy enough for that space. Maybe in the future. But anything they would do right now in that spot would just be lame.
 
I'd love to be proven wrong. It's not so much that I wouldn't like a square or park. It's mostly that I think they would not do it well.
 
Queen West would probably benefit more from restricting car traffic and turning everything but the streetcar ROW into a shared space, you see this in European cities a lot and I think it would really suit Queen in certain sections.
 
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