Toronto Galleria III | 112.4m | 31s | Almadev | Hariri Pontarini
- Thread starter ferusian
- Start date
AlbertC
Superstar
The former McDonald's has been fenced off:
WestEnd
Active Member
Incredible. I am shook.
AlbertC
Superstar
A photo my parents took in the early 90s:
WestEnd
Active Member
It used to be a location that offered pizza!? The rarity, alone... are we sure this isn't on the TO heritage registry?
Northern Light
Superstar
SPA documents updated for this one on November 17th, 2021.
What caught my attention was that Stikeman Elliott have registered to lobby on behalf of ELAD, so I went looking to see if there might be a reason....
From the above noted SPA: (Arch. Plans)
What caught my attention was that Stikeman Elliott have registered to lobby on behalf of ELAD, so I went looking to see if there might be a reason....
From the above noted SPA: (Arch. Plans)
Towered
Superstar
Northern Light
Superstar
Good Riddance!
Now can we just get developers/the City to demo each and every location with a drive-thru, particularly those in the older city...... (I'm looking at you Bathurst/Dundas, and you Danforth/Coxwell, and you over there on Eastern Avenue)
Towered
Superstar
Which reminds me - I'm amazed there hasn't been a redevelopment proposal yet for the McDick's at Bathurst and Dundas. It's an absolutely ripe site in a hot zone.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
McDonalds owns most of the sites on which their stand alone stores sit. That location probably has such excellent cashflow, it just doesn't make sense to sell to redevelop.
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Personally as someone somewhat local to this, I hope the McDonalds finds another new home in the Galleria development. In the meanwhile I could go to the tiny one at Dundas West station lol, but Galleria McDonalds is a neighbourhood amenity 
There's not even really that many McDonalds around really in some areas of the city (and certainly not compared to A&W now!), and sometimes it hits the spot. I'm all for independent retail and I know many people find McDonalds gross, but, well, imo it's delicious haha. I don't even get it often, but occasionally it's incredible. I was surprised to see the Bloor & Runnymede McDonalds closed, and there hasn't been any other development on that site since.
That Dundas West McDonalds is so tiny and cramped to be in and grungy but also is amazing and an institution. I wish we had more TTC station food and the split fare paid vs outside zone is incredible, despite the size of the space being impractical. That McDonalds also a borderline pilgrimage site for drunk young people returning home late on the Bloor line and beloved by McMuffin appreciator morning commuters as well. May it live long.
There's not even really that many McDonalds around really in some areas of the city (and certainly not compared to A&W now!), and sometimes it hits the spot. I'm all for independent retail and I know many people find McDonalds gross, but, well, imo it's delicious haha. I don't even get it often, but occasionally it's incredible. I was surprised to see the Bloor & Runnymede McDonalds closed, and there hasn't been any other development on that site since.
That Dundas West McDonalds is so tiny and cramped to be in and grungy but also is amazing and an institution. I wish we had more TTC station food and the split fare paid vs outside zone is incredible, despite the size of the space being impractical. That McDonalds also a borderline pilgrimage site for drunk young people returning home late on the Bloor line and beloved by McMuffin appreciator morning commuters as well. May it live long.
Northern Light
Superstar
Personally as someone somewhat local to this, I hope the McDonalds finds another new home in the Galleria development. In the meanwhile I could go to the tiny one at Dundas West station lol, but Galleria McDonalds is a neighbourhood amenity
We would certainly disagree on McDs being an amenity, but regardless of one's perception of their 'food', big locations that are related to parking and drive-thrus are very bad for the urban form; I object much less to smaller storefront or food court presence.
Have you tried some of the newer fastfood burger places? I think Burger's Priest which has a similar style of burger and fries is far better, if, admittedly more expensive. A different style, but Big Smoke Burger also does a good job.
On this, we completely agree, I think coffee shop outposts would do wonderful in that type of format, where you don't need a full kitchen, and you bring in muffins/pastries from a commissary of some sort.
If a space were a bit bigger, I think a tight format pizza place could make a proverbial mint at some of the busier stations.
Last edited:
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
...think that this will be replaced by a flatiron McDonald's, Mr. Towered. <3
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Oh definitely! The drive-through isn't good! The format of this location is not at all right for a city location.
Definitely (although I think Burger's Priest have fallen off from what I've heard, though I haven't been since their acquisition so I can't say myself) and there are many places around that have amazing burgers and some that make some similar-to-McDonalds burgers and imitations and stuff. I mean, McDonalds is a giant amoral company, kinda disgusting, and definitely bad for you, I get it, but I love all kinds of food: from really nice versions of things to junk versions haha. And McDonalds has some specific items which are kind of particular flavour concoctions/food experiences that are unique to me in their gestalt and can't really be or at least aren't often imitated perfectly. I know it's total junk food, but sometimes I like it. I like junk pizza too even though I also like and love nice pizza and appreciate it in a different way. I had Domino's pizza as a kid and even though I get that it's an abomination of pizza lol I still enjoy it since the taste for it is ingrained in me.
Would be amazing! I really wish we had more stuff like this there's only rare stations with any kind of food!
Last edited:
Towered
Superstar
That corner has just re-opened as a "Wing Stop". Kind of surprising, because I heard that the McDick's there could no longer afford (or was no longer willing to pay) the rumoured $40,000 rent per month...