Toronto Manulife Centre Podium and Streetscape Renewal | 9.75m | 2s | Manulife Real Estate | MdeAS Architects

[Michael Ianni]

Eataly's chairman confirmed a Toronto location will be opening through a partnership with the Weston family, although didn't confirm Manulife centre is the location because he forgot the location
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...a-joining-upscale-food-trend/article29690167/

 

[interchange42]

Have Oscar Farinetti call me.

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[Josh]

Do we know if the interior will be completely overhauled as well? Many of the stores seem dated / in need of reno's right now. Also: is the market fresh staying? It seems weird to have 2 loblaw based grocery stores inside the same building.

 

[greenleaf]

Do we know if the interior will be completely overhauled as well? Many of the stores seem dated / in need of reno's right now. Also: is the market fresh staying? It seems weird to have 2 loblaw based grocery stores inside the same building.

Bloor St Market is privately owned, part of the Valumart chain. They have recently refreshed the common areas and a number of retailers have renovated in past 5 years too.

 

[Josh]

Well, hopefully the Valumart folks can talk to Loblaws. This area could definitely use a full-sized grocery store, and merging these two would definitely go a long way in relieving the problem. In 5 years this'll be one of the densest neighbourhoods in the city.

 

[p5connex]

Not the most successful or inventive design solution - a series of double height glazed facades? Could they not have thought of anything other than wrapping everything in glass and pasting the branding on it?

 

[Benito]

Hopefully the Bloor Street Market survives, it is a half decent full service supermarket and is super convenient for me. I can find things there that I cannot find at the Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws.

 

[ADRM]

Just saw this on Twitter: http://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2016/4/eataly-manulife

Eataly Manulife Plans Revealed -- If it's Not Cancelled
Popular Italian food concept Eataly intends to open its first Canadian location at Toronto'sManulife Centre, according to multiple sources. If built, Eataly will occupy three levels at the centre, with most of its space being on a new second-level retail floor currently occupied by offices. An article in Friday's Globe & Mail by Marina Strauss, however, indicates that the Bloor Street Diner, which operates in the centre, has won an injunction prohibiting Eataly from entering the complex.

It's still possible that the Bloor Street Diner will negotiate an agreement with Eataly's Canadian operation, which is 52% owned by the billionaire Weston family (who also ownHolt Renfrew, directly across the street). If Eataly were to open at Manulife Centre, we've located floor plans as to how it will be configured, submitted by B+H Architects to the City of Toronto several months ago.

If it opens at Manulife Centre, plans show Eataly spanning three floors, with retail space on the concourse (basement), ground and second levels. A Bloor Street-facing ground level entrance would provide access upstairs via an elevator, staircase and escalators, and a concourse level retail space (with direct underground access to Holt Renfrew Centre across the street) would also provide Eataly access and signage. The vast majority of Eataly, however, would be on Manulife Centre's second level, which would involve carving retail space out of existing offices. Eataly's top level would feature frontage facing Bloor Street West, Bay Street and Balmuto Street. Plans indicate a retail space of approximately 39,000 square feet.

Rendering with Eataly outlined in red. Most of Eataly's retail space would be on Manulife Centre's second level.

The Manulife Centre two-level retail expansion, as viewed from Bloor Street West.


If built, Eataly would be part of an overhaul to Manulife Centre's retail podium, which is set to see its footprint expanded outwards along Bloor, Bay and Balmuto Streets. Renderings show glass-fronted facades as part of the expansion, with multiple new entrances, possibly for new retailers.

Ground floor plan, showing Manulife's retail expansion in blue. Eataly would have an exterior entrance facing Bloor Street West, between the centre's main entrance and Maison Birks. Plans show a new elevator, stairway and escalators upstairs to Eataly's 2nd-level retail floor. 

Plans show Eataly occupying retail space on the concourse level of Manulife Centre. Eataly is marked as 'Suite 131' on all plans as 'Food Tenant'

Eataly would occupy a new second-level retail space at Manulife Centre, accessed from two levels below. All plans above are via B+H Architects.

Hopefully Eataly can come to an agreement with Bloor Street Diner's parent company, paving the way for Eataly to open at Manulife Centre. It will be a great addition to a vibrant area that continues to see considerable new residential and retail development.

 

[Benito]

I would have thought the problem would have been resistance from the Bloor Street Market not the Bloor Street Diner.

 

[ADRM]

That's perfectly understandable to me if our Eataly winds up being like the New York Eataly, namely that it's much more focused at take-out and eat-in diners than it is at customers looking to shop for groceries. Eataly NYC is all about popping in after work/on the weekend/when you're in the neighbourhood and grabbing a bite/drink/scoop.

Eataly NYC is around the corner from both a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's, which are where most people in the neighbourhood do their grocery shopping.

If they follow the same gameplan here, BSD and not BSM would indeed be the biggest sufferer.

 

[interchange42]

If Eatertainment Hospitality Inc. (who own the Bloor Street Diner and The One Eighty) does manage to keep Eataly out, I'll never eat there again!

Okay, so probably not true, but I wanted to get some hyperbole in, to keep up with the UT Joneses. I wonder what Eatertainment's price will be.

Meanwhile, 1) a full reprint of the Retail Insider story here will likely not be appreciated by them, and 2) this post had it right already, and for that I must acknowledge a tip from a UT member from a couple years ago that had me scouring the plans for clues in the first place. Eataly has had their eyes on this one for a long time.

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PS: Funny that Eatertainment and Eataly, each a mouthful for my autocorrect, are doubling down on the Manulife Centre.

 

[ADRM]

Oh, interesting re: reprint; hadn't thought of that, but makes sense—thinking mostly about splitting/decreasing their pageviews on that article? If it would make easier the lives of any folks on the forum who rely on good relationships w/ RI, I'm happy to edit down the post and just leave the renders and some commentary—would that be ideal?

 

[interchange42]

They will be happy to have the links back to their post, but I'm not sure just how much of their post they'll be comfortable with on UT. Let's leave it for now, and if we do hear from them, I can edit it down to their request.

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[Retail-Insider]

Oh, interesting re: reprint; hadn't thought of that, but makes sense—thinking mostly about splitting/decreasing their pageviews on that article? If it would make easier the lives of any folks on the forum who rely on good relationships w/ RI, I'm happy to edit down the post and just leave the renders and some commentary—would that be ideal?

Not to worry, just happy to be mentioned. Also, rumour has it that the restaurant provider has been purchased, paving the way for Eataly. Is anyone able to confirm? We haven't been able to get confirmation at our end, and this could be big/good news if true.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I heard that cinemas #7 & #8 (the original cinemas #1 & #2) are going to be re-raked for stadium seating. That leads me to wonder if the roof isn't going to be raised, there's not a whole lot of height in those two cinemas. I'd like to see them go one step further, take the wall down between the two cinemas, raise the roof and convert to an IMAX cinema with stadium seats.