Maple Leaf Square, the huge multi-use complex on York Street at Bremner Boulevard in Toronto's new South Financial Core, officially opened on Wednesday. Developed, owned and managed by
Lanterra Developments,
Cadillac Fairview, and
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the complex includes shops, restaurants, offices, a hotel, and condominium residences.
A ceremony was held at 3 PM to recognize the contributions of many companies and individuals that turned a parking lot into a 1.8 million square foot complex in five years.
Joe Bowen, the voice of the Leafs for more than two decades emceed the proceedings.
The centre was officially opened with champagne.
The group onstage included City Counsellor Pam McConnell and representatives from Lanterra, Cadillac Fairview, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and former Leaf greats Darryl Sittler and Wendall Clark.
Real Sports Bar and Grill, immediately off the corridor from the festivities, was the scene for a party following the ceremony. The venue was recently crowned by ESPN Mobile to be the best sports bar in North America.
The party was also a chance to officially inaugurate Maple Leaf Square's public art components. Members of
United Visual Artists, an art and design practice based in London, England, were on hand with representatives of
Soheil Mosun Ltd., fabricators of the artworks.
The first of the two UVA works to be installed was
Connection, a responsive light installation which consists of an array of vertical LED strips which oscillate with colour and geometry when people cross the bridge.
The second piece, recently completed, is
Canopy, a 90-metre long light sculpture spanning the York Street front of the complex. Canopy is inspired by the dappled light that filters through leaves in a forest. Its thousands of modules alternately allow natural light to pass through in the day, while lighted modules glimmer on and off in as sunlight were passing through leaves fluttering in the wind.
Seen in the first of the three photos above,
e11even restaurant will open on November 11th at the corner of Bremner and York. In the summer the restaurant will have patio seating under
Canopy. Other components of maple Leaf Square still to open include a TD-Canada Trust branch at York and Lake Shore, plus the 167-room
LeGermain hotel. CI Financial have leased all 230,000 square feet of office space in the complex, and will be moving in over the next few months.
Open for the last few months now,
Real Sports Apparel has been selling Toronto's largest selection of team-licensed merchandise.
The other major opening of the day was the
Longo's supermarket on the basement level of the complex. The 48,000 square foot store is the largest supermarket in the area, is beautiful and sophisticated.
Some new concepts are being tried out at the store. Surrounding a seating area in the store you will find a Starbucks (so far, so ubiquitous), as well as "Corks" and "Aisle 43".
Corks is a beer and wine bar serving Ontario-made craft beers and wines. Besides the taps, the specialized equipment here includes 2
Enomatic wine preservers: the machines stop the oxidization of wine after the cork has been popped, keeping over a dozen bottles fresh and available for tasting.
Aisle 43, named for the 43rd parallel that Niagara shares with Bordeaux, is a next generation wine boutique selling Hillebrand and Peller Estates wines. Design-wise, Aisle 43 may be the first wine store to drop grape imagery for the fruits whose flavours are often suggested in wine.
Aisle 43 also features an Enomatic, and a barcode scanner connected to a database that is ready to help you with wine-food pairings.
That's the story: time to return to the surface.
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