Toronto Mirvish Village (Honest Ed's Redevelopment) | 85.04m | 26s | Westbank | Henriquez Partners

Huge Disclamer - I am not an urban planner (obviously) and just created this to show people what I imagine this area could be.
BTW, I'm pro-development of the area because there is a subway and streetcar stop nearby. I'm pro-density, but this not pro condo (I think the focus on luxury is a problem with the way condos are built in this city. For example, the idea that every condo needs a fancy lobby taking up valuable first floor space which could be used for business/restaurants/etc. Security is necessary but that doesn't mean a fancy lobby.)

Anyways, as I posted on here before, I think the Honest Eds land could be divided up into small blocks with narrow, pedestrian only streets (block them with bollards). Possibly 3 east-west streets running parallel to Bloor from Markham St. to Bathurst and 3 north-south streets (one already exists as Honest Ed Alley) running from Bloor to Lennox St.

Each of these new blocks could have mixed-use buildings, with businesses and restaurants on the first, second, and possible third floors. The rest of the floors would be residential (a good mix of bachelors and one and two bedrooms...maybe some three bedrooms). The buildings along Bloor would be the highest, but not too high (maybe 15 - 20 floors) because the block would be really dense. The buildings in the block would be lower 10 -15.

Honest Ed Alley would be the main road and could be covered with a glass canopy to protect the shoppers below from rain and snow.
In the centre there would be an open square which could be a designated street food market.

Anyways, I know this probably won't happen but I think this type of development creates a more interesting and alive neighbourhood.
Here are some very poorly images of what I think it could look like.
honest eds bloor street looking south.jpg
honest eds looking east.jpg
honest eds overview.jpg
 

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Yeah, I can't wait: Bjarke Ingels posing w/Rob + Doug Ford. (Plausible, actually)
 
I can't help but wonder why Mirvish didn't just keep the property and develop it himself. I can't help but think a very interesting block of Toronto will soon be a generic condo.
 
syn said:
I can't help but wonder why Mirvish didn't just keep the property and develop it himself. I can't help but think a very interesting block of Toronto will soon be a generic condo.
Click to expand...

I think 90% of this is public relations for Mirvish. I think he has hired someone very clever to help him navigate developing several properties that are very culturally important to the city. For example, the clause that Honest Ed's is going to stay operating for the next two years.. clearly a public relations tool to soften the blowback from selling the site. By doing this he's effectively profiting from development of the site.. without suffering the public relations nightmare of demolishing his father's landmark.
 
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syn said:
I can't help but wonder why Mirvish didn't just keep the property and develop it himself. I can't help but think a very interesting block of Toronto will soon be a generic condo.
Click to expand...

Generic condo with generic retail. Target or Walmart or some other big box in this location wouldn't surprise me. I'm feeling sick just thinking about it.
 
I'm actually looking forward to what will come of this. The entire area feels like it's been caught in some kind of time-warp. People can talk up Honest Ed's all they want, but if half as many people actually shopped there as claim to be upset by its demise we wouldn't even be in this position.

When this story first came out one of the Toronto websites (The Grid? Toronto Standard? Spacing?) did an interview with a bunch of downtown types about the cultural significance of Honest Ed's and everyone of them talked it up as this Toronto institution. Yet the only time most of them had actually gone in the store was to shoplift as a kind of teenage right of passage or to get some kind of garish clothing for a costume party.

Ditto people going on about Sam the Record Man's sign in the age of iTunes.

City building 'ought to be inspired more than a kind of Hispster-ish post-irony.

The real question isn't what happens to HE, but what happens to Mirvish Village. The latter is actually a highly desirable urban space, not a big box store with makeup. I don't really see how the western side of Markham st. could be redeveloped anyhow. It's a weird shape.
 
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diminutive said:
I'm actually looking forward to what will come of this. The entire area feels like it's been caught in some kind of time-warp. People can talk up Honest Ed's all they want, but if half as many people actually shopped there as claim to be upset by its demise we wouldn't even be in this position.

When this story first came out one of the Toronto websites (The Grid? Toronto Standard? Spacing?) did an interview with a bunch of downtown types about the cultural significance of Honest Ed's and everyone of them talked it up as this Toronto institution. Yet the only time most of them had actually gone in the store was to shoplift as a kind of teenage right of passage or to get some kind of garish clothing for a costume party.

Ditto people going on about Sam the Record Man's sign in the age of iTunes.

City building 'ought to be inspired more than a kind of Hispster-ish post-irony.

The real question isn't what happens to HE, but what happens to Mirvish Village. The latter is actually a highly desirable urban space, not a big box store with makeup. I don't really see how the western side of Markham st. could be redeveloped anyhow. It's a weird shape.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah as a retail store, Honest Ed's is pretty bad. If you want to shop, there are much better stores, that do retail much better. They are more convenient, probably cheaper, cleaner, make for a more pleasant shopping experience, etc.. but that's not really Honest Ed's value. There's the sign and the landmark value, but there's also Honest Ed's as an event space, Honest Ed's as a charity, Honest Ed's as an employer (hand painted signs? Nobody does that).

I may not have bought anything at Honest Ed's since I moved to Toronto, but I've been there every year for the Fringe festival.

What's disappointing to me is not the demolition of the store per se, but it's replacement with another banal development that nobody will care about so that a handful of people can be even more wealthy than they already are. It's sad.
 
diminutive said:
I'm actually looking forward to what will come of this. The entire area feels like it's been caught in some kind of time-warp. People can talk up Honest Ed's all they want, but if half as many people actually shopped there as claim to be upset by its demise we wouldn't even be in this position.

When this story first came out one of the Toronto websites (The Grid? Toronto Standard? Spacing?) did an interview with a bunch of downtown types about the cultural significance of Honest Ed's and everyone of them talked it up as this Toronto institution. Yet the only time most of them had actually gone in the store was to shoplift as a kind of teenage right of passage or to get some kind of garish clothing for a costume party.

Ditto people going on about Sam the Record Man's sign in the age of iTunes.

City building 'ought to be inspired more than a kind of Hispster-ish post-irony.

The real question isn't what happens to HE, but what happens to Mirvish Village. The latter is actually a highly desirable urban space, not a big box store with makeup. I don't really see how the western side of Markham st. could be redeveloped anyhow. It's a weird shape.
Click to expand...

I'm quickly becoming an exception to the rule but I shop at Honest Ed's. I get all my toiletries there (my favorate name-brand shaving cream, Advil etc.) which is so much cheaper than Rexall or Shoppers and I often find myself picking up a few other things (lights for my balcony, kitchen utensils etc.) as I snake through the store. It's a bargain hunter's emporium and oh-so-much-fun; I'll miss it so much. I also still buy all my movies on blu ray and music on CD, I detest purchasing on iTunes and the like, I like to see and touch what I own.

So on Mirvish Village, I read that several houses were part of the deal, does anyone know if that's the east side of Markham St. by chance? The area where Southern Accent is? That would add insult to injury to lose half of Mirvish Village.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I'm quickly becoming an exception to the rule but I shop at Honest Ed's. I get all my toiletries there (my favorate name-brand shaving cream, Advil etc.) which is so much cheaper than Rexall or Shoppers and I often find myself picking up a few other things (lights for my balcony, kitchen utensils etc.) as I snake through the store. It's a bargain hunter's emporium and oh-so-much-fun; I'll miss it so much. I also still buy all my movies on blu ray and music on CD, I detest purchasing on iTunes and the like, I like to see and touch what I own.

So on Mirvish Village, I read that several houses were part of the deal, does anyone know if that's the east side of Markham St. by chance? The area where Southern Accent is? That would add insult to injury to lose half of Mirvish Village.
Click to expand...

All of the buildings on that block between Bloor and Lennox, but the house on the southwest corner of Markham and Lennox, is owned by Mirvish and being sold to Westbank. Ka Chi, Southern Accent, the Beguiling, Victory Cafe, all of Mirvish Village is entirely threatened, as it was in the late 1960s when Ed Mirvish wanted to put in a parking lot.
 
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