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

xy3 said:
Does anyone have floor plans for the retail/atrium/commercial amenities? A Village by the Grange North would be cool
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There's several 'anchor' stores leases here that I think would preclude that exact vibe.

That includes a 19,000ft2 + unit on the lower level, Bloor frontage the also have 2 other units in the +10,000ft2 marketing range.

Those are very unlikely to be 'indy' retail.
 
Northern Light said:
There's several 'anchor' stores leases here that I think would preclude that exact vibe.

That includes a 19,000ft2 + unit on the lower level, Bloor frontage the also have 2 other units in the +10,000ft2 marketing range.

Those are very unlikely to be 'indy' retail.
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If there will be the same old, same old, same old chain stores or franchisees, because they would be the only one who afford the lease prices, no thanks.
 
From https://mirvish-village.com/retail#floorplans

Mirvish-Village_Leasing_Site-Plans_Ground_4000x3302.png
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Im afraid the micro retail component is a bit too small to create a vibrant Alley. the units should be at least double the size to accommodate indoor, patio seating for cafes etc. Unfortunately, they look around the same size as most of the units in the basement of Aura.

3 or 4 micro retail [150-200 SF] phone repair/phone case shops is okay, but this looks like overkill.

Hopefully we'll see 2-3 of those retail units amalgamated into bigger units to create functional galleries, cafes, bistros, woodworking studios etc.

If anything the micro retail would have been better off concentrated along that stretch of Bloor, since it's not accommodating to patio seating like the Alleyway could be.
 
xy3 said:
Im afraid the micro retail component is a bit too small to create a vibrant Alley. the units should be at least double the size to accommodate indoor, patio seating for cafes etc. Unfortunately, they look around the same size as most of the units in the basement of Aura.

3 or 4 micro retail [150-200 SF] phone repair/phone case shops is okay, but this looks like overkill.

Hopefully we'll see 2-3 of those retail units amalgamated into bigger units to create functional galleries, cafes, bistros, woodworking studios etc.
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I think Westbank is thinking more along the lines of the micro-units along Dundas beside the Scadding Court Community Centre, which have a variety of small food retailers who basically operate as fixed-location food trucks.

www.google.com

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Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
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xy3 said:
Im afraid the micro retail component is a bit too small to create a vibrant Alley. the units should be at least double the size to accommodate indoor, patio seating for cafes etc. Unfortunately, they look around the same size as most of the units in the basement of Aura.

3 or 4 micro retail [150-200 SF] phone repair/phone case shops is okay, but this looks like overkill.

Hopefully we'll see 2-3 of those retail units amalgamated into bigger units to create functional galleries, cafes, bistros, woodworking studios etc.

If anything the micro retail would have been better off concentrated along that stretch of Bloor, since it's not accommodating to patio seating like the Alleyway could be.
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I have to disagree. I think this could be the highlight of the build. Not saying it's going to be Tokyos Golden Gai! but allowing cheap(ish) commercial space for start ups, cafes, micro bars, and young entrepreneurs is a big gain in my opinion. It has the potential to be a very vibrant strip.
 
For the micro-retail, arts and crafts vendors come to mind (handmade candles, lotions, soaps, jewellery, etc.) more than food service. Stuff that you'd see at the Circle Craft market.
The leasing webapage does show a gelato place.
 
I think the micro retail units are a wonderful idea, though all I can think when I see that demising plan above is God help the person(s) managing the lease agreements (and fit-outs, etc.) with the literally 50+ prospective retail tenants (not including those in the market component, which will presumably be another 10+ at least).
 
amh said:
My feelings on the white precast tower

I sort of hate myself for creating this but here:

View attachment 380786
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Absolutely not. That kind of goes against the whole design reasoning in this case.

On some developments, I do agree (like in an example I give here), as the harder separation lines can be nice at defining the window shape, but blanket ideas such as this just aren't constructive to critiquing a design, there's no empathy to context at all.

The context in this case of the design is important, as the whole intent is to clearly separate each massing into it's own "building", which is done by using white/light grey mullions on the lighter portions. Darker mullions on the lighter sections would take away from this effect dramatically because it's already adjacent to darker buildings. It's already been said this build is a little heavy on the grey side, but the pops of pure white and other textures/massing diversity make up for the lack of colour for me completely, and such a change would've dramatically make the building more grey and monotonous. This can be seen better in this demo, which i'd also argue is making the design visually messy.

I'll admit, I'm biased as I absolutely love the way this project is turning out, but a lot of that happiness is actually from the little details like the mullions matching the white cladding. Henriquez Partners really knocked it out of the park with this one.

(Photo credit: @AlbertC)
samey.jpg
 
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