Toronto West Block Est. 1928, The LakeShore, and The LakeFront | 130.75m | 41s | Choice Properties | a—A

I wonder what other developer Loblaws (RioCan? +?) will partner with to work on the commercial and residential portions. Also, Turner Fleischer better not be in charge of the tower designs.
 
I think 8 storeys of retail/commercial is excessive for this area - I don't beleive people would go past the 2nd or 3rd floors here. They certainly do have an opportunity to do something iconic with this building/site. I like what they are doing in Milan right now at the Bosco Verticale, and a similar use of space down at this very urban site would be fantastic....http://funchun.com/2012/01/funny-stuff/bosco-verticale-worlds-first-vertical-forest-in-milan-italy

How about Toronto's only Eataly? Loblaw would make a great partner, and they can encourage sustainable urban farming, vertical gardens, Niagara wineries, local brewers, educational programming (like what they are doing at the Brickworks), the list goes on and on. They need to set themselves apart from all of the other mixed-use projects.
 
Bauhaus:

I think we are probably looking at 2-3s of retail and 5s of offices. Maybe similar in idea to the ex Toronto Sun King Street office retrofit.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Bauhaus:

I think we are probably looking at 2-3s of retail and 5s of offices. Maybe similar in idea to the ex Toronto Sun King Street office retrofit.

AoD
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From what I understand the actual retail to office mix/ratio is still up in the "air"....they may go as far as 4 storeys of retail on this site. I suspect so much depends on retailer interest to be on this site. A 4th floor user could be a fitness centre like LA Fitness. Either way, I hope they pull off an iconic project. It's also a gateway to the City, especially for all of the visiting Porter passengers that will see this building.
 
waterloowarrior said:
Loblaws current HQ is 443k sq feet http://www.gsai.ca/projects_commercial.html

Shoppers HQ is 257k sq ft. http://www.altusinsite.com/index.ph...perty+Management+Ltd&UpdateMarket=2174&view=0 http://www.cbre.ca/o/torontonorth/AssetLibrary/243ConsumersRoadBuildingSpecifications.pdf
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Ignore shoppers ... even after the merger Loblaws is taking a very hands off approach ... a.k.a Scotia bank and ING ... it would be very nice to see Loblaws move some folks downtown !
 
So what does the UT community think is the highest and best use for this site? Will the Whole Foods up at Bathurst & Front have an impact? What does this neighbourhood need the most? Service retail or something very unique and urban?
 
bAuHaUs said:
So what does the UT community think is the highest and best use for this site? Will the Whole Foods up at Bathurst & Front have an impact? What does this neighbourhood need the most? Service retail or something very unique and urban?
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I think this site is and will remain fairly separate from Front Street.

The bridge is just a psychological barrier, particularly for pedestrians.

Not that it will stop everyone, by any means, but enough so that I don't see, north-of-the tracks folks coming south on mass or vice versa.

I think that a Loblaws supermarket is a given, and much needed; and if I recall the LCBO was expected as a tenant at one point, and would be an obvious fit.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of mixing grocery/food/drug (the weekly/daily convenience shopping) w/other forms of retail. I don't see the shopping journeys as related, for the most part.

ie. I don't go out in search of ingredients for dinner and impulse buy a new suit or a TV.

Of course there are times when co-location is just a feature of a desirable spot.

I don't really see basis for large 'mall shopping' on the site, though, or some other completely incongruous combo.

It might make sense of to have a full, flagship 'Shoppers'; I'd be shocked if Loblaw's didn't plunk down a Joe Fresh, and I think perhaps a full service restaurant would be good as that area is short of them in my opinion and there is ample space.

For a city w/banks popping up just about everywhere that area is also short on those, so that might be a good, if uninspired fit.

I think the highest/best use is food-focused shopping and a corporate HQ for Loblaws.
 
If Loblaws was to move it HQ here, we would need a 500,000 square foot office building at minimum. We are looking at 20 floors at least, probably more. Not bad!
 
The Loblaws trifecta (groceries, Liqbo, & Joe Fresh) does appear rather synonymous with most of their large complexes (St. Clair West, MLG). My gf used to live in at WHC, and the main problem with the area was the lack of retail activity. A multi-storey shopping facility will go a long way in serving the Fort York Neighbourhood's community needs as a retail and social centre. Restaurants would also be welcomed.
 
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Northern Light said:
I think this site is and will remain fairly separate from Front Street.

The bridge is just a psychological barrier, particularly for pedestrians.

Not that it will stop everyone, by any means, but enough so that I don't see, north-of-the tracks folks coming south on mass or vice versa.

I think that a Loblaws supermarket is a given, and much needed; and if I recall the LCBO was expected as a tenant at one point, and would be an obvious fit.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of mixing grocery/food/drug (the weekly/daily convenience shopping) w/other forms of retail. I don't see the shopping journeys as related, for the most part.

ie. I don't go out in search of ingredients for dinner and impulse buy a new suit or a TV.

Of course there are times when co-location is just a feature of a desirable spot.

I don't really see basis for large 'mall shopping' on the site, though, or some other completely incongruous combo.

It might make sense of to have a full, flagship 'Shoppers'; I'd be shocked if Loblaw's didn't plunk down a Joe Fresh, and I think perhaps a full service restaurant would be good as that area is short of them in my opinion and there is ample space.

For a city w/banks popping up just about everywhere that area is also short on those, so that might be a good, if uninspired fit.

I think the highest/best use is food-focused shopping and a corporate HQ for Loblaws.
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Thanks NL....i would tend to agree with most of what you wrote. The question remains will other retailers find this site attractive, or will they stick to Front St corridor?
 
If Loblaws puts in another store of similar quality to their MLG and Queen Portland locations here, I imagine that several other retailers would be happy to piggyback on the traffic that would attract.

42
 
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