condovo
Senior Member
And the handle?
I agreeIf the podium was all glass and spandrel, this whole complex would be a complete eyesore
You can't enter the stores from the main street? So that means you have to go into that part that looks like a typical suburban strip mall? So basically you have just created a dead, lifeless main street, which will only make it harder for the South Beach stores/restaurants up the street to create the kind of synergy needed to do well. Oh I don't like that at all. I haven't been there but just by looking at those pics, I do not like it. I find the average strip mall quite unattractive. This was obviously meant for cars and not prioritized for pedestrians. I was expecting something much more pedestrian friendly. Lawrence Plaza type developments, I thought were a thing of the past.There's nothing redeeming about that wall of brick and glass base along the Park Lawn Road frontage. Because the entrance to the Shoppers Drug Mart is from within the complex, this whole stretch is basically a dead street frontage. What a wasted opportunity, especially considering the prominance of this building at the Park Lawn Intersection.
There's two retail spots that will open directly onto Park Lawn - one will be a Scotiabank and the other is still looking for a tenant...Well, take off the condo towers on top and it sure looks like a strip mall to me. I thought this area was going to have more of an urban vibe with all the tall towers and high density. You have 60 story towers going up in this district, so it's not what most people think of, when they hear suburbia. Aren't we trying to move away from that old suburban model? I'm really disappointed to see this turning into the suburban style I hate.
Why not take the opportunity to turn both Lakeshore and Park Lawn into destination shopping streets? Give the area a central meeting space and focus retail development around it. I don't understand how they are creating a successful retail area by building retail that can't be accessed from the main streets. That intersection should be a focal point, not a dead zone. I think that's just really bad planning on the part of the city. A whole area plan should have been done before they allowed condos to go up. So what is the retail focal point or gathering place of this area? (besides the water)