Toronto Yonge Sheppard Centre Renovations and Expansion | 123.13m | 35s | RioCan | BDP Quadrangle

NorthYorkEd said:
I think Smokey Joe's has been renovated into a new restaurant/club ("Estrella"?). Always looked like a rough crowd around there until they closed up shop for renos.
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when you drive by, it looks like a rough crowd because all you can see are the smokers. :)

if you go in, you see all the normal people (those who aren't striving to obtain lung cancer as soon as possible!).
 
Coltaine79 said:
when you drive by, it looks like a rough crowd because all you can see are the smokers. :)

if you go in, you see all the normal people (those who aren't striving to obtain lung cancer as soon as possible!).
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Haven't been to smokey Joe's since it has started/completed reno's.

During the day, it's fine if you're into a dive bar. In the evenings, it can be a rough crowd. Once went for new years (before deciding to leave to another establishment) and another evening where there was a large group that was kicked out of Aura Club and started altercations inside Smokey Joe's, so we left.
 
Community Consultation Meeting for this development (2 & 50 Sheppard Ave East, 4821 to 4881 Yonge Street, 2 to 6 Forest Laneway):

Date: Monday January 20, 2014
Time: 7:00-9:00PM
Place: Earl Haig Secondary School @ 100 Princess Avenue in Cafeteria
 
Info from Nov 2013 from RioCan's website.

http://investor.riocan.com/Investor...s-Update-on-Development-Pipeline/default.aspx

Yonge Sheppard Centre

Located approximately six kilometres north of RioCan Yonge Eglinton Centre at the northeast corner of one of Toronto's busiest intersections and situated on both the Yonge and Sheppard subway lines, this 6.2 acre site is currently comprised of a 680,000 square foot mixed use property containing 262,000 square feet of retail, 416,000 square feet of office space and 25 rental townhomes. RioCan and its partner KingSett Capital have recently submitted an application in order to add an additional 110,000 square feet of retail space and 290,000 square feet of multi-family residential density to the site. The completed expansion and renovation of the existing space will involve three significant elements and will greatly increase the profile of this mixed use urban property.

The existing retail mall at Yonge Sheppard Centre will be substantially renovated, upgraded and expanded. An addition to and renovation of the former cinema fronting Yonge Street will be completed and a new four-storey retail building fronting Sheppard Avenue will be connected to the existing mall along with the addition of new retail space in the below-grade pedestrian walkways. When complete, these renovations and additions to the retail space will add approximately 110,000 square feet of new retail space. RioCan currently has conditional agreements in place with Longo's Supermarket and LA Fitness to lease all of the space in the former cinema. Due to the substantial interest from many retailers, RioCan expects the retail space to be fully leased prior to completion.

The proposed plans also contemplate the addition of a new rental residential tower on Greenfield Avenue. When complete the additional residential tower would include a 39 storey tower containing 290,000 square feet of residential space. These units will benefit from the convenience of direct access to the retail portion of the property as well as both the Yonge and Sheppard subway lines.

Redevelopment on the retail portion of the property is expected to commence in late 2014. When complete in or about 2016, this high profile mixed use property will be a fixture in one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Toronto.
 
Seriously !! someone needs to do research ...

So we will have a METRO / LOBLAWS / LONGOS all within 100m of each other ! That must be unprecedented ... : )
 
I take it you mean the Loblaws at Empress Walk.

Whole Foods will be closer to the Metro and Longo's of course.

Yes, this will be quite the grocery cluster!

42
 
Ah your right its even worse !

Loblaws / Whole Foods / Metro / Longos.

Within a 500m radius just about. Wow ..
 
taal said:
Seriously !! someone needs to do research ...

So we will have a METRO / LOBLAWS / LONGOS all within 100m of each other ! That must be unprecedented ... : )
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We have existing Metro (Y&E) and Sobeys (Mt Pleasant&Eglinton) and now Loblaws coming right in between them. Plus although all 3 of these are going at Yonge & Sheppard, don't forget there's a Loblaws at Empress as well. Huge density coming to this area, they will fight for customers' loyalty. I bet these grocery stores are going to be in tip top shape all of the time.
 
re Y&E, that's a good point. But the Sobeys is quite small in comparison to the other stores. So its really just Metro and a soon to be Loblaws.

I'm just not sure though, even with all the added density, keep in mind there is a metro just a couple blocks north up empress at Church, maybe they'll close that ?


Time will tell!
 
taal said:
re Y&E, that's a good point. But the Sobeys is quite small in comparison to the other stores. So its really just Metro and a soon to be Loblaws.

I'm just not sure though, even with all the added density, keep in mind there is a metro just a couple blocks north up empress at Church, maybe they'll close that ?


Time will tell!
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Taal,.... rest assure, these grocery chains do a ton of market research before they set up shop. And you'll actually have to go back to 1976 to find the last major grocery store that actually closed down in the Yonge & Sheppard downtown North York area due to bad business decisions. The only grocery store closure we've seen since then have been due to condo-development - and they've all been temporary - the same grocery store will reappear a few years later nearby.

With that said, the Metro at the new EmeraldPark will be much weaker than the Metro at Doris & Church north of EmpressWalk. Look at all the condos along Doris Avenue and more coming as Toronto expand condo development along Yonge between Finch and Steeles.

Clustering of supermarkets at Yonge & Sheppard. Basically 3 out of the 4 corners of Yonge & Sheppard intersection will have supermarkets:
- Wholes Food Market on 1st floor of Tridel Hullmark Centre
- Metro on 2nd floor of Bazis Emerald Park
- Longo's on 3rd floor of Sheppard Centre
All of these building complex will have at least one direct TTC subway connection (Tridel Hullmark Centre will have 2).

These are not your typical suburban supermarkets surrounded by acres of parking spaces relying on drivers loading up their vehicles on their once a week grocery run.

These are the newer breed of urban supermarkets that have limited parking spaces, they focus more on high foot-traffic area with direct TTC subway connections where customers can easily drop by on their way home. They are more likely to be filling up a carry shopping basket than an entire shopping cart since they won't have their car with them. They'll carry out a bag or two of grocery at a time but make multiple visits throughout the week.

Look at Whole Food Market in Tridel Hullmark Centre, they have 2 direct TTC subway connections and are on the south-east corner of Yonge & Sheppard intersection; that quadrant has 22 condo towers and 4 office building - there'll be a whole lot of people using those TTC subway connections in Tridel Hullmark Centre. In addition, Whole Food Market draws in customer from a much larger geographical market area.

The Longo's in Sheppard Centre will be disadvantaged by being up on the 3rd floor. But its advantage is all the condos in their north-east quadrant of Yonge & Sheppard - lots of foot-traffic going through Yonge-Sheppard Centre.

The Metro on the 2nd floor of Bazis Emerald Park is in the worst quadrant - there's no other high-density condos in the south-west quadrant - only its own two condo towers, Nestle office tower and one low rise office complex.

Outside of the TTC entrances that area residents uses, what are the appeal of each supermarket that will entice area residents to forego one supermarket in favour of another. With supermarkets at 3 of the 4 corners of Yonge & Sheppard, many local residents will have to literally walk right by one supermarket to get to their preferred supermarket. Clearly Whole Food Market will be much more appealing than Metro except for the price. But if price is more of a concern, Metro isn't exactly the cheapest around. The Metro at EmeraldPark is the weakest link,... but a 3rd floor Longo's isn't much better.
 
I find Metro prices more reasonable than Loblaw and probably, from what I hear, Whole Food. I don't know anything about Longo's.

Initially, I'll probably choose Metro since I'm most familiar with them. Hopefully they will be open 24 hrs. I don't see M2M surviving from this in the near future.
 
Basis EmeraldPark Metro should be opened 24hours as are the other Metro.

M2M will survive and thrive,.... They have a niche market; Korean grocery store in area with large Korean demographic. It's not like Galleria is opening up at Yonge and Sheppard,..... yet!

Keep in mind there is also small mom and pop grocery store in Sheppard Centre basement and Shoppers Drug Mart - Loblaws brought SDM recently for their small urban footprint so SDM will feature more food sale soon. Supermarkets usually have non-compete clauses in their mall contract ie no other supermarket in mall,.... Interesting how Longo's contract will be since some supermarkets also have pharmacy - will SDM be forced out or not allowed to sell grocery.
 
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Metro is much cheaper than Whole Foods. It's also significantly cheaper than both Loblaws and Longos. (or even Sobey's) So if the population of Downtown North York is price conscious, Metro is where they will probably head.
 
I don't think Metro is significantly cheaper than Loblaws and Longo's,... Metro only look cheaper - quality wise! ;) Even when Metro was the only supermarket at Yonge & Sheppard (prior to its closure for Tridel Hullmark Centre development) it was basically empty - hardly any customers.

The income demographics in downtown North York tends to be higher than average; especially those in houses since many of those houses are worth at least $1million now. Condo folks tend to be younger and more health conscious. Both of which tends to favour Whole Foods Market (lots of organic) over Metro.
http://www.riocan.com/Content/PDF/sitePlan/52A.pdf
http://www1.toronto.ca/staticfiles/...nning/wards/files/pdf/profile-ward23-2011.pdf

The thing about Whole Food Market is that they carry a lot of specialty brands that the regular supermarket does not. In addition, Whole Food Market avoid carrying a lot of regular brands that the regular supermarket does. This help Whole Food Market charge a higher price for the stuff they carry.

Of course for the very price conscious, there's Food Basics (from Metro) at Yonge & Cummer. There's also No-Frills (from Loblaws) at Yonge & Steeles.
 
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