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Shops at Don Mills (redevelopment, Giannone Petricone/Pellow + Associates )

I didn't notice the tyranny of 15 year old security guards, but then we didn't stop and get out and try to cause a riot among the happy shoppers. The layout of stubby little streets cleverly prevents speeding. There was some sort of bland "entertainment" thing happening in the faux town square. I actually thought it was kinda fun to glide through for a few minutes - it isn't the sort of place I'd usually seek out. Since it's a business, I suppose they could tweak and remake it endlessly, depending on what kind of stores are fashionable, and what "look" sells - just like most enclosed malls evolve depending on what consumables are the hottest.
 
Urban Shocker said:
I didn't notice the tyranny of 15 year old security guards ...
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Are the security guards really old, having been with the mall for 15 years? Or were they 15-year-old security guards? No matter how I punctuate this, it doesn't make sense!
 
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Torontovibe ran afoul of a "very young security guard" when he was taking pictures, apparently. Many guys in uniform look like they're about 15 to anyone over 50. I don't think working as a security guard is a lifetime calling.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Torontovibe ran afoul of a "very young security guard" when he was taking pictures, apparently. Many guys in uniform look like they're about 15 to anyone over 50. I don't think working as a security guard is a lifetime calling.
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Well the big 50 is quickly approaching but I'm pretty good at guessing age. I'd say the guard was 18 to 20 years of age, and the MOFO had the nerve to question me! "Why are you taking pictures?" lol When the little shit said that he saw me taking pictures there to day before, I should have told him he was mistaken and that he actually saw me at the gay sauna, on Church street. Then I could have announced to all his security guard friends, that he's a really good kisser. That would have shut the boy up. Don't mess with an indignant homosexual! lol
 
Aw, he doesn't deserve that treatment
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New Don Mills Shops

I visited the new Don Mills Shopping Centre in late May while attending Don Mills Collegiate's 50th birthday celebrations.

I think the new mall is horrible (as did my two sisters). We drove around and around looking for parking, and finally had to park way over by the Metro store. For the parking spaces out front of the shops, in the entire time we walked around no cars left. Made me wonder if the employees were parked there.

Later in the day it absolutely poured rain and there was nowhere to go for shelter, unless you went into a store where you had no intention of buying anything. I didn't have an opinion negative or positive on the recently-torn down mall (I lived downtown for 25 years but still went to my dentist and my family doctor at 75 The Donway West), but the original mall at least had overhangs so you could walk from shop to shop without getting rained or hailed on.

I honestly can't see having outdoor malls in a climate such as Toronto - freezing and icy in the winter, sweaty and gross in the summer. I found Don Mills Plaza very pedestrian-unfriendly.

Jack Astor's was nice, though.

Although it's been decades since I've been there so I may be speaking too soon, after viewing the new Don Mills Plaza I would much rather shop at Fairview Mall.
 
Interesting point: while the present development may pay a certain knowing tribute to the original, it lacks a functionally critical element--the sheltered walkways. Which, with their Miesian character, were *stylistically* critical as well.
 
TheWestofCanada said:
(I lived downtown for 25 years but still went to my dentist and my family doctor at 75 The Donway West).
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Ohhh 75 The Donway West...;) I worked for a firm there for the whole summer last year and had a really good view from above of the gradual construction of the new centre. Did all my groceries at the Dominion too. Do the plans still call for 75 The Donway West to be turned into a senior's home in the next few years and all the existing tenants evicted? The majority of the tenants in the building are medical/dental anyways. Honestly, I miss the place.

Cadillac Fairview has really neglected this building since construction began on the Shops at Don Mills, and is only doing minimum essential maintenance on it.
 
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Welcome, adma. How did you find us.... :)

Something I just noticed when I was back there in May, is that Don Mills Collegiate and Don Mills Junior High have similar overhangs as the original shopping centre. They don't show up on photos of DMCI dated 1959, so I don't know when they were added. They were there when I went to school there in the 1970s.
 
Was the school built in more than one stage? Might explain things if the "colonnades" came later (though I'd imagine them accounted for in the original scheme--and remember, just like the old shopping centre, it's by Parkin. As are the twin "pavilion banks" on Lawrence, and Bank Of Nova Scotia still has its Miesian colonnaded integrity...)
 
TheWestofCanada said:
I visited the new Don Mills Shopping Centre in late May while attending Don Mills Collegiate's 50th birthday celebrations.

I think the new mall is horrible (as did my two sisters). We drove around and around looking for parking, and finally had to park way over by the Metro store. For the parking spaces out front of the shops, in the entire time we walked around no cars left. Made me wonder if the employees were parked there.
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I too visited "The Shops At Don Mills" in late May and I have a completely different experience.

I was unable to find any parking spots in front of the stores, but there is a giant parking garage next to the LCBO, with plenty of spots. It was quite busy but I was still able to find parking easily. Not to mention, I believe there are parking lots all along the east and southwest sides.

It didn't rain so I can't comment on the need for overhangs but I can see how it could be a problem.

I'm no urban design critic but apart from the standard critiques (no second floor usage, etc) I think this mall is going to be successful. It's hard to create an organic urban experience with a master planned development in a location like this, but this is a good step IMO.

I'll probably end up going there quite often as my girlfriend adores "Antropologie" and as of right now, the Don Mills store is the only Canadian location.
 
I live relatively close to the area and never, ever visited the old mall. Now that the new centre has opened I've been there a number of times and I really quite enjoy how different the atmosphere is over a traditional mall.

We've even managed to score parking spaces in front of the shops a few times. It's always been busy so they must be doing well.

I suspect it'll quiet down in winter but that doesn't bother me, it just means I'm more likely to get a parking space close to the store(s) I wish to visit.
 
The junior high was built two years after the high school (1961), but other than that I don't know if it was built in stages. I have a photo from 1959 where I can see air conditioners in the windows of the principal's office/administrative offices, so it would appear the school was in use, although there were no colonnades, as you call them.
 
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