Toronto Eaton Centre (Ongoing Renewal) | ?m | ?s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler

They could create something amazing with this big space of land, but then again, this is CF we're talking about.

And CF's purpose is to make spaces for people to sell things in. As many things as possible. And wring every possible penny of rent out of such space. Not make amazing things to look at.
 
And CF's purpose is to make spaces for people to sell things in. As many things as possible. And wring every possible penny of rent out of such space. Not make amazing things to look at.

If they were looking to place as much space as possible, they could have taken this opportunity to extend the atrium down to Dundas by adding more stores. Such a missed opportunity, it could have connected the whole centre from each end of the Eaton Centre block. I would have liked to have seen more stores rather than a high end department store.
 
Good article, NE. It's hard to believe that the Sears store was 816,000 SF (and was the largest Sears store in the world). Bloomingdale's on Lexington is 859,000, Sak's Fifth Avenue is 646,000 SF and Lord & Taylor is 611,000 SF. On the other hand Macy's on West 34th is 2.2 million SF.

Remember that was for a full-line EATON'S department store with everything under the sun - including departments not seen in "modern" departments stores like furniture and beds, appliances, hardware, automotive, sporting goods (and hunting), fabrics, wool and crafts, cameras, TVs and stereos, pet store (Eaton's even had aquarium tanks and sold live fish), coin and stamp shop, watch repair and a food market area.

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Project: Retail Store Interior Demolition

Description: To complete interior demolition work to return the existing "Sears" to shell conditions for future tenant fit up.

The application for "interior" demolition to "shell conditions" means returning the space to bare concrete floors and no interior walls. That, coupled with the fact that Sears' offices are remaining - and functioning - in the upper floors, suggests that the exterior may not be reclad (although First Canadian Place was reclad with office tenants in place).

That would be unfortunate if it's not - time will tell when the renderings of the new store are issued.
 
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Hello,

First time writing on the forum.

I miss the atrium that used to be at the Dundas entrance. It was more appealing and more sunlight was shone into the building. I do hope they can redesign the H&M section and make a bigger entrance. It is too crowded there now. Also, I think making the use of ground floor and add some small boutique facing Yonge Street and trees outside would be a nice change.
 
There is barely any space back there to do anything with. Behind the walls is the Eaton Centre shipping docks and garbage room.
Some sort of market, maybe with more food options that are to go type of places, or unique stores that sell local stuff could go down there.
 
Nordstrom seems like an odd fit for a Yonge/Dundas location. The Nordstrom crowd definitely feels a little more uptown than downtown.

Agreed. I would rather see a Macy's, Kohl's or Simons replace Sears. Nordstrom is expensive to begin with, but because it's Canada they will probably jack the prices up even higher, like Target.
 
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I would argue. The current frame causes a giant eight story wall against Yonge that is unwelcoming and uninviting. They could create something amazing with this big space of land, but then again, this is CF we're talking about.
You're forgetting that Sears' offices will still be on the top 4 floors, so they can't just demolish the whole thing.
 
Agreed. The centrepiece is now a round garbage can.

There used to be a bit of a sense of place there. The windy woman art, the large galss atrium, even the police substation and ATMpalooza.
Even more so when it opened. There was a chic mezzanine level restaurant before the police station/ABM setup. The original entrance was a stunner, but it didn't last long before the Torontonian Utilitarian Imperative started to prevail. Now it's just a place to get out of.
 
Even more so when it opened. There was a chic mezzanine level restaurant before the police station/ABM setup. The original entrance was a stunner, but it didn't last long before the Torontonian Utilitarian Imperative started to prevail. Now it's just a place to get out of.

The art work seems to have wound up in Barrie of all places: http://maclarenart.com/permanent-collection/artwork-of-the-month-march-2013

Terribly sad - the north atrium was one of my favourite places as a kid growing up - exiting from Dundas Station and seeing the "Grand Illusion" artwork meant you had arrived downtown!
 
Are there any plans on changing the layout so that it makes better use of the Canadian Tire hallway?

There is barely any space back there to do anything with. Behind the walls is the Eaton Centre shipping docks and garbage room.

As Nordstrom is not taking the level with the Canadian Tire walkway, a lot could happen down there. I don't buy the Simon's store wedged into that level theory at all. I believe we will get an extension of the main hall continuing north through the middle of the Sears space with new stores on either side of the hallway. Near the north end we will get a split, with one hall angling northeast towards the Yonge-Dundas atrium, and one hall angling northwest towards Canadian Tire et al. That new hall can also have stores on either side, making the walk to the northwest corner much more attractive for shoppers. That will require some alterations to the layout, fitting the new hall in around the elevators that go up to the Sears offices (which will need a new direct hallway access anyway). It would mean that H+M could shift north into the current dreary hall space. I'd say H+M needs the space to expand, anyway.

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Does anyone know if the structure of the original cineplex theatres is still intact? It was labyrinthine, a multiple honeycomb of rooms. I can't imagine it's all been demolished - I'm thinking it's behind that 'Canadian Tire Hall' wall. If so, it'd be complicated to budge or use, except as storage.
The entrance was around where Joey's meets H&M now, if I'm remembering it correctly. From that point on, it was all ramps going d-o-w-n.

Entrance marquee pole, and model showing first then final scheme.

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Even more so when it opened. There was a chic mezzanine level restaurant before the police station/ABM setup.

I vaguely remember that floating purple restaurant...it was impressive (as was the whole TEC as originally built). It's died a death of a thousand cuts over the decades, so it's hard to imagine if you weren't there when it opened. One element of TEC that had a large impact was the sheer amount of greenery everywhere. But plants require maintenance.


As Nordstrom is not taking the level with the Canadian Tire walkway, a lot could happen down there. I don't buy the Simon's store wedged into that level theory at all. I believe we will get an extension of the main hall continuing north through the middle of the Sears space with new stores on either side of the hallway.

I assume -1 will be treated the same as EATONS old -2 & -3 floors, and just become mall retail. Each of the old EATON floors are over 100,000 sqft, so it's sort of either too big or too small for a single user.

BTW...I read somewhere that the actual 1 million sqft EATON store was not designed by Zeidler.
 
Does anyone know if the structure of the original cineplex theatres is still intact?

Sorry CN, the garage and Cineplex were entirely demolished when the new structure with the Canadian Tire, Best Buy, garage, and the Ryerson-Rogers School of Management went in.

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I assume -1 will be treated the same as EATONS old -2 & -3 floors, and just become mall retail.

Exactly.

BTW...I read somewhere that the actual 1 million sqft EATON store was not designed by Zeidler.

The exterior of the store is all part of the Zeidler design of the Eaton Centre, but the interior fit-out would have gone to another firm.

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