Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

[interchange42]

Let's rein this in a bit please, and get back to fill-out of Emerald Park. There is the Politics section of UrbanToronto if you want to go that way.

42

 

[someMidTowner]

Allwyn's was quite busy (and delicious) on Saturday. The rest of the "mall" was completely dead.

 

[constructo]

TUNNEL UPDATE:

Bazis did keep the appointment today for another "final Inspection"; TTC and city staff were there along with the usual Bazis "suspects." A miracle took place and the tunnel passed inspection. Jonathan said he will call his contractor to remove the hoarding this week, so I hope we don't hear any excuses in that regard if the opening is delayed past this Friday. We should take it down ourselves; a 20 minute job.
Forget coffee and donuts. Let's make this champagne at the opening and send the bill to Jonathan Gold.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Adding to Constructo's post,...

This afternoon Councillor Filion's office forwarded me the attached Jonathan Gold (Bazis' project manager) email which specifically states "we are confirmed for Friday and attempting to remove the hoarding sooner" (TTC email info has been blacked out since they're not first line customer contact staff). Note: Councillor Filion is crossing his fingers,.... I'm crossing my toes!

 

[Uncle Meat]

The piece of plywood at the top of the stairs was already gone yesterday. I already used the entrance this morning, the door at the hoarding was open. I tried the elevator out to get from the subway level up to the street but it did not work properly. The door would close and open repeatedly with the elevator not going anywhere and telling me it is "going up". Maybe it was running in service mode.

 

[Mint]

They've taped up the TTC side entrance with caution tape now

 

[Uncle Meat]

They must be concerned we don't notice the big green hoarding and bump our head into it.

 

[constructo]

LCBO UPDATE:

I contacted the CEO to get a more informed response than the useless b.s. I was getting from their customer reps. I tried to sell them on the merits of a renovated Sheppard Centre; located on 2 subway lines, Longo's, higher quality retail component and food court drawing a much higher customer count. LCBO seems set on opening at EP but they have no idea when and don't care how many years it takes, if ever. They could pull out next week for all we know, it's only shelves and counters to move to another new store. Any monetary loss is just a write-off. As time drags on without a retail partner, they might change their minds and move to the Sheppard Centre. Here's his reply to me.

" Thank you for contacting us in regards to the LCBO store at 4750 Yonge St. The opening date of this store has always been planned to coincide with the opening of a grocery store on-site. At this time, we are unable to forecast an opening date as the timing of the grocery component is not known.
While the Sheppard Centre has the desirable attributes you outlined, any future decisions in the neighbourhood are impacted by the store at 4750 Yonge St."

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

LCBO UPDATE:

I contacted the CEO to get a more informed response than the useless b.s. I was getting from their customer reps. I tried to sell them on the merits of a renovated Sheppard Centre; located on 2 subway lines, Longo's, higher quality retail component and food court drawing a much higher customer count. LCBO seems set on opening at EP but they have no idea when and don't care how many years it takes, if ever. They could pull out next week for all we know, it's only shelves and counters to move to another new store. Any monetary loss is just a write-off. As time drags on without a retail partner, they might change their minds and move to the Sheppard Centre. Here's his reply to me.

" Thank you for contacting us in regards to the LCBO store at 4750 Yonge St. The opening date of this store has always been planned to coincide with the opening of a grocery store on-site. At this time, we are unable to forecast an opening date as the timing of the grocery component is not known.
While the Sheppard Centre has the desirable attributes you outlined, any future decisions in the neighbourhood are impacted by the store at 4750 Yonge St."

After seeing how poorly Whole Foods Market is doing at Tridel Hullmark Centre across Yonge Street, Metro is not willing to commit anymore of their money into opening a money-losing store at Emerald Park (looks to be selling or renting out their remaining Emerald Park property). We'll have to wait a bit over a year to see how the new Longo's will actually perform at the renovated Yonge Sheppard Centre.

I've lived in North York Centre for over 25 years and witnessed a huge demographic shift in ethnicity from predominantly White to a high proportion of Chinese, Korean and Persian (especially in the high-density condo towers) but the local large supermarkets can't fully cater to these groups; thus a lot of them are forced to go outside the area to do their grocery shopping,... especially the less Canadianized and more recent arrivals - this area is considered the New Spadina!

It would make sense for the 2nd floor supermarket space at Emerald Park to host an ethnic supermarket - still issues with parking and visibility since its off Yonge frontage; but the local walk-in traffic volume should be quite high for a Chinese, Korean or Persian supermarket.

So the question is,.... would such an ethnic supermarket at EmeraldPark work well with the already constructed LCBO store at EmeraldPark? Geee,.... I wonder what LCBO CEO George Soleas would think about that? Hmmm,... here's a recent article from my favourite newspaper,... the Toronto Star!

https://www.thestar.com/business/20...-back-at-lcbo-and-flying-off-the-shelves.html


International flavours are back at LCBO — and flying off the shelves
The LCBO launched Products of the World boutiques last year within existing locations to showcase all of the items that would naturally appeal to a particular demographic.

'We’re having a hell of a time continuously stocking the store,' CEO George Soleas says of the boutique store on Highway 7 East in Markham. (RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR) | LISA WRIGHT Business Reporter
Tues., Dec. 27, 2016

Ever get a craving for a certain brand of sake?

The LCBO’s flagship store on Queens Quay has seven or eight to choose from, but there are more than 70 online and at its East Asian “Products of the World” boutique store on Highway 7 East in Markham, where the Japanese rice wine is flying off the shelves.

“We’re having a hell of a time continuously stocking the store,” says the liquor retailer’s chief executive George Soleas.

Born in Cyprus and seeking refuge in Canada as a boy after the Turkish invasion of his homeland, Soleas today is on a mission to bring an international flavour to the liquor retailer’s stores.


For the rest of the article see here:
https://www.thestar.com/business/20...-back-at-lcbo-and-flying-off-the-shelves.html

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Well, true to Bazis project manager Jonathan Gold's word, on Friday they actually did take down the green hoarding that was blocking the EmeraldPark-TTC underground pedestrian tunnel. I had fun during afternoon rush hour watching many commuters reaction as they passed by and looked totally stunned that the green hoarding that's been there for 30 months is now gone!

This should be considered a "soft opening" in that they seems to have passed the fire-safety inspection (main liability issue). But likely they still haven't passed the final inspection for full occupancy since there seems to be some minor issues unresolved like fully accessible doors on P1 level missing button to open door (others that have wall buttons still require additional push on door bar to release door latch - likely difficult for those in wheelchair) and P1 landing area still missing rail bar along wall to meet TTC standards (as Constructo previously mentioned).

Anyways, now when going through the 2 sets of fire doors from EmeraldPark side to TTC side, the left-most 3 doors of each set are locked. Only the single right-most door (with Yellow sticker) is unlocked and can open as it also serves as the fully accessible door.

Going from TTC side to EmeraldPark side all doors have push-bars to unlock and open doors.

Notice the familiar signage, since these Fire Doors are actually on City property and EmeraldPark won't allow these signage on their property; I suspect they've been placed on these Fire Doors with restricted access to help ensure Bazis meet TTC and City Building standards on the remaining issues.

BTW, I did notice there was more people in EmeraldPark mall today,... I think that had to do with the EmeraldPark TTC underground pedestrian tunnel "soft" opening,.... and the EmeraldPark FoodCourt area had a lot more coat wearing customers in the afternoon-evening,.... so they're making their way from the surrounding condos, not just EmeraldPark own condo folks.

 

[WillTo]

Congratulations SunnyRay!

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Like I've said before,.... I'm just a local busy-body trouble-maker with a big mouth,....

The real thanks goes to people like Constructo, numerous TTC staff, City building inspector, City staff, Councillor Filion's office, UncleMeat and the local WestLansingHomeownersAssociation,... they're the ones that does the real work and apply pressure on Bazis to deliver what they're supposed to.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-148#post-1181736

Heck, I would suspect it was a team effort from some of the above mentioned folks (namely TTC staff, City building inspector, Councillor Filion's office, City Staff, etc,...) that allowed the current early/"soft opening",.... to help out the long suffering local residents.

And there's still lots of work to be done throughout the rest of EmeraldPark,..... those who live at EmeraldPark, should consider joining the residents' board,.... office and retailers also have their own board,.... and they'll need all the help they can get dealing with Bazis and EmeraldPark management.

 

[coopero]

Targeting LCBO to move to Sheppard Centre would just hurt the residents and small businesses that paid a premium price assuming LCBO would open and have little impact to Bazis.

Something worth mentioning is Bazis owns P1 and P2 of Emerald Park Bazis. Is it normal for underground non-resident parking lots are owned by the Builder? Would they be collecting all the income generated from it?

 

[amnesiajune]

I tried to sell them on the merits of a renovated Sheppard Centre

I wouldn't hold your breath. The LCBO's model in Toronto as of late seems to be co-location with a grocery store, so they get cheap rent from the grocery store. At Emerald Park that would've been easy since Metro used to own the space. At Sheppard Centre that's probably a challenge since Longo's is just a tenant rather than the owner. Longo's also wouldn't be too interested in a co-location deal since the only LCBO-sized unit left isn't connected to the mall. It's a Sheppard-frontage unit, which wouldn't be too desirable for the LCBO.

After seeing how poorly Whole Foods Market is doing at Tridel Hullmark Centre across Yonge Streett, Metro is not willing to commit anymore of their money into opening a money-losing store at Emerald Park

Whole Foods is doing fine. They don't rely on volume, and Metro couldn't care less about them since Whole Foods goes after a totally different market. Metro probably left because they can't compete with Longo's, which was opening up across the street. Longo's sells better-quality products at similar prices. Metro's advantage over Longo's is being open 24/7, but they'd have to compete with Rabba that's two blocks south for the late-night customers. They probably just looked at those two stores and didn't see a good business opportunity to sell groceries and subsidize an LCBO.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

I wouldn't hold your breath. The LCBO's model in Toronto as of late seems to be co-location with a grocery store, so they get cheap rent from the grocery store. At Emerald Park that would've been easy since Metro used to own the space. At Sheppard Centre that's probably a challenge since Longo's is just a tenant rather than the owner. Longo's also wouldn't be too interested in a co-location deal since the only LCBO-sized unit left isn't connected to the mall. It's a Sheppard-frontage unit, which wouldn't be too desirable for the LCBO.

Don't forget LCBO is a major tenant at a number of RioCan retail mall/plaza; so RioCan already cut LCBO a good deal and will likely do so again at YongeSheppardCentre,.... with or without Longo's involvement. In addition, RioCan and LCBO likely already discussed LCBO at YongeSheppardCentre a number of times already since SheppardCentre redevelopment started to market about the same time LCBO partnered with Metro at EmeraldPark (2012) with LCBO expecting to open mid-2015,... it's considered "due diligence" from both parties. An LCBO at YongeSheppardCentre won't open until 2018; which made LCBO partnering with Metro at EmeraldPark more attractive.

YongeSheppardCentre is now at bare bones stage,... you'd be surprised at how many last minute changes developers would do to accommodate a major tenant. Case in point would be Bazis EmeraldPark January 2015 Committee Of Adjustment hearing for 2nd floor Metro-LCBO retail severance, loading docks changes, Metro freight elevators replacing FoodCourt washrooms and requiring new washrooms in the new Mezzanine level hidden between 1st and 2nd floor, etc,... this was all being done while EmeraldPark WestTower condos would open to new residents end of March 2015, and EastTower end of summer 2015,... Once these Committee Of Adjustments variances were granted, the LCBO store started renovations and was done by around April or May 2015.
http://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Developing Toronto/Files/pdf/J/January-8-2015-NYdecisions.pdf

That available 12,118 square-feet YongeSheppardCentre retail area you mentioned with Sheppard frontage isn't suitable for LCBO due to loading dock issues (have you ever noticed how ShoppersDrugMart struggle with deliveries). An LCBO at YongeSheppardCentre should be looking at part of the 4th floor 49,867 square-feet LA-Fitness space since it has direct freight elevator infrastructure and it's not likely LA-Fitness really needs all that space since the previous GoodLife had about a third of that space (at 18,000 square-feet) and struggled to find clients.
http://riocan.com/docs/default-sour...y/yongesheppardcentre_torontoon.pdf?sfvrsn=16

Also, RioCan YongeSheppardCentre Section37 CommunityBenefit include giving up "retail space" for non-profit childcare facility and community resources (Family Services) which are mainly in the less desirable upper retail levels. That still available 12,118 square-feet YongeSheppardCentre retail area you mentioned with street-level Sheppard frontage would look good in a trade of retail space,.. much better pick-up and drop-off area for the non-profit child care facility.

Whole Foods is doing fine. They don't rely on volume, and Metro couldn't care less about them since Whole Foods goes after a totally different market. Metro probably left because they can't compete with Longo's, which was opening up across the street. Longo's sells better-quality products at similar prices. Metro's advantage over Longo's is being open 24/7, but they'd have to compete with Rabba that's two blocks south for the late-night customers. They probably just looked at those two stores and didn't see a good business opportunity to sell groceries and subsidize an LCBO.

The Metro that was going into EmeraldPark was to be a new concept upscale Metro with market substations all around perimeter that would compete with the likes of WholeFoodsMarket,...

Let's see how well Tridel HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket is doing at the end of this year. WholeFoodsMarket supermarket has similar customer sales volume as those little Korean H-mart mini-marts whose stores are just a tenth the size. It was only their Cafe at the front of WholeFoodsMarket that was busy,.... but their Cafe isn't packed anymore,... I'm noticing less customers there since EmeraldPark TimHorton opened and EmeraldPark FoodCourt starts becoming more popular. This trend will continue as more food places open at EmeraldPark mall.

This Spring, WholeFoodsMarket should finally open their Bayview Store north of Eglinton,... which will likely cut into some of the Tridel HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket supermarket business. And by year end some of the newer ready-made-food places at YongeSheppardCentre should start opening.

Let's see how well Tridel HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket is doing at the end of this year.

Then add in Longo's YongeSheppardCentre opening in Spring 2018,.... and the wildcard that Metro could sell off their remaining supermarket space at EmeraldPark at anytime,... likely to another supermarket since the infrastructure (loading dock-freight elevators) and higher retail zoning classification are set up for supermarket,....