I think my problem is that I don't trust developers to build lively streetfront retail spaces that are something other than single story dry cleaners or banks. Until they prove otherwise, I'm still skeptical.
Unless custom-built for chains, new storefronts are invariably not wide or deep enough to recreate the traditional retail spaces seen in pre-condo buildings. Even if more or less appropriate spaces are built, they may have finishes/layouts/lease rates targeted to specific retail sectors or pricepoints, preempting innovative entrepreneurs or independent stores. Architects are sometimes so concerned with the overall aesthetic vision of the project, or planners/councillors so concerned with everything being neat and tidy, that storefronts are built with a variety of sterile plate glass, precast, and plastic sheet metal panels and the only customizable element is one backlit sign, above the door and below some pathetic little awning. Worse, this little sign might be behind a horrible arcade. Some blocks are moderately successful if chain stores move in, and others have older buildings mixed in, but
I attended a recent design review panel and the project had proposed retail along a main street but nothing was rendered other than a solid wall of plate glass. It looked good in the renderings and did fit the tower above, but when asked by a panel member how this wall of glass was to be articulated in terms of [apparently trivial] details like doors and signs, the architect hadn't really given it much thought. Yeah, this retail facade was only
an entire block long and the only part of the complex visible from street/eye level, so why give it any thought? After all, only renderings or photos of the whole complex will appear in the architect's portfolio.... At least the design review panel concept is showing promise and should bear fruit soon.
On the forum we're frequently lamenting the disrepair and abuse suffered by historic storefronts on streets like Queen and Yonge, where bricks are painted purple or covered up by aluminum siding, and so on. Yet new developments are built to oppressively monotonous standards, often not even at human scales, and are articulated by voids, recesses, and precast protuberances. Why can't newly developed storefronts be the ones covered with purple polka dots and funky wood and metal siding? Or, at least, interesting brick and tile work instead of precast panels? Or, you know, actually visible and interesting signage? No one's going to miss the plastic panels in seven shades of grey or the precast pillars that end up cracked and discoloured before the stores have a chance to open. Hopefully, vibrant renovations and customizations will occur when the precast falls off in a decade or two, but variety within blocks may be permanently stymied by the fact that each block has only one owner dictating appearances and changes...it's so much more difficult for lively and interesting retail and restaurants to emerge when the buildings themselves at so dreary and crude at eye level.
Rant over
