Riseth
Senior Member
A little nostalgic for that old Cherry Street bridge but the new one is a spectacular addition to the area.
Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto
jxmith_
Active Member
I wish someone would explain this, I just saw the new designs for the St Lawrence Center… for 2030. It’s kinda like we’ve given up on the 20s already. Is it interest rates? Supply chains? Are all available workers booked for the rest of the decade? Nobody has talked about it, but there’s no archaeological digs for the Port Lands, right? I feel like the current political climate would be super permissive for private builders, so they might want to take advantage of that no?
greenleaf
Senior Member
Yes, along those lines. ~45,000 sq ft like the Metro on Church and Front. IIRC Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws is about 85,000 sq ft.
evandyk
Senior Member
I’m not sure what you mean by “local population” but until recently the Loblaws at Queens Quay had virtually nobody living close to it.
Richard White
Senior Member
Yes but for decades you had people living along the Esplanade, Queens Quay (West of Bay) and near St Lawrence Market.
Loblaws served that segment of the population quite well until Metro, Sobeys and Longos came onto the scene.
jxmith_
Active Member
Would be interesting to see how grocery stores began to penetrate the downtown core over the last twenty years, cuz I feel like the lack thereof was the main reason why Jarvis Loblaws and its giant parking lot did so well. It was Ryerson Metro and Spadina Chinatown for awhile.
The other detail from the meeting I thought interesting was when someone inquired about bird safety- and a rep had mentioned that due to environmental requirements, the towers would not be predominantly glass.
tripwire
Active Member
Considering how epically slow construction moves in TO, I would be surprised if in 2031 we actually had people moving in. Pleasantly surprised, but definitely surprised.
evandyk
Senior Member
It seems unlikely. Other than that one privately owned piece of land on Cherry, no specific project is even in the pipeline right now?.
hawc
Senior Member
Still no pics of the ghost bridge? Am I going to be the first to shoot it this weekend? Will no one else beat me to it? Challenge! 
reinventingthewheel
Active Member
Big difference here will be drastically different parking situations.
If there is a big box grocer on Villiers then shoppers from north in corktown will likely be divided between here and Rocco’s No Frills; shoppers from the east will be divided between here, the Leslie-Lake Shore grocers, and Jeff’s No Frills; and finally shoppers from the west will probably be served best by QQ Loblaws.
If we’re looking for something early 2030s maybe East Harbour would support a larger store just based on transit access.
Challenge accepted but it will probably look much better with flyover drone shots!Still no pics of the ghost bridge? Am I going to be the first to shoot it this weekend? Will no one else beat me to it? Challenge!
Dr. Snoot
Active Member
Well, there used to be a full T&T in the Portlands when precisely nobody lived there, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Northern Light
Superstar
This is incorrect.
That number comes out of the suburban U.S. and is really looking more at the hypermarket size (greater than 50,000ft2)
The broad planning model is one supermarket to every 11,000 people. (NYC published a report saying one 15,000ft2 market to every 10,000 people is desirable)
Obviously, total population/customer reach is a function of both store size as well as much competitors can hive off from you.
Reach for a supermarket w/parking, will be well beyond 1km. The trade area or catchment of a typical chain supermarket is generally understood as a 3km radius of the store. (core radius is 500M)
Again, this will vary based on parking, traffic, transit, density, walking experience etc. and the less distance the higher proportion of your customer base is typically the rule.
Downtown Toronto currently runs at one supermarket to every 11,000 people.
This is a list of downtown supermarkets from 2016, with average ft2 shown; the list has since evolved:
evandyk
Senior Member
Rocco’s No Frills will be gone (but hopefully reincarnated) long before anything is occupied on Villiers Island.
max
Active Member
The square footage on the 200 Front East seems way too big. Just comparing to the QQE Loblaws doesn't seem like those spaces are anything close to the same size.