Toronto Waterworks Building Redevelopment | 47.55m | 13s | MOD Developments | Diamond Schmitt

A food hall is really just a food court by another name. It's re-branding to sound more upscale but the concept is the same. We did the same thing with the word 'cinema' in the 1990s. The industry pushed the term 'movie theatre' because it sounded more cultured and sophisticated. A theatre .... but for films. I'm used to the term 'movie theatre' now but when the term came out it sounded as silly/pretentious to me as 'land yacht' would be to describe a car.

Very good development though. King West has grown into a playground for affluent young people. My friend from away said it felt like Soho.
It is out version of Soho
 
looks like that intel noting Boxcar Social to replace the closure of Beatrice Society was correct.

Just to clarify this, Beatrice and Boxcar are the same group. They're essentially just changing up the operation in the space, but it's not a new tenant.

A food hall is really just a food court by another name. It's re-branding to sound more upscale but the concept is the same. We did the same thing with the word 'cinema' in the 1990s. The industry pushed the term 'movie theatre' because it sounded more cultured and sophisticated. A theatre .... but for films. I'm used to the term 'movie theatre' now but when the term came out it sounded as silly/pretentious to me as 'land yacht' would be to describe a car.

Very good development though. King West has grown into a playground for affluent young people. My friend from away said it felt like Soho.

It's not just a matter of branding. You're not going to see McDonalds, Tim Hortons and Subway at Waterworks. You also can't typically get alcohol in food courts. Additionally there's going to be various events and programming in the hall throughout the year.
 
Just to clarify this, Beatrice and Boxcar are the same group. They're essentially just changing up the operation in the space, but it's not a new tenant.



It's not just a matter of branding. You're not going to see McDonalds, Tim Hortons and Subway at Waterworks. You also can't typically get alcohol in food courts. Additionally there's going to be various events and programming in the hall throughout the year.
Im aware of this, if you look at my far earlier post. and it still will be a new tenant, as Boxcar will not go into the old Beatrice space, but rather in the food hall itself. so the lease is new, unless they worked out some swap deal.
 
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Kind of amazing that The Well beat them to the punch, but I'm excited to check them both out (and eventually take a shortcut between them via King Toronto's courtyard).
 
Anyone feel this is going to be a bit of oversaturation of "food halls" ? :)

There's also union station + Eaton Center
 
Anyone feel this is going to be a bit of oversaturation of "food halls" ? :)

There's also union station + Eaton Center

Food halls are essentially an evolution of the food court... but with a more distinct food offering and better customer experience. If the city can support hundreds of cut-and-paste food courts, I'm sure a half dozen food halls can eek out a healthy existence too.
 
Anyone feel this is going to be a bit of oversaturation of "food halls" ? :)

There's also union station + Eaton Center
Not at all really. I think there's enough population density downtown these days to support several of these places, especially since I don't think they're close enough to cannibalize each other.
 
Food halls are essentially an evolution of the food court... but with a more distinct food offering and better customer experience. If the city can support hundreds of cut-and-paste food courts, I'm sure a half dozen food halls can eek out a healthy existence too.
Location, location, location. The Waterworks seems a 'bit out of the way' to me to be successful (after the opening few weeks when, this being Toronto, there will be line-ups) but I guess we will find out soon enough.
 
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Location, location, location. The Waterworks seems a 'bit out of the way' to me to be successful (after the opening few weeks when, this being Toronto, there will be line-ups) but I guess we will find out soon enough.
Out of the way? Lol! Waterworks is smack dab in the middle of the second highest concentration of residential density in NA!
 

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