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

Sneak peek of Civil Works
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I had a smoked meat sandwich from Dave's on Friday. The smoked meat was amazing, but the sandwich was let down a little bit by the bread, which was quite dry. Still, worth it for that meat.

Two others I went with got food from the Thai stall and said it was 7/10.
 
Question for those who have been there: on my first visit when I was exploring the place, I found an area north of the main food hall (to the right if you’re coming from the main entrance where the patio is) with lounge chairs and I think even couches. It’s connected to the food hall, ie. you don’t have to step out into the courtyard, and there was no door /partition between the two zones. A few people were sitting there and there were no visible signs of ongoing construction.

On my second visit last week, I couldn’t find that area - I suspect access was blocked by a rolling door which was not visible during the earlier visit.

Has anyone else seen that part of the development or was I hallucinating? If (hopefully) it exists, what’s its function and when is it going to reopen?
 
I walked around the whole hall to look at every stall before choosing, and I didn't see anything like that.
It wasn’t part of the main hall (the rectangular area), it was off to the side but was seamlessly connected to the hall (no doors except maybe a roller door, no hallway).
 
I visited this food hall the other week and have a few quick thoughts. The food options are good and the overall look/feel, materiality and the restoration is quite beautifully done. However, the layout and circulation I found uncomfortable. They put all the food vendors in the middle of the space, which leaves very little room on the south side (next to the windows) to comfortably walk through, since they have seating there as well. They would be better off situating the food vendors along the perimeter of the space (mostly along the north part of the food hall), and leave a large central space for eating, sitting, relaxing – and this space would be very well lit from the large windows. I know this concept is more akin to a traditional food court/hall that we see in malls – with even the Well adopting it. I wonder whether due to HVAC/ME requirements for example, the only option was to situate the food vendors in the middle...
 
Very reminiscent of the Time Out Markets in Lisbon, Cape Town, Montreal and elsewhere.
Ironically I was is Lisbon when you posted this comment and it was right around the time we went to the Time Out market near the waterfront. It was quite good, but this looks like a slightly different vibe.

Reminds me of the Market Hall in Rotterdam, though perhaps not as grand.
 
Very reminiscent of the Time Out Markets in Lisbon, Cape Town, Montreal and elsewhere.
I visited this food hall the other week and have a few quick thoughts. The food options are good and the overall look/feel, materiality and the restoration is quite beautifully done. However, the layout and circulation I found uncomfortable. They put all the food vendors in the middle of the space, which leaves very little room on the south side (next to the windows) to comfortably walk through, since they have seating there as well. They would be better off situating the food vendors along the perimeter of the space (mostly along the north part of the food hall), and leave a large central space for eating, sitting, relaxing – and this space would be very well lit from the large windows. I know this concept is more akin to a traditional food court/hall that we see in malls – with even the Well adopting it. I wonder whether due to HVAC/ME requirements for example, the only option was to situate the food vendors in the middle...
Ironically I was is Lisbon when you posted this comment and it was right around the time we went to the Time Out market near the waterfront. It was quite good, but this looks like a slightly different vibe.

Reminds me of the Market Hall in Rotterdam, though perhaps not as grand.

The Tivoli Gardens Food Hall in Copenhagen is probably the closest match to Waterworks in terms of layout and circulation. What is odd though is that I found Tivoli to be even more crowded and cramped in circulation, and yet, I did not mind it as much as in Waterworks.

I think it is because at Tivoli Gardens, every restaurant stall had ample seating, which despite crowding the circulation, led to groups sitting and eating and enjoying conversations everywhere, whereas at Waterworks, I found most people are just walking past restaurant to get to/from other parts of the food hall, giving the impression that I am supposed to be moving through the space rather than situated in place.
 
Question for those who have been there: on my first visit when I was exploring the place, I found an area north of the main food hall (to the right if you’re coming from the main entrance where the patio is) with lounge chairs and I think even couches. It’s connected to the food hall, ie. you don’t have to step out into the courtyard, and there was no door /partition between the two zones. A few people were sitting there and there were no visible signs of ongoing construction.

On my second visit last week, I couldn’t find that area - I suspect access was blocked by a rolling door which was not visible during the earlier visit.

Has anyone else seen that part of the development or was I hallucinating? If (hopefully) it exists, what’s its function and when is it going to reopen?

Here’s the seating area with lounge chairs. It’s on the west side of the internal courtyard, but can be accessed directly from the food hall

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As mentioned in our front page story from when the food hall opened, that space can be booked for private functions, so the doors are closed when those are on.

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42
 
...the flower arrangement on that table was made for the fact that they knew Mr. 42 was coming. <3
 

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