Toronto Yorkdale Shopping Centre | ?m | ?s | Oxford Properties | MMC Architecture

I disagree. Sustainable development will cause people who live more locally to use the mall rather then people driving in from all over the city.. It sounds like the only solution everyone wants to see is new ON OFF ramps and about ten thousand new parking spots... How is that a better solution? We need to start thinking about life that isnt so car oriented...
 
^Except this is not just your average mall. It is a destination shopping location that draws may from far and wide... and it looks like this will be even more the case after the expansion.
 
Locations along the Spadina line at and north of Lawrence are slated for massive redevelopment. Tens of thousands of residents and jobs. They can take the subway to Yorkdale. Yorkdale needs every single parking space it has even with a well-used subway connection. On a busy shopping day like Boxing Day, each space will be used something like 10 times over. They could add a condo with 200 units/300 people, but unless these people are shopping 10 times a day, the mall is much better off with an expansion of stores and/or parking. There's vast amounts of expendable land around Sherway, STC, Square One, Markville, etc., for the city to be better off by merging land uses and appeasing mixed use fans who think every last bit of the city, no matter what sized site you're looking at, needs to be mixed use. If new residences go in on the west side of Dufferin, that's still mixed use on the neighbourhood scale. They might drive across the street to the mall rather than walk, though...

An Arc-en-ciel renovation and a rebuild of the bridge to the subway would both be wonderful. If they're not planning to do them now, they might yield to pressure. Actually, a hotel would be a good fit. Yorkdale could become a stronger tourist attraction.
 
Ed007Toronto said:
You know the traffic is bad when the 401 grinds to a halt because of the mall. This is going to get worse.
Click to expand...

Traffic flow in the area is poorly designed, with all kinds of twisting ramps, left turns for the majority of incoming traffic, and chances for bottlenecks. During the Christmas rush, mall traffic more or less completely snarled the Allen-401 exchange several times, with ramps backed out onto the 401. Even in the middle of January, that parking lot is a disaster zone. "It's going to get worse" was my thought, too, especially while they build the underground lot and lose some of the existing parking..
 
So it looks like Oxford Properties is one upping Cadillac Fairview. This addition is making the Eaton Centre's update look bad by comparison.
 
well if its a DESTINATION mall maybe they will eventually be able to get away with some parking fees. 5$ a spot would eliminate alot of window shoppers plus it would make money that the mall could split between its retailers...
 
sixrings said:
I disagree. Sustainable development will cause people who live more locally to use the mall rather then people driving in from all over the city.. It sounds like the only solution everyone wants to see is new ON OFF ramps and about ten thousand new parking spots... How is that a better solution? We need to start thinking about life that isnt so car oriented...
Click to expand...

A percentage of any new "local" development will use cars. More development equals more cars. Its really that simple.
 
I know this isnt downtown but still this is a fact... there are condos that are being built with less and less spots for cars.. People are no longer buying parking spots because alot of the younger generation is deciding to live more transit or pedestrian lifestyle... If they are buying parking spots it is often because of resale value... Granted this is not downtown but there is deffinately a change in buying habits.. The yonger generation can barely afford there condos or small houses yet alone the luxury of a car. It is quite possible that the future might be very different then the present. Although we will never be New York one must remember that there are plenty of dense citys that have residents that rarely own vehicles.. It is quite possible with Gas prices, Insurance Prices, Likely tolls and the increased cost of housing somethings gotta give. As much as we love our cars we cant live in them. And as a result they may end up being the thing to go.
 
The larger question is why isn't anyone building new indoor malls in the new neighbourhoods. The GTA is growing but most of the new retail in the suburbs are in the hideous outdoor plazas filled with big box store, which are a terrible design as you have to go outside from store to store. I much prefer indoor malls, especially in Canada where it's cold for 6months of the year. Yorkdale is big enough and busy enough as it is, lets build some malls in the new neighbourdhoods or renovate/expand other malls like Promenade or Centrepoint, both of which can serve the northern suburbs which don't have any decent malls.
 
sixrings said:
I know this isnt downtown but still this is a fact... there are condos that are being built with less and less spots for cars.. People are no longer buying parking spots because alot of the younger generation is deciding to live more transit or pedestrian lifestyle...
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure. Yes, it's true that younger people may be more transitf-friendly but then this has always been the case. When you're younger you are more willing to brave the elements, and better able to handle the stairs, to walk the distances between transit nodes etc. As you get older and maybe have kids and far more errands to run transit becomes more inconvenient, especially on the inadequate scale and with the inadequate modes we have in Toronto/GTA, and even in the most urban areas of the city I know many who still opt for the car in many circumstances. A greater critical mass with a few more cross-town and relief lines, along with a more extensive TC-type network would no doubt improve this but this is a ways off yet, if ever.
 
I've merge Oxford's current Yorkdale Mall plan with the future expansion area to create the following:

Click to Enlarge
 
sixrings said:
well if its a DESTINATION mall maybe they will eventually be able to get away with some parking fees. 5$ a spot would eliminate alot of window shoppers plus it would make money that the mall could split between its retailers...
Click to expand...

That would certainly increase transit use.
 
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