After a year of consultation and a year of demo the Trinity Development Group is about to begin construction of The Stockyards, a 650,000 sq.ft retail shopping centre on the northwest corner of St. Clair Avenue West and Weston Road.
The new shopping centre is a welcome contrast to the traditional big box centres that line St. Clair. It has a pedestrian and street friendly design which the developers refer to as a “main street feel”.
The centre is scheduled to open in the fall of 2012, with dozens of new stores including the Royal Bank, PetSmart, Linen Chest, Bouclair, Shoe Company, Boston Pizza, Marshalls, Best Buy, Michaels, HomeSense, and a GoodLife Fitness club.
Follow this Link, Stock Yards Development, to view the plans and a short video of the shopping centre.
This centre is going to change the Stock Yards and the Junction in a dramatic way. Let us know your thoughts on this by leaving a comment or taking the poll.
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The north end of the Junction has the potential for to be a great, reinvented area. The streetcar ROW has really transformed the public realm. This development is a great start in terms of how it embraces the main street, the diversity of retail, and the way the new grid of (private) streets will break up the block, making the area more walkable and friendly for alternative ways of getting around besides driving. Too bad there’s no residential component above the stores.
A mix of multi-storey commercial/residential buildings built to the sidewalk’s edge should be St. Clair’s future for a pedestrian- and transit-friendly urban district that could compliment the traditional Dundas strip beautifully. Imagine Bloor, Dundas, and St. Clair all densely-built and vibrant with people, each with their own unique and pleasant flavour. It could happen with the right leadership and community engagement.
My heart sank when I saw the plans for this development. As a Dundas Street merchant for the last 10 years I have seen lots of changes – good and bad. Starbucks? I am not really bothered either way, it’s just another cafe, but I prefer to support the smaller independent business. I am a bit bothered by the blind label obsession of people. Why would a Starbucks raise property values when it is Crema that gets all the great press and makes the world class coffee?
When the big-box stores and then Walmart opened I watched the effects as many, many, stores on Dundas closed until it looked like lights out in ’04. I thought I would have to move. Since then the retail strip has grown nicely if not without a lot of pain (sad to see good people not make it). Funnily enough, I have often referred to the Stockyards as a suburban development, this will complete the process of suburbanization. Why I dislike the development is primarily the threat it makes to my retail neighborhood. The uniqueness of the Junction Dundas strip has been the lack of corporate chains, a breath of fresh air in a city/country/continent full of retail sameness. I do have to laugh at the talk about “main street feel,” “diversity,” and “pedestrian friendliness.” Nice sales pitch, but what a crock. Give me a break, that is what Dundas has and is; the Stockyards is acres of parking lots, without any stores not already available in any mall in Toronto or Sudbury. Walkable would be a park. My hope is that the concentration of corporate grandeur north of the tracks will satisfy that particular desire and my strip will be allowed to muddle along (I have a few years left at least think). By the way, as a local BIA member I do not recall hearing about any consultation process (Bill S. on the ball again? I wasn’t). Hey! You can’t stop progress!
The last time my heart leaped up was with the announcement of the Railpath.
We foolishly thought a new era of “greening” was on the way.
Since then, every new major development in the Junction area causes my heart to sink.
I totally agree with the above letter.
“Why I dislike the development is primarily the threat it makes to my retail neighborhood. The uniqueness of the Junction Dundas strip has been the lack of corporate chains, a breath of fresh air in a city/country/continent full of retail sameness.”
So you dislike a development that has the potential to attract chain retail away from your beloved Dundas strip? Shouldn’t you like that as an independent retailer? It isn’t threatening to your retail area because its stores will serve a different market segment. Chain clothing stores and restaurants and big box stores won’t be competing with the kind of independents operating on Dundas. Also, to think that the nature of the Junction’s retail is unique in North America is arrogant. What does seem unique is how the Dundas strip has been revitalized along with the growth of big box retail along St. Clair.
“I do have to laugh at the talk about ‘main street feel,’ ‘diversity,’ and ‘pedestrian friendliness.’ Nice sales pitch, but what a crock. Give me a break, that is what Dundas has and is; the Stockyards is acres of parking lots, without any stores not already available in any mall in Toronto or Sudbury.”
You can doubt it, but the plans are there, and they don’t suggest the uninspiring status quo suburban built form of the Stock Yards. Smaller scale storefronts along the sidewalk on St. Clair, the major street. Sound familiar? It should. The Stock Yards can gradually mature to function more like the rest of the Junction, and this development is a step in the right direction. It’s not just independent retail that makes for walkable, green districts.
The Stockyards already has something Dundas lacks: a streetcar line, and quite an attractive one at that. Development around it can be more urban and oriented around pedestrians, transit users and cyclists, while still accommodating drivers. The big box stores may also be redeveloped in time for dense, mixed-use blocks. This potential which will be acknowledged by the new Avenue plan being finalized for St. Clair.
This development will be much greener than its predecessors, if built as currently planned. So enough with the histrionics.
oh geez, sorry.
You’re right, I am overly melodramatic and also wrong.
sorry again.
I agree with both of you. While I’m not completely in love with the design, I have to admit it’s more interesting than what they probably could have gotten away with. Compared to the big box stores across the street it will feel like the streets of Paris! The only thing I wonder about is if most of the land needs to be used as parking garages.
As a guy who owns a house just slightly east of Old Weston Road, I welcome pretty much anything that might make the area more affluent, interesting or safer. Obviously this shopping centre isn’t going to do all of these things, but it sure beats a slaughterhouse or a giant pile of gravel. If only this revitalization could somehow creep over to Old Weston and St. Clair and consume everything in its path, including the bingo hall.
And I know that if I ever need to buy anything truly interesting or unique, that I’ll head on down to the strip on Dundas and purchase it there like I always do.
I think this could be great. Would like to see a movie theatre in this. There’s not a lot to do in this area. Dinner and a movie would be much cooler than dinner and bingo.
The design could be better but anything is better than what’s been there.
bowling would be nice
THEY – TRINITY AND RIO-CAN ARE PILE DRIVING OVER 200 YEARS OF TOXIC WASTE INTO THE GROUND FOR ALL OF THE JUNCTION PEOPLE TO SWALLOW and NO warning (by law) was given to their activity – especially on Sunday. This is BAD – REALLY BAD.
EVEN IN QUEBEC – by LAW – they don’t allow this BS to happen – pile driving POLLUTKON 15 metres down IS NOT healthy for any one. and trinity and rio-can companies can afford to replace the soil. THIS IS SERIOUS ABUSE PEOPLE WAKE UP!!!!!!