Local LRT stations at Laird Drive and Bayview Ave are rising above ground level. With any luck, the train service will be in operation by this time next year. Below, ten years ago we liked to visit Mac’s, Mr Sub and others at the friendly no-name plaza. Do you miss it?
Nearly 70 years after it opened as the first strip mall in Canada, Sunnybrook Plaza is now locked up and empty. It awaits redevelopment into a high-rise rental and commercial location.
Here’s an eerie echo of the past posted to Leaside Community Facebook page by member Virginia Lennox Kelly. John and Chris Interiors was among the oldest tenant at the 1951 plaza. They had been in business since 1971 at this location. But behind their sign was this even older retail memory of Marion’s Smoke Shop, Gifts and Barber Shop. Talk about a multi-purpose store. Other such Sunnybrook memories have come to the surface as seen in this 2017 post about the mall’s original Canadian Bank of Commerce sign.
Sunnybrook Plaza is merely a shadow of its former self but it appears business will continue in some form well into 2020 and perhaps beyond. It’s understood that the plaza’s owner, RioCan Reit, will avoid lease cancellation payments by letting tenants stay to the bitter end if they choose. But few will remain by late next year. Rexall is set to move into space around the corner at 1820 Bayview in April.
UPS to 82 Laird
The UPS store will move to 82 Laird Drive in a few weeks. That’s beside Express Hand Car Wash. The Ontario government has also told RioCan not to start work on redeveloping the plaza until the corner of Eglinton and Bayview is more or less back to normal. Seems that will be no sooner than mid-2021.
Darna Middle Eastern Kitchen
The new restaurant at 1613 Bayview will be called Darna Middle Eastern Kitchen. The windows of this new business remain papered over and there is no indication yet of the opening date.
Preparation for use of the new hammerhead crane at Leaside Station has seen crewmen working to sort out cables high above the site. Traffic is required to swing far to the left as it approaches Eglinton from the south, then swing over to the right to continue past Sunnybrook Plaza. Cars can enter the plaza from Bayview now.
Urban Toronto has published updated information for the redevelopment of the Sunnybrook Plaza at 660 Eglinton Ave East. They note that the project has been redesigned with the OMB-mediated heights of 16 and 11 storeys (55.9 and 44.05 metres high), reduced from the previous 19 and 13-storey heights. More: UrbanToronto
Metrolinx has published an article online which speaks openly about what many think is the elephant in the room when the Crosstown LRT is discussed. Normally, it’s all about how fast the new rail line will get people across town. Seldom in the past has the provincial transit authority talked how it’s really engaged in making Toronto bigger — much bigger. The article is called As Toronto looks to future growth, Leaside Station holds design secrets to grow with. It tells how some stations are being built to accommodate high-rise development over certain transit junctions. That’s the case with the main Leaside station where the foundation at the site (located on the southeast corner of Bayview and Eglinton) is being built to support condo and/or commercial development above. It leaked in 2015 that Metrolinx had consulted with developers about a large, maybe quite high building on the station site. The government has purchased two of the four-plexes on the east side of Bayview south of the station. The station site plus the residential buildings would create a sizeable footprint on Bayview for any new structure. It would also offer stunning eastern exposures overlooking Howard Talbot Park. Fancy a nice east view overlooking Howard Talbot Park?
The recent transfer of traffic to the west side of Bayview Ave. at Eglinton has brought a close to the entrance to Sunnybrook Plaza. The present traffic configuration is said to be for a period ending sometime in June. Speculation seems reasonable that Sunnybrook will be locked-in at the west end until then. The closure seems to render a serious blow to businesses in the plaza. Many people had stopped going there but it seems few indeed will struggle through the single file line of buses, trucks and cars that crowd Eglinton westbound. At this writing, the Bulldog is not up to date on the prospect for left turns onto Eglinton, if any.
Eglinton Crosstown (@Crosstown) is posting updated pictures of LRT at Laird and Eglinton/Yonge stations. The traffic cam capture at upper right shows Leaside Station at street level. Sunnybrook Plaza is behind the camera. On Facebook a paid-up member commented tartly: “Just build it already.” A look at what the overdue trains will look and sound like is here.
Home Hardware in the Sunnybrook Plaza has confirmed that the end is near for the store that has been an essential go-to place in South Bayview. An employee says that that owner Malcolm expects to be at the location until about November. There are apparently no plans to open another area store so far. Rents are high, it was noted. Malcolm owns three other Home Hardware operations, two on the Danforth and one at 2305 Queen East in the Beach. The closest Home Hardware store now appears to be at 1420 Yonge (at Pleasant Blvd). You will walk from the Green P garage on Pleasant up to Yonge and cross the street to patronize it. Dickson Home Hardware at 2028 Avenue Rd. is very good (and large) but it’s nearly at Highway 401. Most days, we would trade an LRT for a good Home Hardware.
What appears to be an act of vandalism was recorded on Leaside Community Facebook account Monday when a picture of the smashed front of Floka Salon in Sunnybrook Plaza was published.
The redevelopment of Sunybrook Plaza, which may still be two or three years away, will see the new 16 and 11 tower residential complex offered solely as rental apartments. There will be about 332,000 square feet of such relatively high-end accommodation built into the project along with some 43,000 square feet of retail space. The subject was raised Wednesday at the Leaside Property Owners Association meeting by Councillor Jon Burnside. Sunnybrook Plaza has operated for many decades under the ownership of the RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Company. Earlier this year, RioCan sold a half interest in the redevelopment to Concert Real Estate Corporation. On completion of the new complex, Concert will operate the residential side of the business and RioCan the retail side. Councillor Burnside said the rental option might give area residents an opportunity to stay in the community after selling their homes without having to buy a major asset.
