[kcantor]

^Barrier to entry is the cost, which is about $30. Hopefully there are school groups/offices that are attending.

I attended following a Chamber function and could have sent more time than I did. The sound isolation between presentation areas could have been better but having said that it is a temporary exhibit that is still well worth seeing.

I also thought $25 for adults and $15 for youth (plus service fees) to be a little steep, particularly for many of those who you would want to attract. In hindsight it might even have made more sense to have offered “free admission” with a “suggested minimum donation” on exit rather than entry.

 

[Offworld]

The Delta Hotel is a strata under separate ownership from ECC West.

So here's my suggestion: As part of a more comprehensive agreement, the mall owner builds and sells a new hotel building to the strata owner elsewhere on the ECC West site, and in return also takes ownership of that strata unit to facilitate redevelopment of the rest of the ECC West lands. I realize that's a gross understatement in terms of the actual legal and financial framework, but unless the current owner takes ECC West by the horns and does something truly creative, they'll continue to own what's effectively become a millstone.

That strata lot otherwise just gets in the way of a fulsome, comprehensive redevelopment, and this would help modernize Edmonton's hotel stock.

 

[Offworld]

^ A big caveat I did not mention has to do with the health of the hotel market. My understanding is that Edmonton's hotel occupancy levels are and have been pretty low for many years. You'd have to pick a pretty tight niche you'd think you'd have success with if you were to build a hotel today.

 

[David A]

While there are some advantages to building or expanding the hotel in City Centre Mall, there would also be a lot of cost involved and possible considerable disruption with tearing down or renovating the existing structure.

So I feel a new hotel would make more sense say on the already vacant land just south of City Centre East or elsewhere nearby. In any event yes, this may all be a moot point if occupancy has not recovered enough yet.

 

[Greenspace]

Since it's the end of an era. when the Bay left ECC they owed Oxford $18m in lease payments. It was the beginning of the pandemic and Oxford said they had to pay up or it was finally over. The Bay did not leave because they wanted to. They had not paid any lease payments since 2012.

Retail insider has an article about how RioCan had exposure to hundreds of millions of dollars in debt since 2015. My guess is The Bay rarely paid lease on any of it's properties in the last decade.

 

[husky]

Since it's the end of an era. when the Bay left ECC they owed Oxford $18m in lease payments. It was the beginning of the pandemic and Oxford said they had to pay up or it was finally over. The Bay did not leave because they wanted to. They had not paid any lease payments since 2012.

Retail insider has an article about how RioCan had exposure to hundreds of millions of dollars in debt since 2015. My guess is The Bay rarely paid lease on any of it's properties in the last decade.

That is incredible and awful at the same time. What kind of business practice is that? I am surprised The Bay lasted so long knowing that.

Private equity absolutely destroyed the business.

 

[kcantor]

That is incredible and awful at the same time. What kind of business practice is that? I am surprised The Bay lasted so long knowing that.

Private equity absolutely destroyed the business.

The Bay had some not so complimentary practices regarding their real estate and relationships with landlords that long pre-dated their private equity partners.

Having said that, their disgracefully poor retail practices and offerings are likely what was ultimately responsible for their demise.

 

[Markyeg]

Since it's the end of an era. when the Bay left ECC they owed Oxford $18m in lease payments. It was the beginning of the pandemic and Oxford said they had to pay up or it was finally over. The Bay did not leave because they wanted to. They had not paid any lease payments since 2012.

Retail insider has an article about how RioCan had exposure to hundreds of millions of dollars in debt since 2015. My guess is The Bay rarely paid lease on any of it's properties in the last decade.

Not surprising. I remember a couple years ago they got locked out of their store in Coquitlam for failure to pay rent, so this was likely standard practice across the country except for maybe a couple of their flagships.

 

[northlands]

Private equity who invest via LBOs for the purpose of stripping and looting all value are the ass cancer of the business world.

 

[kcantor]

Private equity who invest via LBOs for the purpose of stripping and looting all value are the ass cancer of the business world.

In some cases, LBO's may well be that.

In others, the LBO can be quite successful for all parties (Heinz, Hilton, Safeway, AllTel, Dell, Kinder Morgan, Global Logistics, BioPharm etc.).

"Stripping and looting" probably only takes places when the underlying business is not strong enough or capable enough of surviving. I would put the Bay in that category as well as noting - again - that the Bay had been "stripping and looting" their own operations for a very long time before there was an LBO involved.

 

[Offworld]

That is incredible and awful at the same time. What kind of business practice is that? I am surprised The Bay lasted so long knowing that.

Private equity absolutely destroyed the business.

It's possible that the locks weren't changed was to protect co-tenancy provisions in leases.

 

[David A]

If the LBO owners spent as much time and energy trying to focus on and improve the business of the Bay as they did coming up with clever ways to extract money from it, the business might still be continuing.

We usually get a heads up here about the state of companies like this, because locations like this farther from the core of their operations and media attention are usually the first they neglect or close.

I strongly suspected they were going down when I visited their downtown Toronto location last fall and saw how dead it was.

 

[JNO1]

30% off the regular price of tickets at UNCEDED to help celebrate National Indigenous History Month. Available now until closing day on June 21. Enter the discount code NIHM30 at the "Checkout" page on the UNCEDED website. Come on by and visit this amazing exhibit before it is gone. And bring a friend. Or two. Or six.

 

[JNO1]

Not sure what this is. Directly to the east of Revolver.

Looks like a new gallery opening up beside "Da Pop up Shop" on the second floor.

 

[Gronk!]

Tsawwassen Mills Transforms Under Central Walk's Vision

Since acquiring Tsawwassen Mills in 2022, Central Walk has transformed the centre with experiential retail, entertainment, food halls, and cultural attractions, boosting traffic and redefining suburban shopping in Canada.

retail-insider.com

Tsawwassen Mills, located on Tsawwassen First Nation land in Delta, British Columbia, has undergone a remarkable transformation since being acquired by Central Walk in May 2022. Under the leadership of Weihong (Ruby) Liu, Chairwoman of Central Walk, and Linda Qin, CEO of Central Walk, the shopping centre has shifted from a traditional outlet model to an ambitious, multi-functional destination blending retail, culture, entertainment, and community engagement.

I wish ECC had a similar vision.