[officedweller]

Sounds right. It's curious that Eataly will have very little presence in the mall. Odd for a tenant co-occupying the flagship space. Eataly will not face into the mall as all others have in this space. It'll face out to a hallway as you walk into Simons.


It makes up for that with a big presence with a corner unit outside a main entrance to the mall. I hope you're right about the hospitality angle for the main floor. Yonge Street could use some animation. I wonder if part of this plaza/nook can be turned into a patio, maybe to the right of those lamp posts. Roots on the left has eaten into the space with a railing that serves no purpose.

I'm thinking that the areas I have marked in orange below won't be fixed walls,
but open entrances (like Eatons used to be).
They may have moveable glass partitions or retractable garage style doors.
That would allow free flow into both Nike and Eataly.
The up escalator to Eataly's 2nd floor is about 6ft from that partition/corridor.

The Simons entrance would be further in where I have drawn a red line.

Nice to see the Simons restaurant balcony - that will recreate a focus on the end wall of the galleria.
I think it also means the removal of the generic Nordstrom glass window/curtain wall cladding.
Maybe they'll even add an arch or artwork on the wall above to recreate the old Eaton's look.
Simons is known for its artworks, and that would be a good spot for a piece.

 

[nightstreak]

I'm thinking that the areas I have marked in orange below won't be fixed walls,
but open entrances (like Eatons used to be).
They may have moveable glass partitions or retractable garage style doors.
That would allow free flow into both Nike and Eataly.
The up escalator to Eataly's 2nd floor is about 6ft from that partition/corridor.

The Simons entrance would be further in where I have drawn a red line.

Correct. That's a corridor that'll be shared by all three stores. Do note that the Nike layout is not included in the leasing map yet. I had to guess its layout based on the remaining available space as the Simons and Eataly layouts were already defined. Reports corroborate their two floor 18,000 square foot layout which matches the remaining available space. The following is the most up-to-date map on CF's leasing site:

Grey is reclaimed Cadillac Fairview space which eventually became the Nike store but has not yet appeared on any layout plan. A corridor will have to be reserved there to connect to the mall. Retail Insider says:

The CF Toronto Eaton Centre Nike store will span 18,000 square feet over two floors, and will be located along a new interior corridor that will be created on the main level of the 213,000 square foot former Nordstrom store. Across the hall, Eataly and La Maison Simons will both have a presence with entrances.

What's odd is how the corridor will be off to the side, hidden by Roots and without any visibility from down the atrium as anchor tenants have enjoyed since the beginning of the Eaton Centre. It'll also break from the natural flow of the mall. I'm curious to see how Cadillac Fairview handles this.

 

[officedweller]

What's odd is how the corridor will be off to the side, hidden by Roots and without any visibility from down the atrium as anchor tenants have enjoyed since the beginning of the Eaton Centre. It'll also break from the natural flow of the mall. I'm curious to see how Cadillac Fairview handles this.

My guess is that only Simons will have large prominent signage at the end of the galleria.
Nike is only 18,000 sq ft. That's the same as other larger retailers in the mall like Harry Rosen, Zara or Winners.
Likewise for Eataly.
They'll just have signage on their mall entrances like other stores.

 

[nightstreak]

My guess is that only Simons will have large prominent signage at the end of the galleria.
Nike is only 18,000 sq ft. That's the same as other larger retailers in the mall like Harry Rosen, Zara or Winners.
Likewise for Eataly.
They'll just have signage on their mall entrances like other stores.

But it's not just signage. The layout favours Nike in its placement on this wall despite being overall smaller. It takes up 2 floors and virtually all of the available visible surface space front and centre at the end of the galleria:

Following up on the floor plans, I was able to assemble a mockup of the store façade distribution on the north end of the Eaton Centre atrium, based on the pillar positions on the leasing layout.

As I suspected, Nike is going to have a disproportionate presence on this wall, effectively looking like the mall's anchor tenant despite having the least space. Eataly will be barely noticeable inside the mall.

Simons will have what looks like a half moon Juliette balcony for its cafe in the blue space at the top. The blue hallway on the right is the entrance to both Eataly and Simons with Eataly's escalator up to its second floor accessible from the side on this small hallway. I added the Simons logo above this hallway for visibility because I'd expect Cadillac Fairview to add some sort of signage, otherwise Simons' entrance won't be visible from inside the mall.

Simons will have the top floor and will probably have the largest signage, but Nike's store will stand out the most simply because of where it is.

 

[nightstreak]

Considering the possibility that Cadillac Fairview may be the highest bidder to take back their Queen Street building and get out of the long term sweetheart deal Hudson's Bay was granted when it sold them the property, it's fun to speculate on how Eaton Centre will partition the heritage building..

Between BMO's takeover of four floors of the former Eatons/Sears and the four office towers, Eaton Centre has become, in no small part, an office complex and a serious player in office space in downtown Toronto. Allocating 4 floors in the heritage building and the entire Simpsons tower podium to offices would make the remaining 2 floors of retail more manageable to lease out.

At street level, the restaurant Leña had been doing really well prior to the water issues that forced them to close. I could see a restaurant on each corner of the ground floor, leaving a centre portion and the second floor for a flagship retail tenant or two connected by the bridge to the main mall.

Photos: Oliver Bonacini

The basement seems to be straightforward. It becomes a part of the PATH with dozens of shops connected to Bay Adelaide Centre in the south, Sheraton Centre to the west and to the north, the Queen Subway station, soon to be the busiest interchange station on the TTC network. I don't think Cadillac Fairview is shedding many tears with the demise of The Bay.

 

[evandyk]

Has it been made public which 28 of HBC's leases the Vancouver company is buying (subject to approval from the bankruptcy court)?

 

[nightstreak]

Has it been made public which 28 of HBC's leases the Vancouver company is buying (subject to approval from the bankruptcy court)?

Not yet. For competitive reasons, this isn't disclosed publicly until the court has all the bids. That said, Queen Street and Yorkdale were definitely stores Ms Liu had bid on since she was seen on Rednote touring the stores. I don't think she toured any other stores in Ontario so I'm not sure she's interested in anything else. Most of her business would be in BC and Alberta. At least 2 of the leases are in her own malls which was leaked in a slip up by someone on her team.

Both Oxford and Cadillac Fairview are highly motivated to outbid her but there's a ceiling where it no longer makes sense. They can also let her go ahead first then contest it in court because they leased the spaces for a department store called Hudson's Bay with a very specific business model that could anchor their mall and drive traffic. If Ms. Liu's stores are event spaces and restaurants with retail mixed in and she can't fill 6 floors of retail, they might have a case against accepting the lease transfer, and then just offer HBC a token amount to take back the leases for themselves.

Another possibility is that Cadillac Fairview negotiates with Ms. Liu to rubber-stamp the lease transfer for maybe 2 floors on the condition that she become the anchor tenant for that space for an agreed period and frees up space for use by Eaton Centre as I outlined above.

 

[Northern Light]

Not yet. For competitive reasons, this isn't disclosed publicly until the court has all the bids. That said, Queen Street and Yorkdale were definitely stores Ms Liu had bid on since she was seen on Rednote touring the stores. I don't think she toured any other stores in Ontario so I'm not sure she's interested in anything else.

She/her team definitely looked at many more Ontario stores. A surprising number in B-list locations.

26 leases in Alberta and BC would be every single store.

Zero chance (I think).

I don't see an Asian-inspired experiential store in Medicine Hat.

 

[nightstreak]

I don't see an Asian-inspired experiential store in Medicine Hat.

I legit cackled

 

[Northern Light]

I don't see an Asian-inspired experiential store in Medicine Hat.

Amusingly, I can now confirm, no one bid on the Medicine Hat lease, it will revert to Primaris (landlord) without conditions. Its one of 5 stores owned by Primaris where the lease was not bid on.

The others were in Calgary (Sunridge), Kingston, Orleans, and Quebec City (Les Galleries)

 

[TossYourJacket]

Amusingly, I can now confirm, no one bit on the Medicine Hat lease, it will revert to Primaris (landlord) without conditions. Its one of 5 stores owned by Primaris where the lease not bid on.

The others were in Calgary (Sunridge), Kingston, Orleans, and Quebec City (Les Galleries)

Ooof that means the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston has lost all 3 anchors without direct replacements. That said, both Target and Sears have now been redeveloped for smaller stores (Target became Indigo/Dollarama/Marshalls/Urban Planet, and Sears now contains LL Bean and Ardene but the remaining units it was subdivided into remain empty) so I assume they will end up splitting up Hudson's Bay the same way, but that's rough when they haven't been able to even finish filling the Sears box yet.

 

[Northern Light]

Ooof that means the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston has lost all 3 anchors without direct replacements. That said, both Target and Sears have now been redeveloped for smaller stores (Target became Indigo/Dollarama/Marshalls/Urban Planet, and Sears now contains LL Bean and Ardene but the remaining units it was subdivided into remain empty) so I assume they will end up splitting up Hudson's Bay the same way, but that's rough when they haven't been able to even finish filling the Sears box yet.

People of all sorts, have connections of all sorts..........but I must confess, I never connected you to the Kingston area. Never mind a shopping mall. From whence does your familiarity w/this property hail?

 

[Mihairokov]

Didn't know Kingston had an LL Bean. Manulife Centre has signs up for one coming soon.

 

[TossYourJacket]

People of all sorts, have connections of all sorts..........but I must confess, I never connected you to the Kingston area. Never mind a shopping mall. From whence does your familiarity w/this property hail?

I grew up in Belleville, so we'd go to Kingston for stores they didn't have locally (if we didn't want to go all the way to Toronto, which we also did pretty often). Then I went to Queens so I'd take the express bus from campus to the mall to go shopping. My parents still visit Kingston sometimes (mostly for the Costco) so they give me updates on whats changed since I left.

 

[Tuscani01]

I'm thinking that the areas I have marked in orange below won't be fixed walls,
but open entrances (like Eatons used to be).
They may have moveable glass partitions or retractable garage style doors.
That would allow free flow into both Nike and Eataly.
The up escalator to Eataly's 2nd floor is about 6ft from that partition/corridor.
The Simons entrance would be further in where I have drawn a red line.

This is correct, and your markup is bang on. Nike will have an entrance in that little hall, but the main entrance will be via the atrium like Nordstrom had. Eataly will be accessed from the spot where your orange line is shown, and Simons from the red line.

Also will note that there will be an entrance to the street from Eataly. It will be located at the corner where the Sears entrance previously existed. That entire ground floor space is restaurant space, so a patio here isn't too far fetched!