[nightstreak]

There’s speculation that Ruby Liu didn’t win the bid for the Eaton Centre Hudson’s Bay lease. If I were to bet, Cadillac Fairview really wants it back and were motivated ($$$) to ensure they did. It was a 50+25 year lease, that’s easily worth tens of millions to them to get out of before 2085.

Whether it's "Ruby New Bay" or something else, Cadillac Fairview needs a major draw on the other side of the bridge to make the rest of the south building viable.

Speculating without any knowledge of discussions, Sephora could do well in the former Hudson's Bay beauty department or upstairs by the bridge. They've outgrown their current space, it's always jam packed. Maybe they prefer to be in the main mall space, but they're enough of a draw that I could I could totally see something like this at the bridge entrance driving traffic to the south building:

Or maybe a sidewalk presence on Queen Street. Now that I think of it, the newly refurbished 2 Queen Street West would make a great Sephora or maybe an Apple Store. I can also see the Yonge/Queen corner (Saks 5th Ave) get the same redevelopment treatment as a self contained store, connected to the mall via the bridge.

 

[officedweller]

There’s speculation that Ruby Liu didn’t win the bid for the Eaton Centre Hudson’s Bay lease. If I were to bet, Cadillac Fairview really wants it back and were motivated ($$$) to ensure they did. It was a 50+25 year lease, that’s easily worth tens of millions to them to get out of before 2085.

Probably a good thing if she didn't.
I could see her getting over her head with the big downtown flagships in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

Agreed with nightstreak's comment that she may get a portion of the flagship stores, which would be more manageable and allow the landlords to develop office space above.

 

[officedweller]

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:

I'm thinking that Cadillac Fairview will have tight reins on wraps and billboard-like advertisements facing into the atrium.
I'm thinking the upper level will largely be clear glass with merchandise on display and a central logo like the Bloor flagship,
while the lower level will be open access.

 

[Towered]

Umm, those cracks and lean look rather worrisome…

 

[PL1]

View attachment 654711
Umm, those cracks and lean look rather worrisome…

Yeah... That may need something more than a bit of yellow barrier tape

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

^I assume they're planning to do something about that?

 

[nightstreak]

I'm thinking that Cadillac Fairview will have tight reins on wraps and billboard-like advertisements facing into the atrium.
I'm thinking the upper level will largely be clear glass with merchandise on display and a central logo like the Bloor flagship,
while the lower level will be open access.

What I've been pointing out is regarding the surface area visibility regardless of signage. Nike, despite having the least square footage in their lease, is positioned wth the overwhelmingly largest and well positioned façade facing into the Eaton Centre galleria.

Sharing this again, without the logos to remove confusion:

Red is Nike, blue is Simons and green is Eataly.

Nike is going to get the best exposure, Simons will no doubt have the largest logo and Eataly will be practically invisible from across the galleria.

Worth mentioning that Simons' surface area as seen from the galleria is going to be taken up by a Juliet balcony for their their Ève Café so you won't see merchandise in their window above Nike, only off to the right side above Eataly.

You can see that here:

Regarding the formation of a corridor,, after looking closer at how Eaton Centre handled the removal of Eaton's' lower levels, it's possible that Nike's main floor will form a diagonal or rounded corner to open up the corridor into Simons and Eataly.

Context: Eaton's lower levels:

Once the lower levels were converted to general store leases, Pandora, Lacoste, L'Occitane, etc were added in a corner that continues the corridor, which informs how it might be handled with Nike.

So Nike may end up like this:

 

[daptive]

Every time I see old photos of Eaton Centre I'm envious that I'm not old enough to have personal experience with the mall as it was originally designed.

I guess I'll just have to be happy I got to experience Markville Mall with its babbling brooks and Scarborough Town Centre's original hot air balloons! Mall design used to be so unique.

 

[Dan416]

Interestingly, the mall map is more up-to-date because Lacoste is moving into the old Abercrombie Kids location.

Unfortunately it provides no further clues as to where the new hallway on Level 3 will be.

 

[ShonTron]

Every time I see old photos of Eaton Centre I'm envious that I'm not old enough to have personal experience with the mall as it was originally designed.

I guess I'll just have to be happy I got to experience Markville Mall with its babbling brooks and Scarborough Town Centre's original hot air balloons! Mall design used to be so unique.

The mini-golf at Erin Mills Town Centre was great too. At least I remember Eaton Centre in the early 2000s before it was completely renovated beyond recognition.

 

[Bayer]

Every time I see old photos of Eaton Centre I'm envious that I'm not old enough to have personal experience with the mall as it was originally designed.

I guess I'll just have to be happy I got to experience Markville Mall with its babbling brooks and Scarborough Town Centre's original hot air balloons! Mall design used to be so unique.

This is actually what I consider to be a "recent" picture. That escalator to the lower level didn't exist in the mid 1980's.

 

[zang]

Every time I see old photos of Eaton Centre I'm envious that I'm not old enough to have personal experience with the mall as it was originally designed.

I guess I'll just have to be happy I got to experience Markville Mall with its babbling brooks and Scarborough Town Centre's original hot air balloons! Mall design used to be so unique.

Well, architect Victor Gruen envisioned the indoor mall to be a community hub; a perfect mashup of 3rd place and commerce, with offices, government services and meeting spots and housing encircling it. That never fully materialized, but following architects seem to have wanted to make their mall some kind of draw regardless of the tenants.

I think the past ubiquity of Food Court as meetup point (80s-mid 90s?) was the last gasp of any idea of a mall being a community hub.

Now they’re just shrines to unadulterated retail capitalism.

 

[officedweller]

What I've been pointing out is regarding the surface area visibility regardless of signage. Nike, despite having the least square footage in their lease, is positioned wth the overwhelmingly largest and well positioned façade facing into the Eaton Centre galleria.

Yes, I know what you are saying, but the use of a big red rectangle on your graphic
suggests that the impact of Nike in that location will be gaudy and overwhelming.
We'll have to wait and see.

Here's a combination of the Bloor Nike and your Eaton Centre atrium pic.

 

[officedweller]

Every time I see old photos of Eaton Centre I'm envious that I'm not old enough to have personal experience with the mall as it was originally designed.

I guess I'll just have to be happy I got to experience Markville Mall with its babbling brooks and Scarborough Town Centre's original hot air balloons! Mall design used to be so unique.

The Yorkdale Eaton's restaurant daisy canopies and the Simpson's Court top the list!

 

[Towered]

^I assume they're planning to do something about that?

Is the church owned by CF?