Green Space

As the urban core of Toronto continues to experience population growth and becomes denser, incorporating more green spaces into this plan will be beneficial to residents as street trees can improve air quality by absorbing pollutants and reducing carbon dioxide in the air, Moseman calls them natural “carbon sinks." Green spaces can also help with mental health, reduce stress and improve concentration. Green spaces not only promote active transportation but they also stimulate economic activity. For example, this area does not only consist of residential space, but it also has lots of commercial spaces such as restaurants, stores and coffee shops and because of this, the local businesses near the proposed green spaces of this plan will experience increased foot traffic which in turn will bring in more money and increase sales revenue for those businesses. Furthermore, building aesthetically pleasing water fountains with pet bowls (like the one pictured below) for runners and people walking their dogs could be beneficial as people going out for jogs or walking their dogs will no longer have to carry heavy water bottles around with them.

Advantages

The bottom line is, is that there are many advantages to building this new transportation system above The Railway Lands. For example, its convenience, the combination of transportation modes will connect CityPlace and Liberty Village more efficiently, as well as alleviate traffic congestion along Spadina Avenue and Lake Shore Blvd West during peak hours. It will also benefit the residents who live in the surrounding neighbourhood, as living near public transit can help increase the value of their condo units. Reyna at REMAX stated that living within a 10-minute walk from public transit can increase property values by up to 30%. On top of that, building these multiple modes of transportation will promote population growth and provide economic opportunities by creating jobs in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Lastly, approving this transportation solution plan will, most importantly, help reduce overall commute times.

Potential Barriers

Some possible barriers to implementing my proposed transportation plan include challenges in changing behaviours. Even with positive enforcement like advertising cycling as a good way to lose weight, implementing one-way streets and encouraging the use of public transit, people may still prefer to drive over taking public transit or active travel due to Canada’s cold climate and uncertain weather forecasts. Cost-wise, it also may be difficult to reduce/subsidize streetcar fares in this area if the surrounding streetcars in this location remain at $3.30 per ride. However, for the toll route road, a possible solution to make it more affordable to use could be adjusting the costs/lowering the toll during rush hour and increasing the price back up to its regular fee during off-peak hours. By fluctuating the toll, it may make the one-way streets more accessible to use.

Location

The Well is located in downtown Toronto where high-density condos are present. The Well is also surrounded by a plethora of not just luxury condo buildings but also office spaces and high-end restaurants on Wellington and King Street West. This area can also be considered a tourist destination as it is near tourist attractions such as the Rogers Centre and CN Tower. On the other hand, the St. Clair Avenue West retail strip is located near Deer Park.

Accessibility

From the information I have collected, The Well has public transit, they specifically have a streetcar available on Front Street which helps promote the mall’s visibility. For example, there are many office spaces nearby so after work hours, The Well experiences a lot of traffic from 9 to 5ers looking to buy dinner. Also because The Well is near tourist attractions means that they have a large tourist market as well. They also have bike rings and bike share parking and although they do not offer free parking, they do have paid underground parking. The Well is also near The Gardiner Expressway which makes it highly accessible for people to get to who live in other parts of the city. Just like The Well, St. Clair Avenue West also has public transit available. St. Clair Avenue West has a streetcar and they have paid street parking. In terms of accessibility, both locations have good access to public transportation systems.

Market Orientation

How the two retail areas differ in their target markets is that The Well aims to target and attract high-income working individuals. For example, they are catering to this demographic with the nature of their stores selling products with higher price tags and the furniture and finishes they have appear to be more upscale and visually appealing to the eyes. Not to mention, this ancillary retail is located in downtown Toronto where the average rent prices and median income are higher, so this indicates that higher-income individuals live here. Whereas St. Clair serves lower-income communities. Based on observation, St. Clair has immigration and financial services available which may indicate a lower-income population. They also have a mental health facility which may indicate that many people are struggling in this specific area.

Degree of Speciality

The Well has a low specialty as the lower level mostly contains retail chains. The reason behind this is that developers prefer retail chains over independent retail. Developers want customers to have a familiar feeling when entering these stores/fast food restaurants because they know what they’re going to get. Retail chains will usually have a uniform aesthetic to their other chain locations. This is a way to draw in customers because it is familiar and predictable to them. For example, The Well has a Chatime that has a distinct look and feel to them and if you visit any of their other locations, it looks identical to the one they have at The Well. Chains also have less competition because they are already established and well-known to the public so they don’t have to market themselves as much because people are already familiar with their branding. Well-known stores like Lululemon, Sephora and Structube create more foot traffic to The Well because they have higher market presence and with that means they also have higher purchasing power. On the other hand, St. Clair Avenue West has a high specialty because they differ in strategy as their retail strip mostly comprises of independent stores. Although St. Clair Avenue West is dominated by independent local mom-and-pop shops that have a limited advertising budget, independent stores’ strength is that they can get to know local customers on a more personal level which is good in the long term because those people may end up becoming loyal customers because they created a personal connection there.

Design and Composition of Retail

Based on observation, The Well is a mixed-use building that is composed of a mix of office and commercial space as well as residential condo units. Their design is modern and they included high-end finishes to this vertically built tall building. This building has everything you possibly need in one place. It incentivizes people to not leave the vicinity as it contains everything you need already like a grocery store, doctor’s office, dentist, gym, hair salon, nail salon, furniture store, clothing stores, expensive restaurants and food court and all these spots are either connected by bridges or elevators/escalators. Their slogan is literally “Eat, Shop, Work, Live and Play in Downtown Toronto.” The Well designed its food court as a high-end food court by advertising its fast food as “gourmet grab and go” and the developers made sure to cluster fancy fast-food services that focus on immediate consumption together so it would encourage people to consume their food faster and they could resume shopping. As for St. Clair, the various independent retailers operating their small businesses may have had a lower budget for designing the exterior of their storefronts as many of their designs looked outdated. Also, all the stores were one to two stories high which may be easier for shoppers’ mobility.

Controlled and Managed Environments

The Well is a controlled environment and this outdoor mall tries to control the customer’s movements. For example, The Well has strategically placed BMO (a bank) at the entrance. Swales calls this “the lobster trap." They do this so shoppers can withdraw money before they start their shopping spree. The whole point of the lobster trap is to manipulate the direction of where shoppers will go. They purposefully place the bigger stores at the front because those stores usually generate the most traffic and then in turn the small stores in the middle will ultimately benefit from all the traffic from the bigger stores. Moreover, St. Clair is a managed environment that has a concentration of independent retail businesses.

Planned and Unplanned Retail

The Well is planned retail as it is mostly enclosed spaces. Although, unlike a traditional mall that is within an entirely enclosed space, The Well changes the experience of a traditional mall by introducing an outdoor shopping mall concept. It’s still within an enclosed space but they added features like the ceiling being open which lets in natural sunlight. It is also located in a mixed-use building which houses office space as well as residential condo units. The Well is located on Front Street West which gets a lot of exposure due to high pedestrian foot traffic. By contrast, St. Clair Avenue West is unplanned retail as it sits beside a busy street located in a large urban area. Unplanned retail strips are basically when a bunch of independent stores decide to open storefronts on the same side of the street.

Public and Private Spaces

St. Clair Avenue West is a public space and has public services such as a mental health facility and church available for its community. They also offer public street parking. Whereas The Well is a private space that has privately owned stores, paid underground parking and public transport located outside of the vicinity.

Conclusion

An in-person field exploration of the retail areas would be better than a virtual one as there are many limitations to Internet research. For example, on Google Maps, The Well is still under construction whereas today, it is pretty much completed. Moreover, if there was a post-pandemic hybrid work model, ancillary retail would be the most likely to suffer. For example, ancillary retail spots like The Well’s lower ground are in the bottom part of a mixed-use building and feel congested during rush hour because people are shoulder to shoulder when eating at the food court. In addition, the upper level of The Well is connected by bridges and would not be suitable for a pandemic because there is not a lot of space for social distancing on these bridges. Swales also highlighted in Chapter 10 that during COVID-19, most of downtown was a ghost town. This was because the people who were commuting downtown for work no longer needed to be in the office and many people who lived in downtown temporarily moved to other places because they worked remotely and could work from anywhere. Another example is when COVID-19 happened, more people were promoting small businesses/retail strips by telling others to “shop local.” Also, retail strips like the one on St. Clair Avenue are located on an open street space and offer outdoor restaurant patio seating which would make people more comfortable to eat at because it is in an outdoor setting where you can breathe in open fresh air rather than breathing air in an enclosed space and for those that do not want to eat out, retail strips also provide curbside pickup which makes it even more better for no contact delivery because the delivery driver is interacting with less people.