[URBAN NOTE] Vjosa Isai in the National Post on making Old City Hall a mall and museum

[rfmcdonald]

Vjosa Isal's report caught my attention.

In at least five years, visitors at Toronto’s Old City Hall could be greeted not by metal detectors at a security screening checkpoint, but shiny new storefronts. The former city hall building could be transformed into a mall, according to a city staff report.

Toronto’s Government Management Committee is set to consider the report next Monday, which proposes tenant options for the heritage property after provincial and municipal courts clear out by Dec. 31, 2021.

Real estate brokerage firm Avison Young was hired to analyze the space and market, and recommended that plans for the historic building at Bay Street and Queen Street West be implemented within five years “in order to generate and maintain market interest”.

“The results of the analysis concluded that the highest and best use for Old City Hall would be conversion to a retail centre that contains a mix of food service, leisure, event and civic uses,” it said, with part of the space possibly reserved for management and city offices.

The city’s suggested base rental rate is $41 per square foot, not including maintenance and operating costs.

See also Kelly Korducki's Torontoist post.