Painstaking work put into facelift of 1970s-era mall. 'Anyone who has renovated an old house knows that every time you open up a wall, you can find something you didn’t expect,' says First Capital Realty CEO
Open this photo in gallery: Hazelton Lanes, once Toronto’s premier luxury mall, opened in 1976. First Capital Realty Inc., the mall’s new owner, is in the midst of giving it a major renovation that will cost more than $100-million.
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Open this photo in gallery: Its previous entrance on Avenue Road was difficult to find and required walking either up or down flights of stairs to get inside.
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Open this photo in gallery: An aerial view of the property in Toronto’s Yorkville area. About 265,000 people live within a kilometre of the mall with an average family income of $106,000.
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Open this photo in gallery: “Our vision is to create a much more modern layout and more connection to Yorkville,” says Dori Segal, First Capital’s president and CEO. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: A broad two-storey glass entryway will improve accessibility and create a new presence along Avenue Road. The mall, redesigned by Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd., will be rebranded Yorkville Village.
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Open this photo in gallery: Whole Foods Market will continue to anchor the mall. Yorkville Village will also feature 25 boutiques, a food hall with quick-service outlets and at least two sit-down restaurants.
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Open this photo in gallery: The old façade along Avenue Road and layers of flooring have been removed. Construction began last year with completion set for 2017. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: The mall’s location within a tight residential area has posed significant problems. Material from the demolished north-facing Avenue Road façade, seen here, has had to be hauled through the gutted south end of the mall to dumpsters. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Former maze-like corridors of stores will become straight shopping streets that will converge at a glass-roofed oval atrium. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: The former skating rink, scrapped in the 1990s, will become the oval atrium. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: The work is being done in phases, requiring many of the mall’s tenants to move to temporary quarters. Here a finished store faces hoarding where work continues. Wallace Immen/The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Once renovations are complete, escalators and elevators will take shoppers from street level to the upper and lower floors.
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Open this photo in gallery: “It may cost tons of money to redo a mall like Hazelton Lanes, but I’m sure they’ll get their money back,” says Ross Moore, director of research, CBRE Ltd. Canada. “It’s absolutely a great location and the trends are all in favour of the area.” Read more at link below: Vintage Hazelton Lanes getting more than a facelift.
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