The lease Sears has on the space is worth a good chuck of change. They could sell the lease to another retailer and the new retailer will be well paying "super low rent". The property owners may have to buy Sears out.

not sure if this was posted, but Motion fitness will occupy some of the space in the old lawson safeway when it closes in early 2018. i dont know an opening date for the New safeway, but im guessing january or early feburary 2018.

I checked out the Black Market Market yesterday, held in the Olympia Restaurant space on 2nd Ave. Renovations have been underway, opening up the space between the restaurant and lounge space more and the addition of a massive central bar. Someone told me that the next establishment in the space is going to be more bar-oriented.

It looks great in there. Hoping that things work out this time with this cursed space.

A new restaurant called "Hearth" is set to open in the former Crazy Cactus space at Ruth & Melrose next year, billing itself as a "casual neighbourhood gem serving slightly chefy food & strong drink." It already has my interest.

https://www.hearth.restaurant/

https://www.instagram.com/hearth.restaurant/

There is a good write-up about the District Kitchen and Bar in this article.

Also, their website is up and running:

https://districtyxe.ca

Hmm that’s not how I interpreted the article. My understanding is that the airport locations in Calgary and Edmonton, and the Banff location were to remain open as well.

Midtown Plaza and TUC Place redevelopment plans
 

Somehow this is being discussed in the Regina Retail thread. I thought I should bring it home.

My initial thoughts are this is great! The only thing I would change from the concept is the future office tower development on the north parking lot. That would be an ideal place for a new arena, connected to the mall. Arena at one end, performing arts and conference facility at the other. All near theatres and and the Remai Modern.

And I was just happy to see new tiles being installed at Midtown!

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...redevelopment/

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...plan-1-OFW.jpg

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...ring-1-OFW.jpg

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...ring-2-OFW.jpg

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...ring-3-OFW.jpg

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...ual-Sketch.jpg

http://www.cwcanadaassetservices.com...w-Interior.jpg

Love it. Give it a green light.

Trying to parse out what is real here and has a good chance of happening, and what is just a vision for maybe happening someday (ie - never).

Improved frontage along 1st Ave and along 20th with the rework of the Sears space is fantastic. Do that right away please.

Moving the auditorium to the Toys R Us site, and development on the parking lots, is a little more far-fetched, or at least far away time-wise. I guess that's the long term vision part. Would've been nice to see an arena sketched in on the north lot, just to signal that mall ownership is at least thinking about that opportunity.

If anything, it shows that the owner is looking to put some serious dollars into Midtown over the coming years to renew, evolve, and diversify the property, which is a smart and necessary play. It's happening to leading malls all over Canada right now.

Interesting. I'm having trouble figuring out how this is going to work. Does KingSett Capital (owners of Midtown) own the land that TCU and the YMCA are on?

That's a good question. I'm pretty sure the City owns the land where TCU is and the corner parking lot. The YMCA must own their own land - I can't imagine them not.

Perhaps KingSett is anticipating a land swap. If so, they will have to provide some significant funding towards a new auditorium and convention centre - this is not high on the City's list of needs/wants (certainly well down the list from projects like a new arena or downtown library).

Other than that, I believe the rest is the property of KingSett. I can see everything in the green and blue coming to fruition without any acquisitions happening.

It would definitely be cool to see this project come to life as envisioned(mostly). I wonder if the current renos have anything to do with this?

I was thinking the same thing

Is it me or is Cactus Club's building bulldozed / just not a part of this plan haha

Midtown
 

If this project ever gets implemented it would go a long way towards stitching together downtown (especially combined with the North Downtown). Some great ideas here. Right now there are too many big blank concrete plains downtown, especially the Toys R Us site, which really chops things up.

Midtown plans:

I like the no parking at 1st Avenue or 20th Street entrances, bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

The bigger concept is alright too. I hope some of these ideas get off the shelf.

The hotel/convention centre will probably never happen, but a redevelopment of Midtown would be huge for the atmosphere downtown.

One thing I've always wanted to see is a redevelopment of Hudson's Bay. It looks like such a run-down location for a high-end store like that. Give the outside a little facelift!

25% of the Safeway/Sobeys banner will be converted to discount format FreshCo over the next four years. FreshCo is Sobeys discount format, comparable to No Frills, for those who haven't seen the store in Ontario.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3914614/s...estern-canada/

My guess the one at Preston Crossing will be converted for sure

depends on the owner and when his/her contract expires. i know preston crossing/college park sobeys are franchised out, its why they still have the old sobeys layout model also. i could see it happening though.