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Originally Posted by tyeman200
I wonder if those triple towers set for around 2060 is due to Walmart probably finally moving out of the mall by then?
Cause once that is taken over, the parking lot for Walmart becomes very small and they have no space for their Garden Department. So I can imagine by that time, Wal-Mart will probably have their own store, probably right by Costo near the 401, which tbh dunno why they just don't do that now.
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Yeah, the never ending saga of are they staying or are they going? The ownership 2 times ago (Red Cliff or something like that, 20 years ago) wanted Walmart gone and they were planning to build first down at Exeter and Wonderland and then a little north of Wharncliffe on Wonderland. Then they sold the mall to Bentall and they locked Walmart into a lease with the renovation of the store. Now they've sold the place and who knows what Westdell wants to do. I can't imagine they want to lose Walmart now, unless it is to a site they own somewhere in the south end. Bentall was Penequity, so I could have seen Walmart going over there but who knows now.
I was in that mall on Sunday for the first time in a couple years and was surprised to see how dead it has become with lots of empty stores. And even with the somewhat recent floor to ceiling reno, the mall just looks dumpy. Seriously, the best thing for that mall is Walmart to leave, most Walmart malls seem to be trashy. Of course, the Bay looks to be on it's last legs too, so that would be 2 big holes to fill. Maybe they can do theaters where the Bay is and residential where Walmart is but I don't know if Westdell has the "oomph" for that. Everyone says how nice it is to have a local company own a mall like that, but I'm not sure this won't be the death knell for the place. Similar to Westmount under Sifton. With CF owning Masonville, and at the time, large national companies owning White Oaks, those companies had leverage with retailers. How does a Westdell compete with CF to keep desired retailers if those chains have to pick one or the other in their own possible downsizing business?