Dead Malls of Canada - Page 84

elly63 · #**1661** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 4:09 PM**

Back to the topic at hand. Pardon me for not following the thread but has there been many posts on the "movement" to build housing in dead/dying malls. I don't know how bad it would be if you had a little corner store in one end and some kind of fencing to keep people from being too close to your window.

Might not be a bad place to live with atriums, fountains etc. I don't know how others would think and I haven't put too much thought into it.

MonctonRad · #**1662** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 4:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

I wasn't a nerd, I lived for gym and sports, played everything. Also got into theatre from middle school on. Hungout with everybody in high school, jocks, brains and theatre ****. Does that remove nerddom?

You were nerd adjacent.

I was a wallflower in high school, but, for some reason I gained confidence in university and blossomed.

MolsonExport · #**1663** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 5:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You were nerd adjacent.

I was a wallflower in high school, but, for some reason I gained confidence in university and blossomed.

me too. part of my blossoming was the byproduct of being a manager at McShitties while in CEGEP/University.

elly63 · #**1664** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 7:05 PM**

Now that I think of it, maybe I was a nerd.

As a child, I was a voracious reader of... encyclopedias. Never read any fiction outside of school except for Catcher in the Rye. Guinness Book of Records hard covers were often Christmas presents and does anybody remember The Book of Lists that were big at the time. I had the three of those and of course all the material was set in stone in the brain.

From The Book of Lists came that great piece of trivia of the man who died laughing while watching a favourite show of mine when I was a teenager (The Goodies).

Of course, it is dated now but I still laugh at the part that did the poor guy in. It was the Scotsman at (2:04) which is the most replayed part of the video. The reason it came to light was the guy's wife wrote to The Goodies thanking them for making her husband's last moments so happy.

• Video Link

Probably one of the few twelve year old who had all 26 eps of the World at War memorized from watching the multiple times they were shown on TV. Still remember how Olivier pronounced the word vacuum.

I guess jocks can be nerds too

FactaNV · #**1665** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 8:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

Back to the topic at hand. Pardon me for not following the thread but has there been many posts on the "movement" to build housing in dead/dying malls. I don't know how bad it would be if you had a little corner store in one end and some kind of fencing to keep people from being too close to your window.

Might not be a bad place to live with atriums, fountains etc. I don't know how others would think and I haven't put too much thought into it.

Thats generally the plan for Downtown Winnipeg's gargantuan Portage Place mall. Mixed use residential, service, grocery, food and a bit of retail along with medical facilities, including a new musculo-skeletal clinic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

Campus Redevelopment Plan

Djeffery · #**1666** Posted **Jul 22, 2025, 11:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

Back to the topic at hand. Pardon me for not following the thread but has there been many posts on the "movement" to build housing in dead/dying malls. I don't know how bad it would be if you had a little corner store in one end and some kind of fencing to keep people from being too close to your window.

Might not be a bad place to live with atriums, fountains etc. I don't know how others would think and I haven't put too much thought into it.

Several of London's malls, including the big 3, have various housing proposals out there. Who knows when any of them will actually start. I believe only one actually has a plan to have a building physically attached to the mall (Westmount for those with local knowledge). The others are proposing one or several buildings in their vast parking lots. Great idea to try to get more customers living on site.

ssiguy · #**1667** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 1:45 AM**

Greater Vancouver seems to have avoided the problem of dead malls or at least much more so than other cities. I think this is probably due to the fact that Vancouver never overbuilt them. They did, however, build a lot of plazas which are becoming dead and the reason for that is probably just to do with the weather. It never gets very hot or cold in Vancouver so the need for shopping malls and their climate controlled atmosphere was never really an issue.

ScreamingViking · #**1668** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 2:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

Pardon me for not following the thread but has there been many posts on the "movement" to build housing in dead/dying malls.

In Hamilton, three malls have substantial redevelopment plans that include residential.

Eastgate Square is a "quiet" but probably dying mall in the city's east end (built when I was but a toddler in the early 1970s, and its life has been concurrent to mine), and the vision is many new towers, some initially proposed at 40+ storeys but now 20 seems to be the limit.
https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/eastgate-square-redevelopment.48878
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-re...5c43782-a2dd-510f-80ca-60e4d3a23645.html

Lime Ridge Mall, in the city's southern suburban area, is still very lively. But with the closure of Hudson's Bay who knows what will happen. It recently changed ownership, but there has been a plan to add residential that the new owners say is still a go.
https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/lime-ridge-mall-intensification-phase-1.49090
https://thepublicrecord.ca/2022/06/lime-ridge-mall-plans-to-add-two-12-storey-residential-towers/

The city's downtown former Eaton Centre is empty and the plan was to demolish it and put up 4 condo towers. It's been crickets for a while.
https://thepublicrecord.ca/2025/03/brief-no-update-on-city-centre-olt-talks/

The market being in the crapper has delayed all these plans. But I could see them happening.

ScreamingViking · #**1669** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 2:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssiguy

They did, however, build a lot of plazas which are becoming dead and the reason for that is probably just to do with the weather. It never gets very hot or cold in Vancouver so the need for shopping malls and their climate controlled atmosphere was never really an issue.

So many "Power Centres" could benefit from the addition of residential buildings.

Are they as much a thing in B.C. as they are in Ontario?

ssiguy · #**1670** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 5:50 PM**

BC has so many "power centres" you'd need a super computer just to locate them all.

Gresto · #**1671** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Lots of nerds on this forum (myself included).

I loved Radio Shack too.

I never was a nerd per se, but I have been a loser to the nth degree for many years. I think there's a distinction, but maybe not.

MolsonExport · #**1672** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 8:12 PM**

Toronto Dead & Doomed Mall | Exploring Kipling-Queensway Mall (July 2025)

• Video Link

MolsonExport · #**1673** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 8:14 PM**

A dying mall in Owen Sound:

• Video Link

MolsonExport · #**1674** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 8:16 PM**

Galleria in London continues its abysmal decline

• Video Link

craner · #**1675** Posted **Jul 23, 2025, 11:02 PM**

I remember The Goodies show as a kid -
“Goodies, goodies yum, yum”

O-tacular · #**1676** Posted **Jul 24, 2025, 1:07 AM**

Finally watching Last of Us and there’s an episode documenting Calgary’s former Northland mall before it was demolished for another generic Walmart power centre. The film makers left original store signs and many features, they just made everything look a bit more decayed. I’m not familiar with that mall though since I only ever went there maybe one time growing up. It’s opposite side of the city from me.

casper · #**1677** Posted **Jul 24, 2025, 2:57 AM**

The weirdest one in Vancouver was Champlain Heights Mall. Growing up it had a Hudson Bay Department store at one end and SuperValu grocery store at the other. The Bay was replaced with a Zellers for several years and the SuperValu because a Your Independent. They ended castrating the mall and redeveloped around 3/4 of the mall into townhouses. Today the inside part of the mall that still remains only has the grocery store and a few small shops. They build some satellite buildings in the parking lot that connect well with the rest of the community. Even an outdoor patio for the Starbucks.

Despite its weird history, I think this is a good example of how to redevelop malls. Dramatically reduce parking, build some office blocks that combine retail and medical offices in the parking lot. Apply some pleasing architecture, in this case it is clearly in a west coast style. It is weird it does not have a totem pole.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gt3xAHb2Lij1PeVd6

----

There are some malls that should be dead but they live on. This one is very small. Maybe we should call it a baby mall or tiny mall. Growing up as a kid its main anchors were Safeway on the second floor and Fields Department Store and the Royal Bank on the ground floor. Today is is mostly small independently owned stores. Its owned by the Vancouver School Board and has been in a legal dispute with a property developer for years.

• Video Link

MonctonRad · #**1678** Posted **Jul 24, 2025, 12:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gresto

I never was a nerd per se, but I have been a loser to the nth degree for many years. I think there's a distinction, but maybe not.

Nerds are not losers. These terms are not synonymous.

Nerds are intelligent introverts lacking social skills. If they can gain confidence and break out of their shells, they can become highly successful, even more so than their "popular" counterparts.

Many of the "popular" people that I knew of in high school went on to have mediocre lives. The one exception was one fellow who went into business and ended up owning multiple hotels and fast food franchises.

niwell · #**1679** Posted **Jul 24, 2025, 2:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Finally watching Last of Us and there’s an episode documenting Calgary’s former Northland mall before it was demolished for another generic Walmart power centre. The film makers left original store signs and many features, they just made everything look a bit more decayed. I’m not familiar with that mall though since I only ever went there maybe one time growing up. It’s opposite side of the city from me.

I was not aware of this and will have to check it out! Last of Us has been on my list for a while but haven't gotten around to starting it.

As someone who grew up in the NW I'm quite familiar with it. Was actually supposed to go to Sir Winston Churchill HS across the street but applied to go to Bowness instead. Even back then Northland Mall was always kind of the bastard child compared to Market Mall. Stores and amenities were never as good and always felt a bit rundown, though I vaguely remember a movie theatre as a kid (still, Market Mall's was better). Since then Market Mall has gone fully upscale and despite a few tries at revitalization I see Northland is basically gone. At least they are building some residential fronting Northland Dr.

MolsonExport · #**1680** Posted **Jul 24, 2025, 3:10 PM**

Le "Corpse" (Cours) Mont-Royal, downtown Montreal.

https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/les-...current-state-of-montreals-weirdest-mall

This place has been a retailing disaster since it was converted from being a hotel in the late 1980s. It's a shame, since it is really very nice inside. But it is away from the main shopping street, has never had a drawing anchor tenant, and has a very perplexing layout.

Where will these stairs take you?

Quote:

Built in 1922, the building that is now Les Cours Mont-Royal was once the largest hotel in the British Empire, with a portion of the hotel’s ceiling preserved over the mall’s catwalk. In 1988, Les Cours was reopened after being transformed into the complex it is today.