[Burnaby] The Amazing Brentwood | 15 Towers | 186m | 56 flrs | U/C & Proposed

[MistyMountain]

I think the eventual masterplan is to redevelop the old mall into more towers.

[jamieson]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I walked around the mall yesterday, its really dead now, the food court is all boarded up now, there are no options to get food now except for the just opened Basil Box and the food trucks for however long they will last. Shape did the same at Lougheed, they used food trucks to fill the void until the new eateries was ready, from the looks of it the new food court looks nowhere near being completed and it was said to be completed by March 2020.

Anyway if retailers wanted a spot in the mall so badly there are plenty of spots in the existing mall that they could move into to get a spot. Unless they don't want to lease out the old mall and have plans for something?

The mall has been dead for the last 3-4 years.. why would retailers want to move into the existing mall if it is dead?

I have a sneaking suspicion that they are having a hard time leasing out the spots even prior to the pandemic. It is strange that they just secured Sephora (given that it is owned by LVMH). So far, no Apple store which I thought would be a shoe-in, and no luxury brands that they were originally suggesting in its plan, etc. Perhaps those will take some time, but so far it's a super random assortment of restaurants like Neptune Seafood, Gram Cafe, Chef Hung, etc and then you have Express News? I think they are struggling..

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by MistyMountain

I think the eventual masterplan is to redevelop the old mall into more towers.

This is from a few years ago - I doubt it's changed much.


Image: Shape Properties (via Daily Hive)

[jamieson]

Originally Posted by MistyMountain

I think the eventual masterplan is to redevelop the old mall into more towers.

The additional towers are to be built around the existing mall. The existing mall is expected to be renovated not redeveloped.

Oakridge mall was recently announced to close until 2024 to speed up the construction. They should do the same with Brentwood - it is taking way too long.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by jamieson

The mall has been dead for the last 3-4 years.. why would retailers want to move into the existing mall if it is dead?

I have a sneaking suspicion that they are having a hard time leasing out the spots even prior to the pandemic. It is strange that they just secured Sephora (given that it is owned by LVMH). So far, no Apple store which I thought would be a shoe-in, and no luxury brands that they were originally suggesting in its plan, etc. Perhaps those will take some time, but so far it's a super random assortment of restaurants like Neptune Seafood, Gram Cafe, Chef Hung, etc and then you have Express News? I think they are struggling..

yea there can't be that many tenants interested or they could easily move into the old mall. Indigo has pulled out, most likely due to their own problems, but they closed their coles book store in there. Even the KIA west closed down. Michael Hill is closed, they say due to covid but their other locations have opened. Purdys hasn't reopened either.

The outside plaza looks pretty full, Nike, Adidas, Sephora, Wilfred, Suit Supply, Urban Oufitters, H&M, H&M Home are the non food spots. How many new spots are in the first phase? The rest seems to be restaurant/food related or banks/service. Speaking of that the Johnston Meir insurance looks ready to open soon.

Maybe they have bigger plans for the old mall now? renovate it before trying to lease it out?

[jamieson]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

yea there can't be that many tenants interested or they could easily move into the old mall. Indigo has pulled out, most likely due to their own problems, but they closed their coles book store in there. Even the KIA west closed down. Michael Hill is closed, they say due to covid but their other locations have opened. Purdys hasn't reopened either.

The outside plaza looks pretty full, Nike, Adidas, Sephora, Wilfred, Suit Supply, Urban Oufitters, H&M, H&M Home are the non food spots. How many new spots are in the first phase? The rest seems to be restaurant/food related or banks/service. Speaking of that the Johnston Meir insurance looks ready to open soon.

Maybe they have bigger plans for the old mall now? renovate it before trying to lease it out?

The economy has no doubt put a stunt to the store openings and leasing opportunities. But I'm hoping with all these additional closures in the existing mall, it will give Shape a reason to renovate it sooner than later, similar to Oakridge Mall.

The masterplan indicates 250+ "world-class merchants," none of which are world-class thus far... So we have a long way to go. But I am surprised they don't have the 'mall staples' in there yet such as Lush, Zara, Banana Republic, Aldo, Browns Shoes, Sunglass Hut. I hope all of these super random restaurants are in the food court and not taking up prime real estate spots for better stores.

[SpongeG]

Cactus Club is on the plaza across from Starbucks. La Taqueria is next to Cactus Club. Across from starbucks and next to Sephora is a chinese seafood restaurant. Most of the plaza seems to be food related.

Which leaves the boulevard for the retailers and there can't be that many in there as, that 250 number must include the old mall spaces. Aldo filed in May for protection but I believe the Quebec government was going to invest in them to get through the times. they have closed a number of stores in their restructuring so I doubt they would open a new store if ever again.

Rec Room has put up some signage in the one overpass, It says Cmoninyall or something like that in bright yellow signage over the entryway, that was not there the last time I Was there last week.

I count maybe 30 new spaces in this plan and from what has been seen in photos most of the spots are spoken for.

Sephora is going next to H&M Home and the hoarding or whatever it was had been completely removed when I was there yesterday so they must be putting up some new hoarding which I assume will have a typical Sephora coming soon type display.


dailyhive.com

[jamieson]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I count maybe 30 new spaces in this plan and from what has been seen in photos most of the spots are spoken for.

There should be still a ton of retail spaces available as the new buildings have multiple floors.

I think the spaces under T1 and T2 are still unspoken for? And there is no way we still need all four levels of the T3 podium to be leased to WeWork....

[jollyburger]

I think the 250 includes restaurants as well. And there's the partnership with L Catterton Real Estate.

[officedweller]

The mall leasing plans on the website show a significantly altered main corridor for the mall - I think the tent roof will be removed.
So it's not surprising that they are not leasing out those areas.
The question is when will the main mall be renovated? Phase 2?
I expect it to be fully closed with London Drugs maintaining exterior access.

[jamieson]

[officedweller]

Thanks!

So I wonder what's the difference between "Tables" and "The Food Lounge"?

[SpongeG]

maybe the food lounge has places to eat with their own seating within their space but in an open environment?

[NetMapel]

This Saboten and this Chef Hung?




If so, that food court is going to be LEGIT!

[giallo]

We've got a Saboten in the mall near my apartment in Seoul, and the cheese-stuffed, deep-fried tonkotsu cutlet is good stuff.

[Coldrsx]

Ain't no CoCoIchi

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by giallo

We've got a Saboten in the mall near my apartment in Seoul, and the cheese-stuffed, deep-fried tonkotsu cutlet is good stuff.

I think if you go to the Aberdeen food court location you'll find it's more limited compared to their other international franchises.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Ain't no CoCoIchi

CoCo is decent, but I find it's fallen off a bit in recent years. I used to eat it a lot in Shanghai, and have had it a couple of times in Korea, but the portions and chicken quality used to be much better. The curry flavour is still good though.

The GOAT Japanese franchise is Ippudo. For a fast food style restaurant, their ramen never disappoints.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I think if you go to the Aberdeen food court location you'll find it's more limited compared to their other international franchises.

Koreans love cheese, so I wouldn't be surprised if the cheese-themed tonkotsu is strictly for this particular market.

[SpongeG]

I go here too much. Some pics from today and an FYI, you can walk along the boulevard after 4 om, as they have a fenced pathway through it to the BMO bank, I was there at 3 so I was unable to but if you wanna experience the space from the boulevard now you can.

this is the NW corner below the food place.
2020-08-22_10-36-38 by snub_you, on Flickr

2020-08-22_10-36-49 by snub_you, on Flickr

2020-08-22_10-36-59 by snub_you, on Flickr

i love the view when waiting at starbucks
2020-08-22_10-37-16 by snub_you, on Flickr

the plaza was quite busy
2020-08-22_10-37-26 by snub_you, on Flickr

2020-08-22_10-37-35 by snub_you, on Flickr

the Sephora space has been opened up
2020-08-22_10-37-56 by snub_you, on Flickr

The mini donut place was parked in the plaza and had a constant line up and there were people coming up all sets of stairs and it was quite a busy place. Sporting Life is having a good sale and a fair amount of customers. Also some protein place is opening next to Preotea, there is also the same protein place on west 4th in kits. Name escapes me.

[GeeCee]

Any update yet on White Spot vs Triple O's yet, SpongeG? It sounds like they've still been putting up White Spot on recent signage judging from recent pictures.