Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheba
Yeah there will be a lot of low rises - but I don't know that there's really a huge need for a big grocery store in the Royal Oak area. After all it's only one Skytrain stop from Metrotown, and on Kingsway the distance between Royal Oak and Nelson (the edge of the mall) is only 450m - that's about a 6 min walk. I'm sure the buildings facing Royal Oak and Kingsway will have ground floor retail but likely nothing much larger than what's already in place.
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I wasn't suggesting anything the size of a Superstore or a Walmart
(either of which would be kind of redundant in that location anyway, with the two of them already having a presence in the area).
But a food store or even small-to-medium sized all-purpose convenience store for quickie (read : non-'large haul') shopping needs would be great.
Also you seem to be forgetting that if someone lives in the Royal Oak area, it's not just the 6 minute walk to Nelson Ave.
The large stores (with the food sections, are actually in the middle of the mall (Walmart and T&T) - a farther 5-6 minutes away on a brisk walk - and if your shopping needs require you to visit the Superstore- which is all the way on the other side of the mall closer to McKay and Station square, and definitely not a "just" a 6 minute walk.
And while the skytrain would get you to the Superstore faster since the stop is closer to that end of the mall, once again, if you happen to live on the Northern side of Kingsway in the Royal Oak area, then it suddenly becomes a 6-8 or even 10 minute walk just to get to the skytrain station or back from it.
And with shopping stores now completely getting rid of shopping bags, that walk might seem even longer if you forgot your personal bag or shopping trolley at home.
I'm sure most people would just drive once you're past that distance thresshold - but that's assuming you have a car and that's also assuming you want to deal with the hassle of parking- which is about to become more of a headache with the Concord Metrotown project cannibalizing a huge chunk of what was formerly the mall's parking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheba
Maybe something larger will go into the base of a building taking over the 7-Eleven corner but looking at the north side of Kingsway across from the mall (that's more recent buildings) I still suspect it'll be smaller retail. I wonder if the developer would consider making the tower a mix of office and residential, or will they leave the office space to the Concord Metrotown development.
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I think the closer you get to Royal Oak and farther away from the mall, most developers will be loathe to set up office spaces and will lean more towards residential and small retail.
The residential tower at the southwest corner of Royal Oak and Kingsway seems to be struggling to lease out some office spaces in its podium on the second and third floors at the moment, and whether that's pandemic-related or just a function of it's location, I still wouldn't imagine any developer wanting to do so in a new development in their projects.
I could be wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheba
I'm hoping to hear proposals for the north side of Kingsway between Royal Oak and Nelson as there's a lot of tiny ground scraping buildings with surface parking. OT the Korean restaurant just off Marlborough doesn't have it's confusing sign anymore ("Don't say, just cool!!").
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A lot of those retail spaces are either owned by the same property management and landlord family/ company, or they sit on land owned by them.
Which is why some of them seem like they might never be getting redeveloped even though everything around them is getting redeveloped.
A few years ago they submitted a proposal for a study to see if the site sitting opposite from the new Concord Metrotown site on the Eastern side of Nelson going all the way to the plaza with the TD and Royal bank could be up-zoned for a high density mixed use redevelopment.
But that was just a study and it was done pre-pandemic era.
Who knows if their thinking was changed or affected at all, or if it was just done to re-asses their property value?
There's been no movement on it any time recently but if they were going to redevelop anything, I would imagine that's where they would begin, with those office buildings/dental offices and the London Drugs and TD Bank plaza. between Bennett and Kingsway and between Nelson and Marlborough.
They also own most of the single and double storey retail units farther along west on Kingsway to the north side and opposite from the Concord Metrotown property.
Those could also get redeveloped as I can't imagine they get as much leasing revenue from those stores as they do from the Dental offices, banks and office plazas east of Nelson.
Funny you mention the Korean restaurant, because I saw a 'For Sale' sign in front of the small stores just next door to them, and I think they all sit on the same lot, so their landlord might just be finally deciding to sell-up.
It wouldn't be surprising if the people who bought the 7-Eleven/IHOP site just next door to them, decided to buy those lots too, along with all that surface parking and do a major project between Marlborough and Royal Oak on that side of Kingsway.
Prime development opportunity.
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