St. Laurent Shopping Centre

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by SidetrackedSue

I hope they survive this. I'm not going back any time soon, but I still believe it will be far safer than bars or indoor dining if the audiences are the same size they were before shut down.

The issue for movie theatres is that customers need to wear masks for hours at a time without the ability to eat concessions which is where theatre profits come from. Without concessions it's almost not worth it for theatres to open even without social distancing.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by JHikka

The issue for movie theatres is that customers need to wear masks for hours at a time without the ability to eat concessions which is where theatre profits come from. Without concessions it's almost not worth it for theatres to open even without social distancing.

I've been a bit surprised that cinemas don't seem to be looking at increasing their ticket prices. That would offset at least some of the losses and I think people would accept it as a "covid cost". There is no way that the business can be sustainable at current ticket prices with the limitations on numbers.

[nredding]

The Mayfair has reopened and the ByTowne is reopening next Friday. Apparently, you can remove your mask once you are seated.

[DEWLine]

Yeah. The audience levels at Cine-Starz when I visited before the Pandemic were pretty much what I would consider relatively safer nowadays than some of the other options.

Also, I've always liked the Cine-Starz practice of "No Ads AT ALL!" Just the little 20-30 second spot urging people to have their snacks at the ready, turn your phones off, etc., and then right to the show itself! I do think I'd be inclined to accept a price hike of a dollar or so, to pay staff better and get the facilities in better shape.

[J.OT13]

I honestly don't mind adds at Movie Theatres. Gives me time to eat my pop-corn. If it helps generate revenue while keeping the price of entry low, and the doors open, I'm all for it.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I've been a bit surprised that cinemas don't seem to be looking at increasing their ticket prices. That would offset at least some of the losses and I think people would accept it as a "covid cost". There is no way that the business can be sustainable at current ticket prices with the limitations on numbers.

Agreed but movie tickets at chains are already so high to begin with...independents can survive off of cheaper tickets and membership fees but they'll struggle.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I honestly don't mind adds at Movie Theatres. Gives me time to eat my pop-corn. If it helps generate revenue while keeping the price of entry low, and the doors open, I'm all for it.

Agreed. I really don't mind sitting through advertisements at the beginning of the movie if it means my tickets are 5-10% cheaper than they otherwise would be.

[eltodesukane]

Morguard mulls major makeover at St. Laurent mall [2 years ago]
https://www.obj.ca/article/morguard-...t-laurent-mall

Any updated news about this?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Morguard mulls major makeover at St. Laurent mall [2 years ago]
https://www.obj.ca/article/morguard-...t-laurent-mall

Any updated news about this?

No news since then unfortunately.

[Harley613]

https://www.obj.ca/article/morguard-...t-laurent-mall 'In addition to the 865,000-square-foot shopping mall'

That's hilarious. The 'shopping' part of St. Laurent is barely bigger than Carlingwood.

[Truenorth00]

The mall sucks. And it's getting worse. The Bay will go eventually too. And that will really make it obvious. They need to tear it down and start from scratch. Or they are going to be managing decline for years.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The mall sucks. And it's getting worse. The Bay will go eventually too. And that will really make it obvious. They need to tear it down and start from scratch. Or they are going to be managing decline for years.

As a westender I've always shopped at Bayshore or Rideau. The few times I have been to St. Laurent I am always struck by how 'closed-in' it feels in many of the hallways Unfortunately, to achieve the high ceilings and natural light that Bayshore has this mall would need to be levelled. It feels more like a neighbourhood mall than a regional shopping centre.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

As a westender I've always shopped at Bayshore or Rideau. The few times I have been to St. Laurent I am always struck by how 'closed-in' it feels in many of the hallways Unfortunately, to achieve the high ceilings and natural light that Bayshore has this mall would need to be levelled. It feels more like a neighbourhood mall than a regional shopping centre.

I remember in the late 90's, early 2000's when St. Laurent had a Playdium with a climbing wall and VR games, the acid trip cloud ship dioramas were new and still cool, and they had an artist's impression on a blank wall in the food court of the new second floor with skylights that they were going to build between the food court and Sears. At that point St. Laurent was the coolest mall in the city and felt like it was going to get even cooler. Now it really is Carlingwood 2.0.

[Marshsparrow]

The good old university days when you would take the 95 out to Place d'Orleans to start and then if you didn't get your fill you could stop at St-Laurent to end. The time when the east end had much better retail therapy than downtown or west end!

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

As a westender I've always shopped at Bayshore or Rideau. The few times I have been to St. Laurent I am always struck by how 'closed-in' it feels in many of the hallways Unfortunately, to achieve the high ceilings and natural light that Bayshore has this mall would need to be levelled.

I see this as an opportunity. For the city and for Morguard.

They are sitting on land abutting a transit station, a major avenue and a highway. The mall is a 15 min LRT ride from the core and 10 min drive. Are there any other large plots of land that are so strategically located that are ripe for redevelopment?

And it's not a small plot either. It's more than 16 hectares/40 acres. That's roughly the size of Parliament Hill or Lansdowne. They should be able to build a whole village there. Something akin to Zibi.

If the ambition is there, they could even straighten out Coventry better to make a proper Ogilvie-Coventry corridor.

That said, it's Ottawa. So I expect we'll just get a few condos in the parking lot. Like at Gloucester Centre.

[MoreTrains]

There is really only one option. St Laurent must start to build residential. Most malls across Canada have the same issue, foot traffic is down. Only way to increase it, put people right there. St Laurent could easily accommodate 3-400 residents on site without major modification to the mall itself.

If they wanted to be visionary they would try to make something like they do in Asia. Start over, integrate residential towers into the mall itself. Almost self sustaining. Thousands of people with no reason to leave the property because everything is available to them. That is what I would like to say.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I see this as an opportunity. For the city and for Morguard.

They are sitting on land abutting a transit station, a major avenue and a highway. The mall is a 15 min LRT ride from the core and 10 min drive. Are there any other large plots of land that are so strategically located that are ripe for redevelopment?

And it's not a small plot either. It's more than 16 hectares/40 acres. That's roughly the size of Parliament Hill. They should be able to build a whole village there. Something akin to Zibi.

If the ambition is there, they could even straighten out Coventry better to make a proper Ogilvie-Coventry corridor.

That said, it's Ottawa. So I expect we'll just get a few condos in the parking lot. Like at Gloucester Centre.

They could (will) build a whole RODERICK LAHEY village there! How many charcoal brick 27 story towers could you fit on 40 acres? Stay tuned, we'll soon find out!

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Harley613

They could (will) build a whole RODERICK LAHEY village there! How many charcoal brick 27 story towers could you fit on 40 acres? Stay tuned, we'll soon find out!

Honestly? It's a rare moment where it might be a step up from what's there today.

[Acajack]

I lived in Ottawa not too far from there for a time in my childhood.

It was once a grand 1970s mall in the typical style of that era.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Honestly? It's a rare moment where it might be a step up from what's there today.

Ottawa is going to look a lot like this by the time Roderick is finished with it.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by MoreTrains

There is really only one option. St Laurent must start to build residential. Most malls across Canada have the same issue, foot traffic is down. Only way to increase it, put people right there. St Laurent could easily accommodate 3-400 residents on site without major modification to the mall itself.

This is entirely the wrong way of approaching it. The current mall is a terrible design. You have an entire section that is not even being used (Sears). And probably an entire section that is going to be redundant shortly (Bay). Adding a few condos really isn't going to improve sales in the stores all that much.

We need to recognize that we have a surplus of retail space and a shortage of residential space. Possibly even a shortage of office space in the long run. Morguard has an opportunity to reallocate space on that site to better meet demand.

Originally Posted by MoreTrains

If they wanted to be visionary they would try to make something like they do in Asia. Start over, integrate residential towers into the mall itself. Almost self sustaining. Thousands of people with no reason to leave the property because everything is available to them. That is what I would like to say.

That would be ghastly and not allow for a reallocation and addition of space. They have 867 275 sqft of retail space. Developed properly they could probably keep at least half a million square feet of retail, maybe even add to it. And they should be able to throw in an equal amount of office space as retail and double the amount of residential space.