Area hasn't changed much, not over gentrified by generic condos, starbucks, jack assholes, and milestones chains or yuppie types. The store itself has been selling bottom of the barrel stuff for the last few decades.
The iconic Honest Ed's store is up for sale: National Post
- Thread starter mynameisearl11
- Start date
Call me selfish, I've been too preoccupied with the Spadina Subway extension to give much thought to Honest Ed's.
I remember shopping there as landed immigrants, but we'd already moved out to the suburbs before we became Canadian Citizens. My emotional attachment from my childhood is to the Santa Claus Parade, my grandfather participated in as a member of a marching band. As for Kensington Market, it is a shambles in desperate need of renovation.
I remember shopping there as landed immigrants, but we'd already moved out to the suburbs before we became Canadian Citizens. My emotional attachment from my childhood is to the Santa Claus Parade, my grandfather participated in as a member of a marching band. As for Kensington Market, it is a shambles in desperate need of renovation.
It's kind of high maintenance with all those bulbs and I don't think the current 60's Vegas imitation sign goes back earlier than the 70's
+1, I remember going there with my Mom and the shelves were stocked to the brim. You couldn't move because there were so many people in there and the most dreaded part was the line up to pay and exit. It was worse than the airport security line up during March break. Although most of the items were junk, there were some occasional good buys, it was a bit like a treasure hunt to see what you could find. There was also a doctor, optometrist, immigration specialist on site. Sadly, I stopped in again 30 yrs later to find that the inventory was virtually depleted and hardly any customers there, it was as if it was just a question if time before it went up for sale. Technically, this is not in the Annex as the boundary stops on the east side of Bathurst and the north side of Bloor, but whatever goes in there will have a huge impact on Annex residents. I hope Walmart or a condo does not go in.
I guess I missed out on it in it's better days. Ahh well might still visit so I can say I did it lol.
I've been in the area for other things (like a burger, or the old record/CD store, can't recall now name, or the Hot Docs Theatre), but not Honest Ed's. I was afraid of it becoming a glorified junk store.
Welllll isn't that sweet of you. What say you send your thousand dollars into the city to start the ball rolling to pay for it. You can start an indiegogo campaign and see how many others you can get to come up with say $50 or $80 million
You'd only have to get 50,0000 people to kick in $1,0000 or half a million people to kick in $100.
I would say that the best use for the city would be a lower cost family oriented (2-3 small bedrooms) high rise condominium complex with a few floors of retail and a floor or two of offices.
This is a prime location directly on the subway line that would allow more people to live on an existing transit corridor and reduce the number of commuters coming from further away, both by car, TTC and Go Train.
The area is already highly commercialized.
This is a prime location directly on the subway line that would allow more people to live on an existing transit corridor and reduce the number of commuters coming from further away, both by car, TTC and Go Train.
The area is already highly commercialized.
Sounds good, but wouldn't a 2 or 3 bedroom condo be prohibitivly expensive for most families. A larger square footage condo would be atractive to many people including boomers downsizing from their larger homes in the burbs (me included).
Not if it is modestly sized and finished. I think there is a move towards smaller footprints in Toronto. I think there are enough people who have decided their 2500 sf house in Barrie, Miss, etc is not worth the daily grind of the commute. After all, we hardly use many of the rooms we have in those houses.
Anyways, the market will determine the mix of bedrooms and I think the 1-2 bedrooms are coming to their saturation point. The point I was making was that the best use of this particular site woudl be a high density residential condo with attached retail and office on the lower floors. This nostalgia about some energy hog 1980's sign and the shit hole store Honest Ed's is now, and parks etc is ridiculous.
I agree that the small one and two bedroom condo's without a den are just too small for many people (again, me included). I would like to make the move to downtown, but would want at least two bedrooms and a den to consider it.
I have no problem at all with the suggestion you make for the space--mixed use seems to make sense. Things change, Honest Ed's is a commercial operation past it's best by date. The business is history, but not the kind of history you can preserve for future generations.
There are plenty of older condos that are much bigger than the newer ones. The new units are always shrinking.
As to affordability. The average house price in Toronto is almost $550,000 now. You won't get much of a shit rowhouse in the Bathurst Bloor sidestreets area for much less than $600k. A developer can build and sell a nice 1,200 sf 3 bedroom condo for that. Den's are horseshit and serve no purpose.
As to affordability. The average house price in Toronto is almost $550,000 now. You won't get much of a shit rowhouse in the Bathurst Bloor sidestreets area for much less than $600k. A developer can build and sell a nice 1,200 sf 3 bedroom condo for that. Den's are horseshit and serve no purpose.
Dens Rock.
Yes, I think I would be looking at older buildings that have been renovated. Not sure what a den ever did to you, but I like a real den (not the little corners in these new units--they are a waste of space). In a den I can set up a big screen and make a man cave. I currently have over 5,000 sq. ft of living space and when we host people it always ends up with everyone in the den--doesn't hurt that the bar is in there.
Life is a lot different in a condo. Hosting a bunch of friends is not the same as being in a 5,000 sf house. It is a change of living altogether. It works for some, not for many.
Problem with that is that the market has already decided that it's ok to price pre-construction condos at $$ridiculous/sq ft literally across the street from Honest Ed's. Ain't gonna be no low-cost housing at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor.
