A Home Depot on Queen West?

The one link that might be more useful than all of the above:

https://riocan.com/property/property.cfm?property_id=223

If you look under "Site Plan" you can see the layout they're going for. Home Depot won't actually have much of a presence on Queen. This might be the coolest Home Depot north of Manhattan.

That's a good link. Thanks for that.

It's interesting that this debate (will Home Depot cause gentrification of Queen West) is going on at the same time that the media are lately putting Queen and Bathurst up as Crime Central.

As for "pushing musicians, artists" further west - isn't that what Queen West West or West Queen West or whatever is these days? If anything RioCan are laggards not vanguards like the Drake.

The site map looks pretty good. They're building a new "small" Home Depot down the street from me in Vancouver, but the effect is counteracted by it being located under a Winners and a supermarket (it's on a hill, so everything gets its own door). There's also the Bestbuy/Canadian Tire next door. Interestingly, there is a residential townhouse component, but they're on the roof--the courtyard between the two rows is minimum 3 stories up!

Compared to that, this looks quaint. Are there any actual hardware stores left in downtown Toronto which this might put out of business?

Destruction? Of the cool Queen West hood? Queen West hip? Maybe to tourists from Omaha. It hasn't been the centre of anything cool anytime this decade - one big outdoor shopping mall until Spadina. For godsake there's been a McDonald's on the corner of Queen and Spadina for more than a decade. Methinks the writer is stuck in some sort of time warp. Gentrification is the name of the game, and it's been going on forever. Given how many more people are living downtown [in my book a good thing] there is a need for a store like Home Depot. I'm sure many will be grateful to be spared the drive [or the taxi hire or uhaul rental, etc] to suburbia. I know I am.

And since when is building on a PARKING LOT such a bad idea? That has been an unsightly gap along the strip for longer than I care to remember. Putting together retail, commercial, and residential in one building is a wonderful idea, harkens back to what makes city life so vibrant, successful and safe. Remember Jane Jacobs? Eyes on the street and all of that. I doubt that she would consider this a bad thing.

Perhaps the only drawback is the height - 7 stories might be considered rather high given that most buildings fronting Queen on that stretch are between two and four stories. But then again the following tend to hollow out that argument: the CHUM/City Building, the Candy Factory, and those bastions of gentrification the Drake and the Gladstone, all would seem to loom over the neighbourhood, yet they have all become inseparable from the idea of Queen West. (Or am I venturing into Queen West West territory?)

The Globe article admits that its only rumoured to be a Home Depot. And of course that's believable. We've all heard of the Manhattan Home Depot. The Site Plan pdf only describes it as Home Improvement. I heard down at the Second Cup that Rona was moving into there. Oh wait..right they wouldn't have any business in downtown Toronto... But Lowes just agressively opened stores in Hamilton, Brantford and Brampton...ya..so they wouldn't want to expand into Toronto. ....Nope. It's gotta be Home Depot. That's the only suspect. Yup.

It's just that Home Depot actually has opened urban stores already, but Lowes I'm not so sure of...

That gentrification needs to be pushed west of Dufferin.
Parkdale been waiting over three decades for it.
Push away, as far as I'm concerned.

I've been watching the lot of Queen Street for the last 20 years, and it seems to be changing to a more genteel Main Street and a less chic Yorkville Ave.
Its special character started to disappear when the HMV and other chain stores came by and demolished the facades and the character of the buildings they now occupy.

So now it attracts the hip 905ers and the suburban 416ers to come and shop before going clubbing later in the day.
Mom and pop operations and multi-generation family stores are now disappearing at an alarming rate only to be replaced with big box stores (some of them notorious for bad attitude).

Next thing, maybe the Black Bull and the Rex will be converted to some type of franchies xxxxx&Firkin or Duke of xxxxxxx.

*sigh* There goes the neighbourhood.

Didn't RioCan do metropolis as well? More than the home depot - it's probably more concerning to see a 7 story building built in a 2-4 story street fabric.

I horrified -- you mean I won't have to get in my car every time I need to go to a hardware store? How awful, to have the stores I need right where I live, and not tucked away conveniently in the suburbs.

Queen West is a real neighbourhood. People don't just make art and stuff here -- we *live* here. We can't live on boutiques and club drinks and expensive organic steaks alone.

(And I'm horrified, too -- that I can't remember not to try to type this early in the morning :) )

I am not complaining if they are paying a fair share of the property tax

.....interesting....funny enough this will serve to be very useful for all the design students at Ontario College of Art & Design who are always in need of building supplies for projects...not to mention reasonable prices...what's also in some sort of good convenient note to add is compared to having to trek all over the city for building materials in places where students don't live...it will actually somewhat beneficial......

yes...so it will change Queen St West more...and for everyone who hasn't quite clued in yet...the change has already occurred...yes it is a shame...and now as the decades pass and the locality of Queen St.W must continue to draw further and further West into areas undeveloped...the fact remains that for those who believe the Queen St W can contain remnants for those not wishing to for the old experience to stay...will have to go to new localities....I think funny enough..Dundas St. W will adopt the Queen St W experience it once had...however, it will be up the community that dwells there...

i do miss the old queen st w.....but that was gone when the day caban was scheduled to close its doors...

that was gone the day caban closed its doors? alright mate, keep telling yourself that, better to say the day caban opened.
and to be fair to the gap, they have been there 20 years, long before it was a outdoor shopping mall.

really... this warrants an article, really? I hear that a new 7-11 opened on Davenport. Stop the presses...

jj, the reason this warrants an article can be found in the second and third paragraphs:

"A new seven-story condominium/retail complex is planned for the corner of Queen and Portland Street, near Bathurst. The structure will be built on what is currently a parking lot.

The building must conform to certain rules and must ensure that it blends into the look of the neighbourhood, since Queen West is a heritage conservation district."

It's the story of a new seven-story building being built in a heritage area primarily composed of older two and four-story buildings.

Is that new 7-11 built differently from the typical structures in a heritage area? If it is - or if you have any other ideas that would necessitate stopping the aforementioned presses - please feel free to contribute to blogTO via the following link:
http://www.blogto.com/contribute/

I just hope they stick to the parking lot and don't consume the adjacent properties. Ali Baba's has excellent chicken shwarmas (esp Thursdays 2for1). Pizzaolio's would also be missed.

I think it's cool, we SHOULD make every neighborhood and every city look the same. Uniformity.
Who cares about neighborhoods, listen, these people gotta buy our shit.
Don't ask, don't fight it, just shut up and sign up now for your in-store-credit card.

im pretty sure "you can do it, we can help" is home hardware, not home depot.

the problem with having a hope depot in downtown is the same as having a home depot anywhere; this chain, in particular, is ruthlessly competitive in its positioning. it works furiously to undercut competition on the retail side, and exerts undue pressure on suppliers to keep costs down. as the single largest purchaser of sheetrock in north america, for example, home depot has near total control over its price. this isn't just "big box retail." this is the walmart of building supplies, with all of that chain's associated problems. i'd love to see a hardware store on queen street -- indeed, having a place to purchase lumber and building supplies within walking or cycling distance is fantastic. i just hate to see it be a home depot.

Good point anthony.

I checked, "You can do it, we can help" is Home Depot:
http://www.homedepot.ca/wcsstore/HomeDepotCanada/images/HDHeader/en_CA/HDlogo.gif

@ JJ that's funny, I've heard that a 7-11 is eyeing up Davenport too. I haven't heard of a condo above it though. But if the land owner were smart they should be thinking about it. Davenport is not a hotbed of commercial activity.

I've never understood the opposition to Home Depot opening in urban neighbourhoods. Yes, it's a chain store (shock! horror!) but it's a very useful one. As an artist and craftsperson myself I often have to get my partner to drive me to Home Depot for building supplies, tools, and lumber. Even art supplies to some extent. I paint on board and you can get sheets of the stuff super cheap at the Depot. And they have those cool self-checkout things that never work properly.

As for Queen West being hip ... as others have already said it hasn't been hip or a home to artists for at least ten years or more.

I think the queen wests hipster broke ass art students need to shut the fuck up and get a real income instead of sitting around in there skinny pants and skarfs complaining about "the man" get a fuckin job and kick the coke habbit you fucking bums! It's a dog eat dog world, man the fuck up!

Looks like a great development for that unsightly parking lot.

If the people who live along Queen so worried because they've used their address to define their coolness, maybe they should try moving somewhere like Gerrard and Pape. That's an edgy neighbourhood with little to no gentrification. Ironically, the one thing it does have is a
Home Depot.

"Ironically, the one thing it does have is a
Home Depot."

And a McDonald's, and a Staples, and a Winners, and a Zeller's, etc. True, they're all mostly confined to that horrible mall, but still.

lol @ lmac...and waiting patiently for the day when he has to "man up" and he is the dog being eaten by a bigger dog.

What exactly is a "real income", BTW?

I can't believe people are for this, say goodbye to the neighborhood.

Obviously you have tight pants and a coke habit.

Neither,just hate seeing neighborhoods and small business knocked out by big chains who don't give a crap about anything and have no character.

A Home Depot is actually a chain I can support (because it's useful)
Downtown is now filled with a lot of condo dwellers and there's a market for home improvements. It's makes sense for those who don't have a car to drive out to the 'burbs.

What I hate is chain restaurants driving out the little places that are delicious!! And walmart. I hate to see a Walmart go up anywhere. I would actually chain myself to a construction site to prevent one from going up.

There knocking out a parking lot. I know what you mean though. Yes, I agree it sucks a lot to see you're favorite hood change to big chain stores. To set the recored straight anything east of Bathurst Isn't queen west in my opinion, it is an outdoor addition to the Eaton Centre if anything, anywhere near Much Music (Rogers) is shit tourist attraction. Like the other bloggers have said The Macdonald's has been on the corner of Spadaina for some time. It was a matter of time for that parking lot to turn into something. I'm not surprised. I'm just glad it's not a 30 story condo.

I believe this is one of the reasons why Adam Vaughn was elected in this ward. The city owns the alleyway that separates the two halves of the parking lot, and I believe that they leveraged the sale of it to limit the maximum retail floor plate for the site, to discourage a full size home depot. I think what we expect to end up with is a home depot with a few "boutique style" entrances.

Note that all of this info is horribly out of date, it's just what I remember from a community meeting in late 2006 before the election.

There are hardware stores nearby, notably one just West of the intersection of Queen and Bathurst, and one very near Queen and Cameron (not to mention those in Kensington and other nearby shops). I think that there is a place you can buy lumber near Dundas and Palmerston, so it is not as if there aren't already local businesses that serve this market.

On the whole, I think it might not be that bad, depending on the design, but it could also be atrocious.

It will provide vandals with a cheaper place to obtain "art supplies"! Yay!

HD already built a store that is a version of the store in this article, in Northern Richmond Hill about Leslie and Elgin Mills. The focus is to sell the services and accessories not so much the building materials.

I live near by this intersection and what I'm hoping is that a grocery store (a Rabba, a Sobey's, etc) opens in the remaining retail space. Like Stephanie said above, the people who actually live in this neighborhood could use some practical stores in addition to the great small, specialty stores and bars that we do frequent. Like many of my neighbors, I don't own a car or have access to one -- a grocery store would be a godsend. Adam Vaughn is a great councilor so hopefully his input has convinced the RioCan people to keep the streetfront looking nice. But it's a pretty commercial strip already...this isn't Queen and Lansdowne we're talking about here...

I would kill for a proper grocery store within walking distance of my condo at Queen and Bathurst. I'm sure many feel the same! I'm happy to have a Home Depot nearby as well, since the options at the little Mom & Pop hardware store are so lacking (they have nothing I need, and when they do it's way overpriced!)

Funny how this is the spot where the pesky existing buildings just burnt to the ground this morning?

Test

LMAC! I love how you rant and rave about hipsters to get jobs and man up. How about you try and learn how to use words properly? Obviously (in your case) if you "man up" too quickly, you skip right through remedial English. Allow me to fix your last paragraph for you...

"There [THEY'RE, or THEY ARE] knocking out a parking lot. I know what you mean though. Yes, I agree it sucks a lot to see you're [YOUR, not YOU ARE] favorite hood change to big chain stores. To set the recored [RECORD] straight anything east of Bathurst Isn't queen west in my opinion, it is an outdoor addition to the Eaton Centre if anything, anywhere near Much Music (Rogers) is shit tourist attraction. Like the other bloggers have said The Macdonald's has been on the corner of Spadaina [SPADINA] for some time. It was a matter of time for that parking lot to turn into something. I'm not surprised. I'm just glad it's not a 30 story condo."

"and now as the decades pass and the locality of Queen St.W must continue to draw further and further West into areas undeveloped..."

Areas undeveloped? They look pretty developed to me. Lots of families, immigrants and workers living in affordable rental situations, me included. Looks like they are gonna be pushed, just like the QueenSt-culture feels like it's being pushed.

I think it's rather sad. Queen Street is morphing into an out door Eaton Centre. Sure it attracts the tourists. But what the F, if you actually live in the neighbourhood, you'd understand how important those mom and pop shops are. You'd understand what a community it is. And you'd be sad to hear of something so horrific as another big box establishment being built. Come on. Do you remember the grassy mini park next to the Rex, where Green Peace canvassers used to chill? The more buildings that go up, they less of a view we'll have of the city.
Did anyone ever thing that we could possibly use a grocery store? No...building supplies seem to be what we really need, cause those condo owners are so into renovations and the DIY. Phew!

Mom and pop shops are expensive because they're not selling you cheap garbage, and whoever the hell says you need to drive out to the burbs to visit a home improvement shop needs to realize the burbs don't start 3 blocks out of the core. This area does need a decent grocery store however.

Balance is key. It's 2008 ladies and gentlemen. The world is only going to get more and more commercialized. let them have their presence in queen west. They can try to be cool and hip and JIVVVE. They can make their litle store look like a family run mum and pop stop; but! who the fuck is gonna shop there when i can goto the LOCAL guys hardware store on queen and mcaul? so let them come. they wont be here long as soon as they relize they cannot capatilize.

I'm going to starbucks
Pis aut

I really would not want to see a home depot as a family friend owns Atlas Machinery on Queen.

I noticed the comments of how Home Depot will not affect queen west; instead they will provide helpful products.

The impact worth noting is that almost every store on Queen West is independently owned. With Home Depot you have a few minimum wage workers filtering all the profits to the US executives. The employee mold will not be suited for the artists that live on queen; therefore it will not help residents find employment. If it were an independent hardware store the profits would be shared between the store owners, employees and the neighbourhood. It would be more lax about worker appearance (allowing for free will) and create a personal bond with the community, adapting to the customer's needs rather than forcing a specific shopping experience.

Queen West has always been a beacon for free thinkers. The forced standard of living coming from stores like Home Depot will be devastating to the culture that thrives on Queen West.