Lawrence Allen Centre

Last updated
Lawrence Allen Centre
Lawrence Allen Centre 2021.jpg
Lawrence Allen Centre
Coordinates 43°43′0″N79°26′50″W / 43.71667°N 79.44722°W / 43.71667; -79.44722
Address700 Lawrence Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M6A 3B4
Opening date1989 [1]
Developer RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
ManagementJulie M. Rinaldi
Owner RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
No. of stores and services120
No. of anchor tenants 6
Total retail floor area 679,575 square feet (63,134.6 m2)
No. of floors2 (Canadian Tire on 2 floors)
Website lawrenceallencentre.com
Interior of the mall in 2021; International Fairweather has been replaced with Toys "R" Us Express in late 2022, though Toys "R" Us itself later moved to a much larger space on the mall's second floor across from the food court in October 2023 Lawrence Allen Centre Atrium 2021.jpg
Interior of the mall in 2021; International Fairweather has been replaced with Toys "R" Us Express in late 2022, though Toys "R" Us itself later moved to a much larger space on the mall's second floor across from the food court in October 2023

The Lawrence Allen Centre, formerly Lawrence Square Shopping Centre, is a shopping centre located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by RioCan, it is one of the city's twenty largest malls. It is located on Lawrence Avenue West, west of Allen Road, in the neighbourhood of Lawrence Heights, the district of North York. It is accessible from the Toronto Transit Commission's Lawrence West station, as well as via various bus routes. It is a terminating vista of Marlee Avenue. North of Lawrence Allen Centre is the Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Contents

Tenants

The first two floors of the shopping centre are used for retail and the third and fourth floors are used for offices.

The anchor stores are Canadian Tire on the west side and Fortinos (Loblaw Companies Limited) on the northwest side. There was a Zellers on the east side, which became vacant in early 2013. There were plans to have Target Canada where Zellers was, albeit in a smaller format, but it was scrapped upon Target's exit from Canada [2] and space remained vacant until April 14, 2016 when Marshalls and HomeSense (both owned by TJX Companies) and PetSmart moved in.

Payless ShoeSource was located in the lower floor next to the main entrance before it went out of business as a victim of the retail apocalypse. Its location has since been replaced with a BMO branch and a Pizzaville location.

Other major tenants include Dollarama, The Source, Showcase, Structube, and Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us (the lattermost of which is the successor to the former Toys "R" Us location at Yonge Eglinton Centre, also owned and operated by RioCan).

Food court

Lawrence Allen Centre has a food court on the second floor, containing KFC and many small independent eateries and formerly had a McDonald's location.

Renovations

When Zellers became defunct, there were renovations in its former space from 2015 to 2016 to accommodate Marshalls, HomeSense, and PetSmart.

Lawrence Square's redevelopment began in September 2017 and was completed in phases by the end of 2018. The transformation consisted of the two levels of retail, the expansion of the food court, and new public washrooms. [3] [4]

Lawrence Square Shopping Centre was renamed as Lawrence Allen Centre on October 3, 2019, as part of the mall's 30th anniversary. [5]

The first floor has a converted retail unit across from Fortinos, Rio Play, which consists of two small indoor artificial turf soccer fields serving the local community and is named after and owned by the mall's operators.

Site redevelopment

Old plan

As part of the 20-year plan to redevelop Lawrence Heights that began in 2007 by local city councillor Howard Moscoe, Lawrence Square was planned to be demolished to make way for a northward extension of Marlee Avenue and for public housing.

Two nearby public schools were planned to be demolished to make way for retail uses. [6] [7] [8]

New plan

Later on, councillor Moscoe retired. The new councillor, Josh Colle, conducted more rounds of community consultation. The city no longer aims to demolish Lawrence Square; instead, the new plan is to leave the mall in place for good. [9] [10] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Eaton Centre</span> Shopping mall and office complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Toronto Eaton Centre is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview (CF). It was named after the Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it before the chain went defunct in the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkdale Shopping Centre</span> Shopping mall in North York, Toronto

Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Yorkdale Mall, or simply Yorkdale, is a major retail shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located at the southwest corner of the interchange between Highway 401 and Allen Road, it opened in 1964 as the largest enclosed shopping mall in the world. Yorkdale is currently the third largest shopping mall in Canada by floor space and has the highest sales per unit area of any mall in Canada, with current merchandise sales levels at roughly CA$1,905/square foot. At 18 million annual visitors, it is one of the country's busiest malls. Many international retailers have ventured the Canadian market initially at Yorkdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Heights</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Lawrence Heights is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located north-west of central Toronto, in the district of North York. The neighbourhood is roughly bounded by Lawrence Avenue to the south, Yorkdale Road to the north, Varna Drive to the east and Dufferin Street to the west. It is part of the greater Yorkdale-Glen Park official Toronto neighbourhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Mills Centre</span>

The Don Mills Centre was a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was located on a 44-acre commercial site, at the southwest corner of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto. There were at least 98 stores during the height of the mall's existence. The majority of the mall was closed and demolished in summer 2006 for redevelopment as the Shops at Don Mills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square One Shopping Centre</span> Shopping mall in Mississauga, Ontario

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarborough Town Centre</span> Shopping mall in Ontario, Canada

Scarborough Town Centre (STC) is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Central to the Scarborough City Centre district, it is adjacent to Scarborough Centre station, the Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal and the CTV Toronto studios (9 Channel Nine Court). Opened in 1973, the mall is the fourth largest shopping mall in Canada and third in Toronto by retail space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherway Gardens</span> Shopping mall

Sherway Gardens is a large retail shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The mall is located 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of Downtown Toronto, near the interchange of Highway 427 with the Queen Elizabeth Way and Gardiner Expressway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empress Walk</span> Condominium and retail complex in Toronto, Ontario

Empress Walk is a large Canadian condominium and retail complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue in the North York Centre area of the North York district It was developed by Canadian-developers Menkes Developments Ltd. Phase 1 was completed in 1997 and Phase 2 was completed in 2000. It became an important retail complex in North York following its construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Mile, Toronto</span> Commercial district in Ontario, Canada

The Golden Mile is a commercial district in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated along Eglinton Avenue East, east of Victoria Park Avenue, it was one of Canada's first model industrial parks. The original Golden Mile of Industry ran along Eglinton from Pharmacy Avenue east to Birchmount Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galleria Shopping Centre (Toronto)</span> Shopping mall in Ontario, Canada

The Galleria Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Dufferin and Dupont Streets. The mall is in the process of being redeveloped into a mixed-use development. As it is in process of being demolished, only half of the building remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkdale–Glen Park</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Yorkdale–Glen Park is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the former suburb of North York. It is bounded by Highway 401 to the north, Allen Road to the east, a line south of Stayner Avenue to the south, and the CNR tracks to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Manor</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Lawrence Manor is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This neighbourhood is bounded by Bathurst Street on the east, Highway 401 to the north, the Allen to the west, and Lawrence Avenue to the south. The western side of the area borders along Bathurst Heights and the large public housing project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust</span> Canadian real estate investment trust

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is the second-largest real estate investment trust (REIT) in Canada. It has an enterprise value of approximately $14 billion, and owns 289 primarily retail properties, with a net leasable area of 44 million square feet. The company properties are located across Canada. The current chief executive officer is Jonathan Gitlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burlington Centre</span> Shopping mall

Burlington Centre is a 721,000 square feet (67,000 m2) shopping mall located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the two enclosed malls in Burlington, Ontario, the other being the Mapleview Centre. The stores at Burlington Centre include Hudson's Bay, Homesense, Old Navy and Winners. It has two floors, the upper floor covers the wing leading to the food court, the floor above the food court area, and the second floor of Hudson's Bay. The Hudson's Bay store gained national media attention in 2021 for its Zellers pop-up shop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shops at Don Mills</span> Shopping mall in Ontario, Canada

The Shops at Don Mills is a lifestyle centre-type shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto. There are 72 retail stores with a total floor space of 47,550 square metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eglinton Square</span> Shopping mall in Ontario, Canada

Eglinton Square Shopping Centre is an enclosed shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at Eglinton Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue in Scarborough's Golden Mile neighbourhood. It opened in 1953 as a strip plaza and was later converted to mall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayview Village Shopping Centre</span> Shopping mall in Toronto, Canada

Bayview Village Shopping Centre is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 440,000-square-foot (41,000 m2) shopping mall is located at the northeast corner of Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue in the former city of North York. It has a total of 110 stores, the anchor stores being Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and LCBO.

Westgate Shopping Centre is a shopping mall in the Carlington neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located southwest of downtown, bordering Carling Avenue, Merivale Road, and Highway 417, owned by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre</span> Shopping mall in Ontario, Canada

Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre is a strip mall located in the Elmvale Acres neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened as an enclosed mall in 1961 and was one of the earliest fully enclosed shopping malls in the city.

References

  1. ↑ Josh Colle's Summer 2014 Newsletter (click "Read More")
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-06. Retrieved 2015-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "Lawrence Square Redevelopment". Lawrence Square. RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Lawrence Square Shopping Centre". RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  5. ↑ Landau, Jack (October 4, 2019). "Lawrence Square Rebranded "Lawrence Allen Centre" as Renovations Proceed". UrbanToronto . Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  6. ↑ Vincent, Donovan (May 11, 2007). "Massive Lawrence Heights overhaul planned". Toronto Star . Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  7. ↑ 'Massive' plan to revamp troubled Lawrence Heights
  8. ↑ Plan to re-create Lawrence Heights unveiled
  9. ↑ Colle, Josh. "Lawrence Heights revitalization: phase 1 update". I secured important changes to the plan including: ... Exclusion of the Lawrence Square lands from the focus area
  10. ↑ Solaris. "Lawrence Heights Revitalization". UrbanToronto Forums » Buildings. Chart Communications, Inc. Demolition will not happen unless someone buys out Lawrence Square from Riocan or ... Riocan chooses to participate in the redevelopment
  11. ↑ Sixrings (July 30, 2014). "Yorkdale Condominiums". UrbanToronto Forums » Buildings. Chart Communications, Inc. The new plan is omitting Lawrence Square redevelopment
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.