Golden Mile, Toronto
Golden Mile | |
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Commercial district | |
| • Councillor | Gary Crawford (politician), Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest & Michael Thompson, Ward 21 Scarborough Centre |
The Golden Mile is a commercial district in the
The area was farmland prior to World War II with settlement by Scottish immigrants beginning in the 1820s (notably by the likes of the McCowans and Thompsons) and prior to settlements by Europeans in the late 18th century was mostly covered by forests.
History
In the 1940s, 250 acres (100 ha) was acquired by the
Further west, retail uses developed, including the Golden Mile Plaza and the
Today, little industrial uses exist on Eglinton Avenue, while some industrial uses remain off Eglinton on side streets. Around the year 2000, the south section of Eglinton development of the former van plant property was being redeveloped into a new trend at the time American style "big box" retail uses.
In 2014, the
Economy
List of businesses
The Golden Mile is home to a number of shopping malls and plazas, including:
- Eglinton Corners
- Eglinton Square Shopping Centre
- Eglinton Town Centre
- Smart Centres Scarborough West
- RioCanScarborough Centre
Golden Mile Mall
Golden Mile Plaza was added west of the industrial "mile" in 1954 and was visited in 1959[5] by Queen Elizabeth II marking the further transformation of the area into a series of strip malls.
The original strip mall on the north of Eglinton Avenue was anchored by a Famous Players movie theatre located at Pharmacy Avenue and Eglinton. The west section of the strip was severely damaged by a fire in 1986, which hastened the beginning of the transformation of the area into one of Toronto's largest concentrations of power centres and big-box stores.
The plaza was replaced with the first Loblaws branded Super Store within Toronto and a few other retail stores. Its building was not a mall and was not comparable to the variety of retail stores and services it replaced. Other stores that were originally part of the strange design of the building were a Fabricland and a Zellers, which closed in the 2000s. The superstore was rebranded as a No Frills, and much later Toronto Employment and Social Services, popular retailer Joe Fresh (part of Loblaws), Fit 4 Less, and a dollar store became tenants in 2010, using space that Zellers and Fabricland had previously occupied.
In 2017, the property owner Choice Properties REIT announced a redevelopment of the 19-acre site into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development. It will include a mix of buildings of various heights and a new Loblaws supermarket. The development will create new streets surrounding nine city blocks and include a public park and a public square. The first phase will entail the construction of the new supermarket, the demolition of the existing mall, and the construction of new streets through the project.[6] This redevelopment is still in the proposal state, along with all other proposed redevelopment pending completion of the Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study.[7]
Institutions
The Golden Mile is home to several services operated by the
References
- ISBN 9781459731165.
- ^ Brown, Alan. "Scarborough's "Golden Mile"". Toronto Plaques. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
- ^ "General Motors and the Golden Mile". Read the Plaque. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
- ^ John Lorinc (February 8, 2017). "New life for Eglinton Avenue East". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- ^ Scarborough Archives
- ^ "Choice Properties to redevelop block at Eglinton Crosstown". Daily Commercial News. January 12, 2017. p. 3.
- ^ "Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study". September 7, 2017.
External links
- Not much remains of Scarborough's Golden Mile - Globe and Mail
- Thesis: Intensifying Toronto - Golden Mile and Future Urban Growth
- Secondary Plan - City Of Toronto
Places adjacent to Golden Mile, Toronto | |
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