- 10 Dundas East
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10 Dundas East Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada Opening date 2007 (phased) Developer PenEquity Management Entertainment Properties Trust Owner Entertainment Properties Trust No. of stores and services 40 Total retail floor area 360,000 ft² (33,444 m²) Parking N/A No. of floors 13 (10 above ground and 3 concourses) 10 Dundas East (formerly Metropolis and Toronto Life Square) is a retail, office and entertainment complex development on the north-east corner of the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The project was originally delayed several times, and sits on a large parcel of prime land in the city's commercial core, on the north side of Yonge-Dundas Square. Originally owned and developed by PenEquity Management Corp., the complex is now owned by Entertainment Properties Trust.[1]
Contents
History
The project was approved in 1998 with the opening originally planned for 2000. The land was expropriated by the City of Toronto immediately afterwards,[2] and while construction boarding soon went up, the project suffered shutdowns and major delays.
Under the control of developers PenEquity, construction finally began in 2003. A phased opening started in late 2007. The AMC Yonge & Dundas 24 (which in the early planning stages had been a 30-plex) opened on March 28, 2008, with a free small popcorn offer for every guest until April 24, and twenty-four digital auditoriums. As per the original agreement, some cinemas are used in the morning as classrooms of Ryerson University.
When it opened, the complex was renamed Toronto Life Square after the local magazine. After the building was placed in court-ordered receivership in 2009, St. Joseph Communications, the owner of Toronto Life magazine, initiated a court action to have the magazine's name removed from the complex. The building was renamed 10 Dundas East in September 2009.[3] Entertainment Properties, a Kansas City-based real estate investment trust that had provided construction financing for the project in 2005, acquired the complex in March 2010.[1]
Architecture
The project was built in an L-configuration around a number of existing buildings, including a parking garage belonging to the adjacent Ryerson University; in exchange for the air rights to build over its land, Ryerson gained use of the AMC theatres as classrooms during daytime hours.[4]
The exterior facing Dundas Square is primarily covered with giant video screens and static billboard advertisements of various sizes. The Yonge Street facade is made up of curtainwall store fronts with a glass and steel canopy overhanging the sidewalk. Toronto Star architecture critic Christopher Hume wrote a lengthy piece in the newspaper entitled "We don't deserve this horrorchitecture", which decried the building as a "nasty dark grey bunker".[2]
Retail
10 Dundas Square East is anchored by an AMC 24 screen movie theatre, a Future Shop store, Adidas Sport Store and restaurants including Jack Astor's and Milestones,[5].
See also
References
- ^ a b Roberts, Rob (2010-03-08). "Entertainment Properties Trust closes deal to buy Toronto Dundas Square". Kansas City Business Journal. http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/03/08/daily7.html.
- ^ a b Christopher Hume, "We don't deserve this horrorchitecture". Toronto Star, January 14, 2008.
- ^ Friesen, Joe (2009-09-22). "Toronto Life's logos are scrubbed from 10 Dundas East". The Globe and Mail (CTVglobemedia). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/toronto-lifes-logos-are-scrubbed-from-10-dundas-east/article1296519/. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ Feenstra, Nicole; The Ryersonian: In Depth: Ryerson real estate; November 23, 2006
- ^ Carmen Cheung; The Ryersonian: Toronto Life Square...coming soon; September 18, 2007
Coordinates: 43°39′24″N 79°22′51″W / 43.656761°N 79.380727°W
Categories:- Buildings and structures in Toronto
- PATH (Toronto)
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