Tag Archives: Loblaws

From NHL hockey shrine to food-lovers’ paradise: Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store poised to open

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

November 20 2011: Crews prepare to install a Loblaws sign on the south side of Maple Leaf Gardens at the corner of Church Street…

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

… a similar sign had earlier been installed just around the corner on the building’s east facade along Church Street …

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

… while yet another sign listing all the new tenants of the renovated heritage building sits on a flatbed truck, awaiting installation at the Gardens’ northeast corner at Church and Wood Streets

 

Month-end opening: The public will get its first peek inside the revitalized Maple Leaf Gardens on November 30 — the day the new flagship Loblaws grocery store will officially open its doors for business.

Scores of construction crews have been buzzing around the inside and outside of the building this week, hurrying to finish the store in time for its much-anticipated and months-overdue opening. Today, crews were installing Loblaws signage atop a new canopy at the southeast corner of the Gardens, where the grocery store entrance is situated, as well as working on the underground parking garage entrance at the southwest corner of the building. Work also is continuing on the new Maple Leaf Gardens marquee along Carlton Street, and inside the upper levels of the Gardens, where the new Ryerson University Athletics Centre is being built. (Unlike the grocery store, the sports & recreation complex is not scheduled for completion until next spring.)

 

8 a.m. opening on November 30

In a press release issued today, Loblaw Companies Limited said “Toronto’s new crown jewel of food stores” will open at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, November 30.  Although the company is keeping most details about the new store under wraps for now, it did drop “some delectable tidbits about the food experiences that will be found on Food’s Greatest Stageunder the legendary roof located at 60 Carlton Street.” The media release said some of the store’s highlights include a complete ACE Artisan Bakery, an 18-foot-tall “Amazing Wall of Cheese” boasting more than 400 varieties of cheese from around the world, a patisserie featuring handcrafted chocolate and a huge assortment of pastries baked in-store, a tea emporium, an omelet station, a sushi Bar, and an open kitchen preparing take-home breakfast, lunch and dinner meals.

From what I’ve heard, the Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws will be the most impressive grocery store in downtown Toronto, providing an unrivalled shopping environment that will dazzle and delight foodies who have been starved for alternatives to the congested and dumpy-looking food stores currently serving the fast-growing condo and apartment neighbourhood. Last week, I spoke to several newly-hired Loblaws employees who had just received their first tour of the historic building where they soon will be working. Since the site is still a construction zone, with crews putting finishing touches on the building’s interior and exterior, they had to wear hard hats and safety boots throughout their orientation tour. But they said the store basically looks set to open, with all shelves already fully stocked with merchandise. Describing the Loblaws as easily “the nicest grocery store” they’ve seen “in all of downtown,” they said customers will be amazed by both the look and feel of the interior as well as the extensive product line-ups that will tempt their tastebuds and pocketbooks.

According to the Ryerson University website, the architectural team for the Gardens transformation includes Turner Fleischer Architects Inc. for the “base building” and BBB Architects Inc. for the “Ryerson fit up.” Heritage consultant is E.R.A. Architects Inc.

Below are more photos I took outside Maple Leaf Gardens this afternoon. Photos of earlier construction activity at the iconic hockey shrine can be viewed in my posts on November 3, June 14, April 14, March 29 and February 2.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

November 20 2011: Crews working outside the parking garage entrance at the southwest corner of the Gardens on Carlton Street

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

November 20 2011: Workers on a portable crane attend to details on the wall above the underground parking garage entrance.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws store Toronto

November 20 2011 There is one level of parking underneath the grocery store

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: Work continues on the Carlton Street marquee. The entrance to the Ryerson University Athletics Centre will be here.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: Sign installation above the Loblaws entrance

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: The new canopy above the Gardens’ southeast corner

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: Workers prepare to erect a vertical sign on the northeast corner of the building, at Church & Wood streets. A Joe Fresh clothing shop, an LCBO liquor outlet and a medical clinic will also be opening soon in the Gardens.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: The Gardens’ northeast corner, at Church & Wood Streets

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: Construction cranes and elevators along Wood Street

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: A crew prepares to install a vertical sign at the northeast corner of the building

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: The slender sign is set in place

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 20 2011: The service entrance on the north side of the Gardens, along Wood Street, was punched into the brick wall of the historic building.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 17 2011: Construction activity on the north and east sides of Maple Leaf Gardens. On weekdays, the building is constantly surrounded by cranes, equipment supply vehicles, and concrete delivery trucks and pumpers.

 

November opening still uncertain for Loblaws store in Maple Leaf Gardens; Ryerson anticipates winter finish for athletics centre on building’s upper levels

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

November 1 2011: A mid-morning view of Maple Leaf Gardens at the northwest corner of Church & Carlton Streets

 

Coming soon:  “When is it finally going to open?” That question is almost constantly on the minds of thousands of people who live and work near the intersection of Church and Carlton Streets, where construction activity both inside and outside the Maple Leaf Gardens building continues at a relentless pace.

For residents of nearby condos, co-ops and apartments, the long-overdue opening of the historic hockey arena’s new occupants — including a Loblaws grocery store, an LCBO liquor outlet, and Ryerson University’s Athletics Centre at the Gardens — won’t happen soon enough. They are weary from months of traffic restrictions on sidewalks and streets adjacent to the Gardens, as well as the daily disruption, dirt and noise from both construction work and the heavy concrete trucks, equipment and supply vehicles, and portable cranes that steadily stream to and from the project site.

Also eagerly anticipating an end to construction are hockey and heritage fans, as well as countless other people who are simply curious to see how the Gardens’ interior has been transformed during the two years since the revitalization project began.

Relief for all is now in the foreseeable future since the grocery store appears poised for a possible November opening, while the Ryerson athletic centre is on track for completion and occupancy sometime during the upcoming winter months.

 

Massive recruitment drive

Although a Loblaws spokesperson told me yesterday that details for the grocery store opening date haven’t been determined yet, the neighbourhood has been buzzing with word it could be open for business in as few as two to three weeks’ time. Loblaws recently launched a massive recruitment drive, hiring hundreds of part-time staff to work in what is shaping up to become the chain’s premier flagship store. Several new staff told me they’ve been training at various Toronto Loblaws stores during the past three weeks. They said they initially were advised they would be working in the Gardens by the end of this week, but the date was pushed back and they’re now expecting to start work in the new store shortly after the middle of the month. Similarly, staff at a nearby liquor store said they have been told the new LCBO Gardens outlet should be open sometime between the middle and end of November. From what I could see through windows and open doors earlier this week, however, a Loblaws opening closer to December appears more likely.

Meanwhile, Ryerson students will have to wait several more months before they’ll get to check out the university’s new sports and recreation facilities. According to the Ryerson University website, the sports centre is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy in “winter 2012.” A status update on the website says some of the construction activity currently underway includes “work on the roof dormers along the west side of the dome roof. Roof dormers are connected to the dome and are openings that provide ventilation to allow air to flow into the arena from the mechanical system. Work on the Carlton Street marquee is also underway; this canopy over the main entrance is being reinforced by additional steel and is being prepared for the installation of the historic ‘Maple Leaf Gardens’ signage. The installation of glass windows on the street level, light fixtures in the stairwells and the fire alarm system is also in progress. Work on the mechanical system continues, including installing piping for the gas, sprinkler and the hot and cold water systems.”

The Loblaw Companies Limited website doesn’t provide any information about its Gardens location, but the Ryerson University website says the architectural team for the Gardens transformation includes Turner Fleischer Architects Inc. for the “base building” and BBB Architects Inc. for the “Ryerson fit up.” Heritage consultant is E.R.A. Architects Inc.

Below are some of my recent photos of activity on the outside of Maple Leaf Gardens. I haven’t been able to photograph inside the building; however, if you want to see what’s been happening there, the Ryerson Builds webpage features a slideshow with 42 photographs showing construction activity inside the Gardens between January 2010 and September of this year (I have posted one of those pics below). The homepage of the Turner Fleischer website includes a direct link to more photos, from December 2009 to October 2010, in an album entitled “Maple Leaf Gardens Progress.” Additional photos can be viewed in my previous posts on the Gardens makeover: June 14 2011, April 14 2011, and March 29 2011.

 

Ryerson Athletics Centre at the Gardens

 From the Ryerson Builds webpage, this photo from September 2011 shows building progress on the NHL-sized hockey rink at the university’s new athletics centre. A slideshow on the webpage includes 41 more photos of construction activity inside Maple Leaf Gardens.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto

 November 1 2011:  The Carlton Street facade of Maple Leaf Gardens. The public sidewalk next to the building, along with one lane of westbound traffic, have been closed virtually all of this year.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens Carlton Street entrance marquee

November 1 2011: The canopy over the Carlton Street entrance is being reinforced with extra steel. Maple Leaf Gardens signage will be installed on the marquee.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: The entrance to the Loblaws grocery store will be at the Gardens’ southeast corner.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: Part of the frame for the corner canopy was put in place several weeks ago, but entrance doors haven’t yet been installed

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

September 3 2011: Looking west from Church Street at the sidewalk and street closure along the Gardens’ Carlton Street facade.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

October 1 2011: Passersby will be able to see into the new Loblaws grocery store through these windows which were installed in the Gardens’ Church Street facade

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

October 8 2011: Another view of the new windows along Church Street

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: New sidewalks being installed on Church Street

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: Although new sidewalks are being installed on Church Street, work on the east wall of the Gardens is far from finished

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: Grocery store windows on the east side of the building. Traffic on Church Street was restricted during sidewalk replacement work.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: The northeast corner of Maple Leaf Gardens, at Church and Wood Streets. The stretch of Wood Street next to the Gardens is usually crowded with cranes, concrete trucks, heavy construction vehicles and equipment.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: Newly-installed windows near the northeast corner of the building. During the spring and summer, this was one of three separate spots where concrete trucks and other vehicles could access the interior of the Gardens.

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Maple Leaf Gardens November 1 2011

November 1 2011: A crew uses a portable lift to work on the Wood Street facade. A red construction elevator rises from the building’s north side, providing access to the Ryerson sports facilities being built on the upper levels inside the Gardens.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 1 2011: Looking east along Wood Street at the external construction elevator and a truck delivering concrete for the Ryerson Athletics Centre at the Gardens. This stretch of street is usually jammed with cranes, lifts and trucks.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens November 1 2011

November 1 2011: Trailer-sized mechanical equipment on the roof of the Gardens dwarf two construction supervisors looking down onto Church Street.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

August 2 2011: This mechanical equipment is a new Gardens fixture; it was installed only this year, during the spring and summer.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens

November 3 2011: Two men on a portable lift work on the Church Street facade

 

 

Revitalizing Maple Leaf Gardens: from the rooftop to the basement, on the inside and out

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project rooftop work

April 14 2011: A worker walks on the roof of Maple Leaf Gardens below a row of platforms that descend the building’s big white dome

 

Top to bottom, inside and out: Construction crews were tackling the giant Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project on three fronts today: on the roof, outside walls, and in the cavernous interior. But they still have a very long way to go before the inside begins to even remotely resemble the Loblaw grocery store and Ryerson University Sports and Recreation Centre that will occupy the historic building. My last glance inside the Gardens was late last month, when an open construction entrance gave me the chance to take a few photos which I published in a March 29 2011 post. When I passed the Gardens again today and got another peek inside two different construction entrances, I could see machines pumping concrete into forms for upper-level floors and walls, while crews removed segments of a disassembled construction crane from the building. But from those vantage points, it was difficult to tell if much progress has been made in the past three weeks; the interior didn’t look substantially different than last time. Progress has been more visible outside, where work is underway on the roof and on the Gardens’ facades along Church and Carlton Street, where holes are being knocked in the walls, presumably to create windows for the Loblaws store. Below are several pics of today’s revitalization activity.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project exterior work

Maple Leaf Gardens exterior wall work at the corner of Church & Carlton

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

Workers watch as a machine tears a hole in the Gardens’ SE corner

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

The wall was exposed last week; today it was being taken apart

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

The view inside the construction entrance at the Gardens’ northeast corner. Concrete is being pumped for the floor of the third level above street grade.

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

Construction equipment inside the north end of Maple Leaf Gardens today included an excavator (foreground), concrete pumper (center) and crane (right)

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

The north side of the Maple Leaf Gardens interior, along Wood Street

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

A concrete delivery truck and pumper wait their turn outside the Wood Street construction entrance to Maple Leaf Gardens

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

Construction vehicles on Wood Street outside Maple Leaf Gardens

 

Maple Leaf Gardens revitalization project

Platforms descend the SE corner of Maple Leaf Gardens’ domed roof

 

Work on massive Maple Leaf Gardens renovation project still largely hidden from public view

Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens rendering from Ryerson University website


Landmark lives on: From the outside, there have been few signs that the iconic Maple Leaf Gardens hockey shrine is gradually being transformed into a multipurpose facility housing a giant grocery store and a university athletic centre. Last fall, scaffolding and green safety nets shrouded the east and south facades during brickwork and window replacement activity. For the past two months, crews have been busy working on utilities beneath the Carlton Street sidewalk and Church Street pavement at the southeast corner of the building. Over the same period, teams have been doing some roofing work atop the arena’s famous white dome. And the past two weeks, workers have been chiselling brickwork from a section of wall on the north side of the Gardens, along Wood Street.  None of the work gives any indication that the storied, historic Gardens soon will be living a renewed life as a modern retail and recreation facility.

However, it’s a different story altogether if you get to peek inside the loading door at the northeast corner of the building whenever a cement or construction supply truck comes out or goes in. Over the past six months, I’ve had that opportunity a handful of times, managing to catch quick glimpses of the cavernous construction zone that’s largely hidden from public view. Unfortunately, I’ve never had my camera with me, so I haven’t been able to track the interior construction progress in photos. In November, I got a brief look inside while the construction workers were on their morning break. With beams of light streaming through the narrow, small windows on the Gardens’ upper walls, the dusty interior had an eerie, haunting atmosphere. The building was just a gigantic brick shell; the inside had been gutted, and the ground was being dug out to create an underground parking garage. I couldn’t see anything holding up the huge walls and vast domed roof, but assume there must have been some kind of support for all that weight. The last few times I peeked inside, it appeared that excavation work was nearly complete; meanwhile, forms several storeys tall were being assembled so concrete could be poured to build walls and floors for the 70,000-square-foot Loblaw supermarket that will occupy the ground level of the “new” Gardens. Just last week I got another look, and it seemed obvious there is an incredible amount of work still to be done to create the upper levels that will house the 150,000-square-foot Ryerson University Sports and Recreation Centre.

The Centre is a $60 million project for which the federal government is contributing $20 million under the Canada Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (the university and Loblaws are responsible for the rest). However, projects that qualify for stimulus funding must be completed by March 31 of this year — and there is clearly no way on earth the Maple Leaf Gardens transformation will be done in time. Certainly looks like an extension or exemption will be required here. I’m anxious to see work start on the building exterior — the installation of street-level windows for the supermarket, the pedestrian entrances to the two separate facilities, and of course the vehicle entrance to the underground lot. Project details are provided in a Ryerson University press release available at this link. The complexities of the Maple Leaf Gardens transformation are outlined in this article from the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record, while seven construction photos by The Globe and Mail‘s Fred Lum can be viewed at this link on the Globe website. Below are some of my photos of the Gardens exterior at different times over the past several years.

Maple Leaf Gardens

Southeast view of Maple Leaf Gardens on November 28 2008


Maple Leaf Gardens

Former Carlton Street entrance to Maple Leaf Gardens on November 28 2008


Maple Leaf Gardens

East wall brickwork and window replacement on September 4 2010


Maple Leaf Gardens

Scaffolding was removed from the east wall in early December 2010


Maple Leaf Gardens

New windows in the east wall along Church Street


Maple Leaf Gardens

Work crew atop the Maple Leaf Gardens domed roof December 21 2010


Maple Leaf Gardens

Exterior work on the west end of the Carlton Street facade December 26 2010


Maple Leaf Gardens

Ryerson University and Loblaws sign on the Church Street wall


Maple Leaf Gardens

Brick removal from the Wood Street wall on January 14 2011


Maple Leaf Gardens

Construction equipment along Wood Street on January 30 2011


Maple Leaf Gardens

Facade work continuing along Wood Street on January 30 2011


Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens viewed from Wood Street on January 30 2011