Manulife (King Centre) redevelopment project

[danbrotherston]

*A* mall might do well...*that* mall never will. The people who designed that mall had no understanding of how streets worked. The mall is disconnected and separate from the street, there is no engagement...there are "mall people" who probably arrive by car, and never interact with the street, and there are "outside people" who get nothing from the mall but a mostly blank wall on most sides.

In the Netherlands, the only mall we went to, we didn't even realize was a mall until we were inside it...that's how integrated it was into the street.

I'd be interested in seeing that mall you are talking about in the Netherlands for comparison. Disclaimer: I've never been in this building, except I think laser tag was in here when I was a child? There isn't much going on street interaction wise would help this building succeed as a mall, but I don't think that means it would be destined for failure. Personally, I wouldn't care if a business was in this building or directly on King St. I would only care if it's a business I want to go to. It would be in walking distance either way. I think I would actually be quite happy to have both styles of shopping downtown.

The building was in Purmerend Netherlands, just a little ways north of Amsterdam. You can checkout the streetview here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5091947,...312!8i6656

It's just the opening on the right (I am not certain what this looks like in winter or whether it is heated), basically, it's basically a covered portion of the street. There's a larger mall called Eggert the next block over, which we never walked through, but looks similar at least--although unlike this one, you cannot see clear through to the next street when you walk to it.

As for the business...obviously when it comes to just going to a specific business that you happen to know where it is it doesn't matter all that much. But that's the big box/strip mall model, and it's terrible for small business, terrible for people, terrible for the city, etc. etc. The point of an activated streetscape is you walk along it, there are things to see. Having a mall like this harms the street experience.