06-19-2018, 03:14 AM
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Fairview Park Mall - Grand Market District
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06-19-2018, 08:30 AM
I'm surprised Walmart will remain as is since it hasn't changed much since it opened. I thought there was rumors that a new Walmart was going to be built in front of the current location? I really like the creativeness of the proposal and I hope it gets built.
06-19-2018, 10:51 AM
(06-19-2018, 03:14 AM)GtwoK Wrote:(06-18-2018, 10:50 PM)KevinL Wrote: Smack in the middle of that is a hydro pylon, and the transition bunker where the buried lines come up to meet it. That could be tricky to route around. I suppose they could, it seems like quite the duplicated effort.
06-19-2018, 11:04 AM
I like it. That lot in front of Wal-Mart is awful to look at, and I think it will look much nicer filled in this way.
It's a bit fanciful to imagine a tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly look for Fairway Road, but maybe it could work?
06-19-2018, 11:23 AM
(06-19-2018, 11:04 AM)timc Wrote: I like it. That lot in front of Wal-Mart is awful to look at, and I think it will look much nicer filled in this way. Not impossible, but it would take a lot more changes than what's planned. More, it's unlikely to actually see that change right next to the highway interchange.
06-19-2018, 11:57 AM
Here's the full site plan from the pdf.
They've chosen to redevelop the most conveniently square-shaped plots of land. And that corner parking lot is usually pretty vacant, so it won't impact mall patrons. I agree that any kind of street presence would be better served to the west, but with the existing building and the hydro ROW in the way, it would leave them working on triangular plots. Having recently walked from the bus mall to the Holiday Inn on the other side of the highway, I won't object to having a building casting some shade on me. There are more pedestrians here than you might think. The loss of the Sears Brutalism is unfortunate. It's clear that it's just a straight up recladding, so it's all for aesthetics. I do understand that it's hard business being a mall these days, and you need to keep fresh to stay in it.
06-19-2018, 12:18 PM
Maybe I'm just imagining things, but do those 4 residential towers have an unusually small footprint? Square footage wise, they look barely bigger than a single unit inside the mall!
06-19-2018, 12:23 PM
They could really stand to run a bulldozer through the Walmart while they're at it and rebuild. That portion of the mall is probably the most dated and the biggest eyesore.
06-19-2018, 03:54 PM
(06-19-2018, 11:57 AM)Markster Wrote: Having recently walked from the bus mall to the Holiday Inn on the other side of the highway, I won't object to having a building casting some shade on me. There are more pedestrians here than you might think. Unless I'm mistaken, the shade will be on the other side of the building.
06-19-2018, 04:41 PM
(06-19-2018, 12:23 PM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: They could really stand to run a bulldozer through the Walmart while they're at it and rebuild. That portion of the mall is probably the most dated and the biggest eyesore. I heard that apparently Walmart fully owns its unit, separate from the mall. It seems they have little incentive to apply improvements.
06-19-2018, 05:56 PM
(06-19-2018, 04:41 PM)KevinL Wrote:(06-19-2018, 12:23 PM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: They could really stand to run a bulldozer through the Walmart while they're at it and rebuild. That portion of the mall is probably the most dated and the biggest eyesore. That fits with what is shown on the plan. It looks like Walmart, plus an oddly-shaped portion of the parking lot, is a separate property. Then the “existing anchor” at the west end is similar, and the old Sears part similarly again, although in that case the property line appears to run down the middle of a corridor which is a bit strange. I wonder if Walmart is the only one not owned by the same owner as the mall? As long as the birbs still have a prominent place. That’s what really matters.
06-19-2018, 09:27 PM
(06-19-2018, 08:34 PM)D40LF Wrote: It may be worth mentioning that the Fairview Walmart will be undergoing renovation soon. I don't have a timeline, but I imagine that it would start as early as this summer as The Boardwalk Walmart was slated to begin in July but was pushed back until 2019 in favor of the Fairview location. Just renovation, or expansion into a Supercentre?
06-19-2018, 09:30 PM
(06-19-2018, 08:34 PM)D40LF Wrote: It may be worth mentioning that the Fairview Walmart will be undergoing renovation soon. I don't have a timeline, but I imagine that it would start as early as this summer as The Boardwalk Walmart was slated to begin in July but was pushed back until 2019 in favor of the Fairview location. They're doing something at the Wal*Mart at Sunrise, guess we'll see how it looks when it's done... IIRC, Wal*Mart Fairview wanted to move to be separate from the mall, with the old Wal*Mart becoming a host to new stores...something about the Wal*Mart being to close to the highway made it impossible for them to move.
06-20-2018, 12:01 AM
06-20-2018, 08:28 AM
It's cool to see this area filling in, adding office space, and becoming more hospitable to pedestrians. While it's hard to imagine people choosing to hang out in front of the offices, right by the highway off-ramp, in the plans it looks like like most of the new outdoor gathering space is actually more sheltered, tucked between the offices and the new parking structure + specialty grocery. To me, this looks like a much more human-friendly use of the space than what's there now.
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