> A RETAIL SPACE

Toronto’s newest neighbourhood, the Canary District, is about to be ground zero of a retail revolution. The tenants for all 40,000 square feet of the new stores, cafés and restaurants that form the base of the buildings and will line the Front St. promenade have been carefully chosen for their commitment to health and fitness. “We’re still looking for a healthy pub,” said Jason Lester with a tiny smirk. The vice-president of site co-developer Dream was determined that the retail reflect the place: a new neighbourhood that’s walking distance to the downtown core, with a state-of-the-art new community centre and YMCA, extraordinary parks, pools and paths. So Dream and co-developer Kilmer Van No strand reached out to LiveWork Learn Play, self-described Toronto-based “master developers and placemakers” who’ve helped create thriving mixed-use neighbourhoods in places as diverse as Whistler, B.C., Blue Mountain, Ont., and downtown Boca Raton, Florida. “Our company has focused on the ground floor and 20 feet up for the last two decades,” said Rob Spanier, a founding partner of Live WorkLearn Play. “We believe that is the true heart of a community. You sleep upstairs, but you live in your neighbourhood. It’s great retail, great restaurants that make an incredible neighbourhood, whether it’s on the Danforth, on King St. W. or on Bloor St.” Kevin Wallace, the founder of community bike shop Gears, now operates three locations outside the downtown core. He wasn’t even looking to open a fourth location until he was approached by Dream and LiveWorkLearnPlay. “The overall plan for the area inspired us — we were very intrigued by the history of the area, the culture is compelling — and we liked the idea of being part of creating a new community that was well thought out,” said Wallace, who founded the first Gears 28 years ago. The tipping point was being offered a rental arrangement that made Gears more a partner than a conventional tenant in a new condo project, where rents tend to be so pricey. Such projects typically only work for big chains, shutting out the mom and pop shops that have lined urban avenues for decades. Gears and other restaurants and retailers, who will move into their new digs next January and open for business in March, have been offered what are called “percentage rent leases” — a novel concept of charging base rents that are manageable and a percentage of profits that climb as the business grows, Wallace said. “It’s a strategy that the developer has created to make it more accessible for non-corporate realtors. It’s a deal that we feel is going to be good for everyone and help us be a contributor to this new community.”