Old City Hall will not be a new Toronto mall
Posted October 5, 2015 4:23 pm.
Last Updated October 5, 2015 4:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
People hoping for a retail space and a fast food court on Queen Street West will just have to keep walking by Old City Hall.
The city’s Government Management Committee — considering what to do with the building once the provincial and municipal courts move out no before the end of 2021 — voted on Monday to explore the option of turning the site into a museum.
Real estate brokerage firm Avison Young was enlisted by the city to analyze both the space and the market and their report, which recommended the site as a retail hub.
“The results of the analysis concluded that the highest and best use for Old City Hall would be conversion to a retail centre that contains a mix of food service, leisure, event and civic uses,” the report states.
Limited space could also be used for “management, smaller tenancies and perhaps city offices.”
Instead, the city will examine what it would take to turn the historic Queen Street building, just steps away from the Eaton Centre, into a museum.
Old City Hall – actually Toronto’s third city hall – was completed in 1899 at a cost of $2.5 million, and was nearly demolished for the Eaton Centre. However, a group known as Friends of Old City Hall convinced the city to preserve the historic building.
Toronto’s fourth and current city hall opened at the Viljo Revell-designed building in 1965. After that, Old City Hall became a courthouse for the Ontario government.
With files from Erin Criger.
