Substantial Shopping Mall Part of MGM/Cadillac Fairview Toronto Casino Proposal

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Today MGM Resorts and Cadillac Fairview presented plans for a new mega-complex at Toronto's Exhibition Place. Plans include a 'best-in-class' shopping centre that will be between 750,000 and one million square feet. 

Image adapted from Google Maps

News sources (Globe & Mail, Toronto Star etc) have quoted this as being 'half the size of the Toronto Eaton Centre'. This may be true, but readers should keep in mind that the Toronto Eaton Centre's 1,566,093 square foot premises includes three anchors: an 816,070 square foot Sears store, a 34,356 square foot Best Buy and an 85,580 square foot Canadian Tire store. That leaves only 514,253 square feet of retail for the rest of the Toronto Eaton Centre. Excluding possible anchors, the proposed MGM/Cadillac Fairview shopping mall could therefore include more non-anchor mall space than the Toronto Eaton Centre. 

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The entire MGM/Cadillac Fairview proposal would cost roughly $3 billion and would also include the following: 

-A 240,000 square foot MGM casino facility,
-A 15-20 floor 1,200 room 'luxury' hotel,
-A 900 seat permanent Cirque du Soleil performance space,
-A massive parking facility,
-A 'Canadian Music Hall of Fame' and
-Expanded convention space

Three proposed Downtown Toronto Malls. Image adapted from Google Maps

Toronto's central area has seen several shopping centre proposals in recent months. In October 2012 we reported on the proposed retail mall which would be part of Oxford Place, a massive development located near Toronto's CN Tower. In November 2012 we reported on a proposed shopping complex on the site of Toronto's current Globe & Mail headquarters. This MGM/Cadillac Fairview project would be the third substantial shopping centre announcement for Toronto's central area in only half a year. We question which of these (if any) will actually be built. 

A renovated Stanley Barracks would be part of this proposal. [Image Source]

Toronto City Council is expected to vote on proposed casino projects in April. We'll keep you informed of these projects including their proposed retail components. 

Toronto Eaton Centre information source: http://www.cfretail.com/EN/PropertySearch/Pages/TorontoEatonCentre.aspx

MGM/Cadillac Fairview project proposal website: http://mgmcf.com

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