Latest news with #HudsonsBayCompany
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
The Bay's departure leaves a gaping hole in downtown Toronto. What could fill it?
The flagship Hudson's Bay Company store is pictured in Toronto on January 27, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette When The Bay finally closed up shop after 355 years, the defunct retailer left more than memories in Toronto's downtown core. The storied department store left in its wake a gaping hole of nearly 700,000 square feet at the corner of Yonge and Queen streets – a massive piece of prime real estate in the heart of the city. Since the doors shuttered to the public at the end of May, the space has been vacant, leaving Toronto residents wondering what might eventually fill the cavernous floors of the designated heritage building at 176 Yonge Street. 'I think that location, in a normal market, would be very, very, very ripe for redevelopment,' says Adam Jacobs, national head of research for Colliers Canada, which specializes in commercial real estate. He says such a project might include an office tower, condo tower, hotel – or a combination thereof – that would incorporate the historic building. But while the space is exactly the sort of location that might attract a grand vision, the timing for that sort of project might not be right. 'So I think the downtown Bay location, yeah, there's a lot of redevelopment potential there, but just right now, there's all these headwinds,' Jacobs says. Those headwinds include a general retreat from massive condo or office tower redevelopments, U.S. tariffs that could drive up supply costs and overall market uncertainty. Not to mention an ongoing subway construction project on the block for the Ontario Line that is expected to keep the street torn up for several years to come. The Bay People walk past the Hudson's Bay store in Toronto on Monday, March 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young 'It's just that we happen to be at a moment right now, where the whole condo market is, you know, frozen, and the land market is frozen, and nobody wants to lend money, and suddenly we're building too many apartments instead of not enough apartments. So I think right now, it's quite a bad moment for those big, visionary development projects,' Jacobs says. Still, he notes that large property owners like Cadillac Fairview, which owns the building, have vast holdings and can afford to wait for the right project and market conditions without having to rush to fill an empty building. In a statement to CP24, Cadillac Fairview said it is eyeing options for the site, but hasn't made any decisions yet. 'Cadillac Fairview is constantly assessing the ever-changing retail landscape to ensure the long term success of our shopping centres and the communities where we operate,' wrote Anna Ng, the company's director of corporate communications. 'Our teams are evaluating opportunities to backfill spaces formerly occupied by HBC and we look forward to sharing plans once confirmed.' The Bay walkway A shopper make his way through a walkway connecting Eaton Centre Mall and The Hudson Bay store in Toronto on Monday, May 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young One thing Jacobs is quite sure is not in the future for the building: 'I think it's unlikely that it will end up being a department store,' she said. Department store era over The building in the heart of Toronto has had a life as a department store for around 130 years. Known as The Simpson Departmental Store, the building was first erected in 1894 by Edmund Burke of architects Burke and Harwood. It suffered a fire the same year, but was rebuilt a year later, with various additions over the following decades. A city staff report dating back to 2015 notes the building is 'designated on architectural grounds as an outstanding example of late nineteenth century commercial design.' According to the city, 'it is an early example of the use of steel post and beam construction in Canada and of the work of one of Toronto's most important architects.' While that makes it one of the oldest department store buildings around, it is certainly not the first staring down a potential change of use. 'The demise of department stores has been long coming, and so the interesting thing is, we now have a big history of takeovers and adaptive reuse,' says Karen Chapple, director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. The Bay The Roll of Honour, a memorial to employees of the defunct retailer Simpson's who served with the Canadian Forces and were killed during the Second World War, is shown at the Hudson's Bay store in Toronto, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini She points out that when the May department store company went under in the U.S., one of their buildings in Cleveland became a residential development, while another in Los Angeles became the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Others, she says, became spaces for educational institutions. 'There's so much history too, of malls being transformed into residential use or mixed use with residential. You might have residential, retail, fitness, movie theater, office space – all of that,' Chappel adds. With the attached Eaton Centre acting as a sort of 'public arena,' she says it would be good to keep the space at The Bay public or semi-public as opposed to cordoning it off for an entirely private use. However she agrees with Jacobs that the building's time as a department store is likely over. 'You're just not going to be able to do retail (for the whole building) at this point in time,' she said. Core continues to change Coun. Chris Moise, who represents the downtown ward where the property is located, said he'd like to see any new use take into account the needs of the community, as well as the throngs of people who pour into the area on transit. 'I think we have to think outside of the box and see, what is the missing middle here? And how can we make it work for everybody,' Moise says. Off the top of his head, he says a grocery store and an entertainment complex could be good fits for the area. The Bay People walk past the Hudson's Bay store in Toronto on Monday March 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young He says it's unlikely the space will be completely rezoned into a condo development, as some might fear. 'That's an historic building, iconic building, you know, it's on Yonge Street. It's a whole block. I don't think that's going to happen,' Moise says. He points out the site will eventually sit atop two transit lines and is surrounded by theatres, stores, and other spaces that draw people out. In terms of possible city uses, the municipality already has an excess of space nearby. 'Don't forget, the Ontario Line is going to be right there as well and we're looking at Old City Hall to see what to do with that venue,' Moise says. Possible ideas being floated for the Old City Hall site include a museum, an arts facility, an event venue and a library and Moise says he's hoping it will become 'part of the destination' for the area. The Bay Ontario Line construction is seen on Queen Street, between the Hudson's Bay building and the Eaton Centre January 14, 2024. (Joshua Freeman) While the future of the Bay's flagship store is still in the air, Moise says he's in regular discussion with the Downtown Yonge BIA, as well as Cadillac Fairview, which he says is receptive to suggestions. Future uncertain, but reason for optimism Jacobs points out that the dust has not entirely settled on Hudson's Bay's demise. A court battle remains underway between lenders, landlords, and B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu, who wants to buy up to 25 Hudson's Bay leases to open up a new retailer. Whatever the future holds for the site, though, there seems to be consensus that the problem of what to bring to the area is a good one. Chapple says data gathered by UofT researchers show that Toronto's downtown is experiencing a 'slow recovery,' as we get further from the COVID-19 pandemic though the increase in traffic is more attributable to people coming into the core for pleasure rather than work. 'I always see these things as an opportunity. I mean, I think we do too much hand-wringing over change when actually to have a huge site like this open up in the heart of Toronto with incredible transit accessibility, with a rich history (is an opportunity),' Chappel says. Jacobs echoes that idea. 'It's such a unique location, being in the financial core, being right downtown, being right on a subway stop, being a historic building, that I guess I feel pretty optimistic,' he says. With files from The Canadian Press
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bay building redevelopment could get $3.4M boost from City of Winnipeg
The redevelopment of the former Hudson's Bay Company building in downtown Winnipeg could get a $3.4-million funding boost from the city. A new report, to be considered by council's executive policy committee next week, calls for funding to make improvements above and below the sidewalks surrounding the building. The Southern Chiefs Organization is in the middle of a $310-million redevelopment of old Hudson's Bay Company building. It's turning the nearly century-old building into a mixed-use development called Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn. The city has already contributed $20.3 million toward the project, including $9.7 million in tax-increment financing and a $10-million grant from the federal housing accelerator fund. Now, city staff recommend giving another $3.4 million in the 2026 budget for streetscaping, including possibly closing a northbound lane of traffic along Memorial Boulevard. Matt Dryburgh, senior manager of economic development and policy, wrote in the report the closure would allow for trees to be planted. "However, further review of the road, land drainage and transit infrastructure considerations are needed to confirm feasibility," Dryburgh wrote. The money would also pay for repairs to areaways — vacant basement spaces that extend out beneath sidewalks. If approved, it would bring the city's total funding to $23.7 million. The funding needs approval from council. The project was originally slated to cost $130 million in 2022, when the Hudson's Bay Company announced the transfer of the six-storey, 655,000-square-foot building at the corner of Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard to the SCO, which represents 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota nations in southern Manitoba.
CBC
27-06-2025
- CBC
Winnipeg's Portage and Main reopens to pedestrians after 46 years of barricades: How did we get here?
Winnipeg's Portage and Main intersection is embedded in the story of Canada — the crossroads of the country and one of its windiest corners — and it's held that lore despite being inaccessible to pedestrians for 46 years. But all that changes today. The barricades that forced pedestrians below ground and into a labyrinth of tunnels to get to the other side of the street have been torn down. The shrouds over the walk signals are set to be removed after morning rush hour with the first "official" crossing at 10:30 a.m., said a city spokesperson. People have unofficially used it since crossing lines were painted last weekend. So how did we finally get to this point, after years of public opposition to reopening? Well, kind of like how the intersection started in the first place — against the odds. For decades, everything in the area that's now central Winnipeg was focused around Hudson's Bay Company's Upper Fort Garry near the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. "That was the centre of government. It was the centre of commerce. It was the centre of the centre of settlement," said Gordon Goldsborough, head researcher of the Manitoba Historical Society. Travellers from the west carved deep ruts into the prairie as they followed the Assiniboine to the fort. Near there, the trail crossed the main north-south Main Road that ran between the fort and the HBC's Lower Fort Garry 30 kilometres north on the Red. That was the main intersection closest to the fort, considered the birthplace of Winnipeg. But a decision by Henry McKenney changed everything. 1859 McKenney opened the city's first hotel in an old building between Upper Fort Garry and Fort Douglas, which was in present-day Point Douglas. The Royal Hotel was between today's McDermot and Bannatyne avenues. It was so popular, a new branch of the east-west Portage trail emerged, heading to the Royal Hotel, crossing Main about a kilometre north of Upper Fort Garry. Recognizing the growing importance of that junction, McKenney sold the hotel and bought land at the northwest corner of the Main and Portage trails, where he opened a general store in 1862. He faced ridicule for the decision, as the site was considered undesirable — low lying, muddy and marshy, far from the populations around the forts and a half-kilometre from the river. With the hotel closed, there were no other businesses along the Main Road between Upper Fort Garry and Point Douglas. "At first it seemed just nuts, but in time, of course, it proved really fortunate," Goldsborough said. "Within a few years, everybody realized the wisdom of that [move]." The store became a massive success and others soon followed. By 1869, a total of 33 buildings clustered around the corner. 1979 When the intersection was closed to pedestrian traffic in 1979, Winnipeg's core was in the midst of several decades of decline in economic growth, stagnant development and a fading retail environment. Suburban growth was drawing homeowners and shopping development from downtown. There was a sense that something major had to happen, and in the mid-1970s, the Trizec Corporation made a pitch the city couldn't refuse, said Jino Distasio, professor of urban geography at the University of Winnipeg. Trizec promised to build two office towers and a hotel on the southwest corner of Portage and Main, along with an underground retail space that would double as a heated, sheltered crossing for pedestrians, saving them from Winnipeg's winter winds. It appealed not only on the development front but also the planning one. The city, since the 1960s, had been studying its traffic movements and concluded that pedestrians and vehicles should no longer mix at that corner, according to the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation. The deal was struck with Trizec in 1976 and construction started the following year. The agreement included barricading the corner for 40 years once the project was complete in 1979, redirecting pedestrians into the Trizec-owned subterranean mall. The barricades never completely stopped people from stepping foot in the intersection. It's been a gathering place for events both celebratory and solemn — including sports signings and championships, round dances for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and rallies to support a landfill search for the bodies of murdered Indigenous women. 2014 Then-mayor Glen Murray held a design competition in 2004 in an effort to build support to reopen Portage and Main, but property owners around the intersection were not interested. His successor, Sam Katz, balked at the idea, which then fell off the public radar until 2014, when Katz chose not to seek re-election. That's when mayoral hopeful Brian Bowman pledged to reopen the corner by 2019, if elected. He was. A year later, Bowman had a city committee direct administration to examine the feasibility of removing the wall s. But a Probe Research poll suggested there was little support — 53 per cent of respondents opposed the idea. Voices from both the for and against camps grew louder over the next two years, as the matter moved through the complexities involved — consulting property owners and studying traffic impacts and infrastructure needs. The issue came to a head as the next civic election approached, prompting the addition of a plebiscite to the 2018 ballot. A Vote Open campaign pushed the "Yes" vote, but another Probe poll showed 67 per cent of Winnipeggers opposed it, citing gridlock and longer commutes as the biggest roadblock, so to speak. Unsurprisingly, 65 per cent of the votes in the plebiscite said "No," and a re-elected Bowman said he would honour the result. It all makes Distasio shake his head. "It's confounding. What's the big deal if this one extra intersection opened or closed in relation to the entirety of the complex transportation system and network?" he said. Portage and Main isn't even the city's busiest traffic crossing. "It's no different than any other intersection you would find in any other city globally, where people cross the street." In spite of public opinion, Portage and Main had other plans, once again. Decades of wear and tear led to the physical deterioration of barricades, sidewalks, staircases, entrances and other physical features both above and below the surface. Access to the underground had also been criticized as too difficult for those with mobility issues and generally unsafe with its dark corners. Even in 2018, when the plebiscite happened, it was publicly known that millions of dollars worth of repairs to the intersection were required. But more surprises were to come. 2024 In February 2024 — 45 years after the intersection was closed — council learned the bill to fix the issues plaguing the corner would be $73 million and create four to five years of traffic delays. The membrane protecting the underground pedestrian concourse needed replacement, which also meant millions of dollars in related repairs. A new membrane would have a service life of approximately 40 years, meaning the work would need to be repeated in the future. "It's time to make the common-sense decision," Mayor Scott Gillingham said at the time, leading a motion to reopen the intersection at much less expense, in the $20-million to $50-million range. Gillingham had not supported reopening in 2018. In March 2024, without going to the public this time, council voted 11-3 to do it. "I really think the barriers and the bunkers are just a leftover of a machine-car-driven era that wanted to see us be able to speed through downtown en route to burgeoning suburbs. I think we've come a long way to realize … this isn't going to be much of anything other than just simply the right thing to do at the right time," Distasio said. "I really think it's going to be the most interesting non-event event in Winnipeg's downtown history." The cost to redo the intersection for pedestrians — remove barricades, redesign crossings and curbing and install lights — was just under $17 million, a November report said. The cost to decommission the circus — the rounded concourse that connects the four corners of the intersection — remains to be determined.
National Post
23-06-2025
- General
- National Post
Nigel Biggar: Is Canada really built on 'stolen' land?
Article content While natural moral rules such as these do provide a framework for governing interactions in the absence of commonly recognized law, they're much more contingent and less stable than legal rights. This is because whether I respect your freedom or invade it depends on whether I estimate that you have more than you need and I have less. Even if I make my estimate conscientiously, your estimate might well differ from mine and there is no overarching authority to arbitrate between us. What's more, not everyone is conscientious and some — whatever their skin colour or ethnicity — will be propelled by greed or by the unfair, egoistic assumption that the life of someone else is worth less than their own. Article content To this already unstable mix must be added the incomprehension, uncertainty, mistrust and fear that naturally arise when two culturally alien peoples, speaking entirely different languages, collide with one another. Under such volatile conditions — and in the absence of any commonly restraining law — friction, conflict, defeat and conquest are, tragically, almost inevitable. Article content Almost, but not entirely. Sometimes, it suits alien peoples to co-operate because they have reciprocal interests. In a new study of early relations between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and Indigenous peoples on the coast of British Columbia, 'The Vancouver Island Treaties and the Evolving Principles of Indigenous Title,' the historian Ted Binnema reveals that land itself was not a bone of contention. While the company wanted to trade and gain access to natural resources, the Natives wanted the goods and opportunities that the British brought — including blankets, weapons, wage-labour and medical services. Article content They also wanted security. The peoples of the Pacific Northwest subsisted on salmon, which perishes quickly unless processed. Processing was labour-intensive, requiring far more work than women alone could provide. So, all of them depended on slave-labour. Consequently, slave-raiding and war were endemic. The HBC, however, made it clear that it wouldn't tolerate warfare on its doorstep. As a result, the Native peoples coveted the security and status that proximity to the company's trading posts offered. And when the foreigners cleared and cultivated land, or mined coal, they had no complaint, for land and the black stuff weren't what mattered most to them. Moreover, when they wanted to establish reservations, the company complied. It wasn't until the HBC first offered compensation in the 1850s that the Natives began to demand it. After all, when one set of them seized from another what did matter — slaves — they weren't in the habit of paying. Article content Article content This reminds us that relations between colonizers and Indigenous peoples weren't always characterized by conflict. In many cases, and for long periods, they co-operated to their mutual benefit. But it also shows us that the value of land differs not only between cultures, but over time. Even if it were true that, in the early 1800s, the territorial expansion of European settlement in British Columbia did deprive Indigenous peoples of their livelihood by trespassing on their fishing or hunting grounds, to surrender huge tracts of territory to them in 2025 is not to unravel history and restore the past. That's because what mattered in the past was not land but subsistence. And British colonization replaced traditional means of subsistence with new alternatives — trading, farming and wage-earning. Now, through the Canadian state, it offers welfare payments, too. Article content In the early 21st century, control over land means something quite different from what it meant in 1800. Its value has changed. Then, it meant access to fishing or hunting grounds and thereby the means of survival. Now, it means the lucrative ownership of resources for exploitation or development, which the Vancouver islanders in the 19th century could not imagine and did not value. So, to grant 'Native title' to Indigenous peoples today is not to uphold a historic legal right, for such a thing didn't exist. Nor is it to restore things to where they were, replacing like with like. It's to create a novel, unequal privilege. Article content Article content Article content
CBC
21-06-2025
- General
- CBC
How Alberta is facilitating the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts
In the late 1980s, Lewis Cardinal was among six Indigenous men who ran 4,400 kilometres from Edmonton to New York City in the wintertime to retrieve Cree Chief Big Bear's grizzly paw sacred bundle. To this day, it's housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. But the elders' teachings offered during that seven-month quest live on. "What they told us is that this run is not about returning the bundle, but it's about sending a message to all these young Indigenous people … to return back," Cardinal, an educator and storyteller from Sucker Creek First Nation, located in northern Alberta, said in a recent interview. "It's time to return back to the ceremonies in order to help them heal." On Saturday, as celebrations across Canada honour National Indigenous Peoples Day, calls to return sacred artifacts scattered around the globe are being renewed. A letter-writing campaign, launched by the Alberta Museums Association, urges the federal government to show leadership regarding the soon-to-be auctioned off collection of the bankrupt Hudson's Bay Company. A spokesperson for the Department of Canadian Heritage said it is actively monitoring HBC's upcoming auction, mindful that some items "may be of great significance to Indigenous Peoples." The federal government has no overarching legal framework to guide the complex process of repatriation, but Alberta stands out as an example "Alberta is actually the only jurisdiction in Canada that has enacted legislation about repatriation of sacred and ceremonial artifacts," said Jack Ives, a retired University of Alberta anthropology professor. He helped craft the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial Objects Repatriation Act, which passed in 2000. Ives said a careful, deliberate pathway is needed to ensure the right groups are consulted and items end up where they're supposed to. In a black market, he added, they could be worth millions. Since the legislation passed, more than 2,000 sacred objects have been repatriated to First Nations from government collections at the Royal Alberta and Glenbow museums, in consultation with communities. Museum culture has shifted, too, with an emphasis on amplifying diverse, authentic voices, cultivating understanding and building community, said Meaghan Patterson, executive director of the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM). "Sometimes they're identifying objects, they're telling stories, and then they're deciding what they'd like to have returned to the community," Patterson said. A case in point is the Manitou Stone — or Manitou Asinîy, as it's known in Cree. The 145-kilogram meteorite was repatriated from a college in Coburg, Ont., east of Toronto, in 1972 after 160 years. Once housed in the RAM's geological section, the Manitou Asinîy now has its own protected space, mimicking its original earthly home that overlooked the Iron River near Hardisty, Alta., about 175 kilometres southeast of Edmonton. The scent of sage and sweetgrass also lingers in the space from cleansing and ceremony. But Cardinal, of Sucker Creek First Nation, says true progress won't come until repatriation is addressed on sovereign footing between Canada and First Nations. He said the shift also requires a fundamental change in language. "Rematriation is the most appropriate term that we have now," said Cardinal. Repatriation focuses on returning objects to their place of origin. But rematriation goes deeper, seeking to also restore matrilineal perspectives.
