Holt Renfrew Building on Bloor

Yonge & Bloor - a famous Canadian intersection that seems lack any real meaning beyond it being the intersection of two subway lines and the intersection of two major shopping corridors.

This area is growing taller and taller. At the southeast corner, 1 Bloor East will rise and dominate the skyline. A bit further west, there are several buildings that are going up in Yorkville, as well as several luxury condos just south of Bloor on Charles Street (including my personal favourite new high rise, 1 St. Thomas).

Just across from the Manulife centre a block away near Bay Street, lies one building that remains a meager three stories - Holt Renfrew's. This high-end department store rises a mere three stories on very valuable land on Bloor.

When will this department store be redeveloped? Will it?



If the building were to be redeveloped as a high rise, Holts would have to move. Presumably it would move somewhere else in Yorkville, but where? The best bet would be to temporarily move into the bottom of 1 Bloor East while the new Holts was being constructed. 1 Bloor East would not necessarily offer enough floor space, but it would be in a highly visible location. All of this is purely speculative though.

While discussing the options for the Holt Renfrew building, my wife reminded me that one of Holt's biggest assets is its high-fashion and exclusivity of products and that Holts must maintain that it is, well, rich. She suggested that the Holts building may not be redeveloped so as to reflect the store's strength.

It does not have to or want to be redeveloped - it can afford to waste space.