Lawrence Allen Centre

The Lawrence Allen Centre, formerly Lawrence Square Shopping Centre, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is one of the city's twenty largest malls. It is located on Lawrence Avenue West, west of Allen Road, in the neighbourhood of Lawrence Heights, which is in the former city of North York. It is accessible from the Toronto Transit Commission's Lawrence West station, as well as via various bus routes. It is a terminating vista of Marlee Avenue.

Lawrence Allen Centre
Coordinates43°43′0″N 79°26′50″W
Address700 Lawrence Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M6A 3B4
Opening date1989[1]
DeveloperRioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
ManagementJulie M. Rinaldi
OwnerRioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
No. of stores and services120
No. of anchor tenants6
Total retail floor area679,575 square feet (63,134.6 m2)
No. of floors2 (Canadian Tire on 2 floors)
Websitelawrenceallencentre.com

North of Lawrence Allen Centre is the Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Tenants

The anchor stores are Canadian Tire on the west side and Fortinos (Loblaw Companies Limited) on the northwest side. There was a Zellers on the east side, which became vacant in early 2013. There were plans to have Target Canada where Zellers was, albeit in a smaller format, but it was scrapped upon Target's exit from Canada[2] and space remained vacant until April 14, 2016 when Marshalls and HomeSense (both owned by TJX Companies) and PetSmart moved in.

Payless ShoeSource had a location before it went out of business as a victim of the retail apocalypse.

Other major tenants include Dollarama, The Source and Structube.

Renovations

When Zellers became defunct, there were renovations in its former space from 2015 to 2016 to accommodate Marshalls, HomeSense, and PetSmart.

Lawrence Square's redevelopment began in September 2017 and was completed in phases by the end of 2018. The transformation consisted of the two levels of retail, the expansion of the food court, and new public washrooms.[3][4]

Lawrence Square Shopping Centre was renamed Lawrence Allen Centre on October 3, 2019.[5]

Site redevelopment

Old plan

As part of the 20-year plan to redevelop Lawrence Heights that began in 2007 by local city councillor Howard Moscoe, Lawrence Square was planned to be demolished to make way for a northward extension of Marlee Avenue and for public housing.

Two nearby public schools were planned to be demolished to make way for retail uses.[6][7][8]

New plan

Later on, councillor Moscoe retired. The new councillor, Josh Colle, conducted more rounds of community consultation. The city no longer aims to demolish Lawrence Square; instead, the new plan is to leave the mall in place for good.[9][10][11]

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See also

References
  1. Josh Colle's Summer 2014 Newsletter (click "Read More")
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-06. Retrieved 2015-06-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Shopping Centre, Lawrence Square. "Lawrence Square Redevelopment". Lawrence Square. RioCan REIT. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  4. RioCan. "Lawrence Square Shopping Centre". RioCan. RioCan. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  5. https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2019/10/lawrence-square-rebranded-lawrence-allen-centre-renovations-proceed
  6. Vincent, Donovan (May 11, 2007). "Massive Lawrence Heights overhaul planned". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  7. 'Massive' plan to revamp troubled Lawrence Heights
  8. Plan to re-create Lawrence Heights unveiled
  9. Colle, Josh. "Lawrence Heights revitalization: phase 1 update". I secured important changes to the plan including: ... Exclusion of the Lawrence Square lands from the focus area
  10. Solaris. "Lawrence Heights Revitalization". UrbanToronto Forums » Buildings. Chart Communications, Inc. Demolition will not happen unless someone buys out Lawrence Square from Riocan or ... Riocan chooses to participate in the redevelopment
  11. sixrings. "Yorkdale Condominiums". UrbanToronto Forums » Buildings. Chart Communications, Inc. The new plan is omitting Lawrence Square redevelopment


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