Traditional car dealerships are becoming a thing of the past in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Sitting on prime pieces of increasingly pricey real estate, car dealerships across the region have caught the eye and development dollars of homebuilders in recent years. Now, a growing number of car dealerships are racing toward development, either closing in favour of towering condo buildings or adapting to a fresh new look and life with hundreds of new neighbours.
Most recently, an application was submitted to the City of Toronto to breathe new life into the southeast corner of Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue West in Etobicoke – the current site of a two-storey Old Mill Cadillac Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership. The proposal details a mixed-use development that will retain the dealership and add new housing. The development would house a total of 516 residential units, with a total of 38, 464 sq. m allocated for residential use.
Designed by KFA Architects and Planners for Old Mill Cadillac Chevrolet Buick GMC Ltd., the proposed towers would include a 20-storey, 63.5-metre-high tower on the southeast corner of the site, and another 12-storey, mixed-use building sitting on St. Clair Avenue West. To accommodate this, the current retaining wall will be removed from St. Clair.
The car dealership would be integrated to the base level of the new frontage. The car dealership’s retail component will continue on site and will be located in the retail component of the mixed-use building at the southwest corner of the site, at the intersection of St. Clair and Jane. A total of 398 parking spaces will be shared between the retail and residential component. Parking will be in two levels of underground space and at-grade.
Meanwhile, 466 long-term and 104 short-term bicycle spots will serve the cycling set. While the site isn’t in the immediate vicinity of a transit station like so many new GTA proposals, it is easily connected to the Bloor line, with buses to Runnymede and Keele TTC stations in the proximity.
In addition to easy car shopping, future residents will enjoy 642 sq. m of indoor amenity space and 1695 sq. m of outdoor amenity space, according to the application.
The public, meanwhile, will benefit from a new, 355-sq.-m, privately-operated public space on the northeast part of the site. Additionally, the development would bring a small plaza to the intersection of Jane and St. Clair.
Google Maps
While we’ll have to wait and see if this development gets the green light from the City to move forward, car to condo conversions continue to take place throughout the region in the meantime. Take Dufferin Street, for example. The relatively uninspiring strip south of Yorkdale Shopping Centre to Eglinton Avenue is known for its numerous car dealerships. Following the economies of agglomeration, the idea back in the day was that the strip was a destination spot for consumers in the market for a new vehicle.
Now, many of these dealerships are set to slowly disappear to make way for shiny new condo developments. This includes the Yorkdale Dufferin Mazda dealership (2451 Dufferin St.); the Yorkdale Ford dealership (3130 Dufferin St.); the Dean Myers dealership (3180 Dufferin St.); and a Honda dealership (3400 Dufferin St.).
Not only does the disappearance or reconfiguration of car dealerships speak to rising land values, but it's also indicative of changing consumer behaviour, which plays a major role in the diminishing of car dealership's footprints. Things like virtual showrooms and at-home test drives have become more common as part of omni-channel approaches to selling cars. Some dealerships have also adopted a vertical model, whereby cars are stored underground.
Whatever the business model, it's safe to say that traditional car dealerships, as we know them, will continue to disappear to make way for development on their coveted lands.
