The first tenant has already moved out, but the restoration of the
Five Thieves continues unabated.
Montreal Bread Company, the bakery-caf� franchise that was the first tenant in the first available section of the old strip of upscale shops at 1095-1103 Yonge at Summerhill has moved on for what the developer calls "their own business reasons," but the rest of the project, which has been going on and off since
Woodcliffe bought the property in 1996, will be finishing up in the next 90 days, according to Woodcliffe president and CEO Paul Oberman.
"Restoration always takes a lot more time than renovation or new construction," Oberman says. "Part of our program was to stabilize the building structurally, fully excavate the basement � some of the stores had dirt floors down there before we started to work with them. We've also created kitchen areas for each of the tenants below grade, so that the entire ground floors can be used as retail area."
Oberman says that the next phase of the development will be the removal of the temporary buildings that are currently housing several businesses, including
Harvest Wagon, just to the north of the main building. In their place will be a permanent one-storey pavillion with a green roof.
Much of the architectural work on the shops was provided by the Adelaide Street West firm of
Goldsmith, Borgal and Co. Architects.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paul Oberman
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