Though it's been on the books for several years, excavation
and demolition just began last week on what will eventually be the Milan condo
tower on the southeast portion of what was until recently the flagship Canadian
Tire store at the corner of Yonge and Church.
According to a source at the Conservatory Group who didn't want their name used because they were not authorized to talk
to the press, crews started destroying Canadian Tire's old underground parking
lot last week, but are now on temporary hold for unspecified reasons. It will
probably be about a year before construction reaches ground level.
Occupancy was originally slated for
December, 2010, a date that still comes up on the building's website.
The site is of some historical significance
as well. According to Toronto history expert Stephen Otto, it was the site of
one of the first downtown supermarkets (possibly a Piggly Wiggly) in 1922 (the
same year the Billes brothers opened the first Canadian Tire at the corner of
Gerrard and Hilton streets near Broadview), and before that the site of the
Severn Brewery, built around 1835, five years after fellow brewer Joseph Bloor
founded Yorkville. Bloor and Severn, who also served as the Reeve of Yorkville, and the reason there's a keg in the Yorkville coat of arms.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Conservatory Group, Stephen Otto