10 Dundas East (formerly Metropolis and Toronto Life Square) is a retail, office and entertainment complex development on the north-east corner of the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The project was originally delayed several times, and sits on a large parcel of prime land in the city's commercial core, on the north side of Yonge-Dundas Square.

[edit] History

The project was approved in 1998 with the opening originally planned for 2000. The land was expropriated by the City of Toronto immediately afterwards,^[1] and while construction boarding soon went up, the project suffered shutdowns and major delays.

Under the control of developers PenEquity, construction finally began in 2003. A phased opening started in late 2007. The AMC Yonge & Dundas 24 (which in the early planning stages had been a 30-plex) opened on March 28, 2008, with a free small popcorn offer for every guest until April 24, and twenty-four digital auditoriums. As per the original agreement, some cinemas are used in the morning as classrooms of Ryerson University.

When it opened, the complex was renamed Toronto Life Square after the local magazine. After the building was placed in court-ordered receivership in 2009, St. Joseph Communications, the owner of Toronto Life magazine, initiated a court action to have the magazine's name removed from the complex. The building was renamed 10 Dundas East in September 2009.^[2]

[edit] Architecture

The project was built in an L-configuration around a number of existing buildings, including a parking garage belonging to the adjacent Ryerson University; in exchange for the air rights to build over its land, Ryerson gained use of the AMC theatres as classrooms during daytime hours.^[3]

The exterior facing Dundas Square is primarily covered with giant video screens and static billboard advertisements of various sizes. The Yonge Street facade is made up of curtainwall store fronts with a glass and steel canopy overhanging the sidewalk. Toronto Star architecture critic Christopher Hume wrote a lengthy piece in the newspaper entitled "We don't deserve this horrorchitecture"^[1], which decried the building as a "nasty dark grey bunker".

Toronto Life Square (March 2008)

[edit] Effect on local economy and tourism

Analysts believed the development would stir new commercial and tourist growth in the Toronto downtown area.^{[citation needed]} The growth of commercial prosperity in other more mature commercial districts such as New York City's Times Square, London's Piccadilly Circus and Tokyo's Shibuya have served as the basis for these projections.^{[citation needed]}

Downtown Toronto already has major shopping districts, particularly in the nearby indoor Toronto Eaton Centre shopping complex, the Yorkville area, and parts of Queen Street West. The intention of the property, however, was to attempt to stir development of a different type of shopping area; one that is dominated by billboards and video screens as well as high density buildings in an outdoor shopping area.

Exterior shot during construction, June 30, 2006

[edit] Retail

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

10 Dundas Square East is anchored by an AMC 24 screen movie theatre, a Future Shop store, Adidas Sport Store and restaurants including Jack Astor's and Milestone's,^[4] which both have patio^{[citation needed]} dining with a view of Yonge-Dundas Square.

[edit] See also

• Shopping mall
• Entertainment Centrum

[edit] References

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/toronto-life-square-in-receivership/article1222909/

Building under construction. (Taken November 5, 2006)

Coordinates: 43°39′24″N 79°22′51″W / 43.656761°N 79.380727°W / 43.656761; -79.380727