Dying malls trend continues in the GTA as new shopping centre goes into receivership
The shopping centre, as it was known during its ’80s and ’90s heyday, is officially dying — at least in the Toronto area, where a growing number of malls are up for redevelopment, which will see them partially or fully demolished for shiny new towers.
The latest indication of the institution’s downward spiral in the region is King Square Shopping Centre at 16th Avenue and Woodbine. After opening just five years ago, it has failed to be as profitable as planned and is now struggling under tens of millions in debt.
多伦多万锦王府井商业中心 King Square Shopping Centre, 9390 Woodbine Ave. Markham, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 2019, but it seems that the mall still has lots of shop spaces available for renting (2024-2-6) pic.twitter.com/iH3CQMY7Wk
— Donia Zhang (@doniazhang) February 7, 2024
Per Storeys, the Markham centre has now been placed under receivership due to a whopping $52 million owed to creditors, which means portions of the property and the building itself will be sold off to recoup the money.
This includes the sale of a 5.9-acre parking lot that was eventually to be turned into housing and a hotel, though the plans never progressed.
Individual retail spaces within the mall will also be sold off, as King Square owners already did with 410 units in its latest attempts to pay down the debt and stay afloat. Of 150 retail units still under the original owners, only 46 are still being leased to third parties.
It is unclear what will happen if the receiver is unable to sell the units, though the parking spaces should be no issue given their development potential.
Another Toronto mall is being transformed into a mega development https://t.co/iPfA7AwBPr #Toronto pic.twitter.com/s7LdrU3sKx
— blogTO (@blogTO) December 14, 2019
Public reviews of the centre reflect its dismal, though essentially brand-new state, with visitors writing things like, “It’s too bad this place is so desolate. This mall is only four years old, but something is amiss with all the idle space and vacancies” and sharing photos of its stores and corridors sitting eerily empty.
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