So many exciting changes this fall in the Riverside ‘hood
Flaunt Boutique‘s new location ‘Untitled’ at 792 Queen St East, opened up with a soft launch on October 21st. They are still busy setting up their beautiful space which features a living green wall. You can see their amazing hair work with colour and sculpting on their Facebook and Twitter.
Just across the street, and beside Bergstrom Originals, the Sash & Bustle Bridal shop opened its doors at 779 Queen St East on October 5th. They are an ‘alternative bridal boutique featuring affordable luxe: bridal gowns and accessories’. Check out their trunk shows and other events coming up (by appointment).
Oso Viejo Imports launched at 700 Queen St East on September 11th, with a ‘family and friends’ celebration. They sell Mesquite table tops, ethically designed from 150-200 year old Mesquite trees ‘giving new function to damaged, dead trees for another century or more’.
BMO opened up their fully accessible space at 774 Queen East on October 26th. Their new space features shiny new ATMs, handy information screens showing news and weather, and beautiful, clean brightly lit space with the usual friendly faces. Right next to BMO is definitely a Dollarama – again an accessible space (yay) – and they’re hiring!
Something’s coming in at 762 Queen St E (former ‘Hardware Interiors’ store). Looking forward to movement there!
Vietnamese food is still on its way with Lan Restaurant completing renovations at 755 Queen St East (right beside the BIA office).
A new bar is coming into the space at 747 Queen Street East (formerly 747 Wine Bar). I’ll be Seeing You is a bar owned by ‘sisters with a dollar and dream’, stay tuned!
At 729 Queen E (formerly Studio Pazo) a new bakery is rolling into the neighbourhood! Sugar Loaf Bakery and Cafe promises non-traditional artisanal bakery.
The transformation of the Broadview Hotel at Queen and Broadview continues. Streetcar Developments is working hard to turn the space into a boutique hotel and restaurants – which requires restoration, stabilizing, and rebuilding from the bottom up and then the top down – whew! The latest word is for a spring 2016 opening (fingers crossed!).
The space at 682 Queen Street East (former Darkhorse location) continues its renovations into a new restaurant – a peek in the windows confirms that work is going well!
Hair Code at 743 Queen St East is renovating…looking forward to beautiful changes ahead!
Rumour has it…
- that a new cafe of sorts will be starting up in the space at 753 Queen St East (formerly Ambiance Chocolat) to compliment the nighttime hi-lo bar next door.
Last but certainly not least are updates on the planning of Riverside Square, a 4-acre site bounded by Queen on the north, Eastern on south, Don Roadway on west, and the condos on the east. The application for this development has been ongoing for at least two years and is moving into the home stretch with the final report submitted to the City this past week. Here are highlights of updates shared by Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher in a November 3rd community newsletter: the application maintains a 6-storey height limit on Queen Street East; increases animation on Queen Street by moving the car dealership to the industrialized portion of the site (along East Don Roadway); features a 780-square metre urban park/public space on Queen at the new street leading into the development; includes a new dog off-leash area at the south end of the development; adds the first Woonerf east of the Don River; includes family-friendly unit sizes; has small scale retail space on Queen, including a grocery store; injects $5 million for the construction of affordable housing in the neighbourhood; adds up to 400 new skilled jobs with car dealerships and repair. Check out the full update!
