[ssiguy]

Pedestrian malls are tricky affairs and ussually don't work especially in Canada's colder climate. Calgary's Stephen Ave mall is a rare exception and most of it's success is do to the very busy day hours with all the office workers desperate to get out of their cubicles.
Sometimes a more reasonable compromise is transit-only malls like vancouver's Granville Street mall. The transit brings in the people and cabs and delivery trucks can use the mall so it doesn't become a logistical nightmare. By getting rid of the parking it allows the city to widen the sidewalks to encourage a more outdoor shopping experience and cafes.
I always thought an excellent potential pedestrian way would be closing off the Market Lane. Close the lane except the very small section from King up 50 meters to allow for deliveries. Then the entire section from roughly the old Simpson building over to Talbot could be an outdoor, cafe esperience. They should close that stupid daycare centre in the lane between Dundas and The Market and move it so cafes could use the laneway.
On a somewhat different note, I finally saw a pic of the new Shoppers Drug on Richmond, looks like that got the design and height just right. I still have only seen one pic so if anyone has any other pics of it that would be great.
More than any recent developement in The Core, including Ren 1&2 , this is the one I have been looking forwatd to the most. I always stated that this could work miracles for The Core as is often the case it's the small developments that make the difference not the big ones. It finally gets rid of the gapping hole that separated The Core from Richmond Row. It was just a small gap but a real one and now the line is blurred and people on RR may continue further south to downtown to continue their shopping and dining. A small development that will heap huge rewards.