St. Clair Centre Repositioning

The St. Clair Centre is located at the key corner of Yonge and St. Clair streets, with a link to public transportation and two office towers, yet its retail portion had underperformed for several years. Slate Properties partnered with Gensler to reposition its retail space to attract new tenants and improve the overall street presence. The repositioning strategy involved identifying critical issues impacting the building as well as opportunities to enhance its best existing features. The design maintains the office space but targets the improved circulation, daylighting, and street presence of the upgraded retail space. The repositioning increases the leasable area of the centre while reducing redundant circulation space and expanding the frontage of all stores. The addition of more sidewalk entrances helps bring shoppers in off the street, and new stairs and elevator lobbies encourage movement between floors. Construction was phased in an intelligent manner, allowing anchor tenants to remain open throughout the repositioning.