They’re typical of the shops in a suburban shopping mall. But the Starbucks, A&W restaurant, nail salon and assorted clothing stores and boutiques gathered just west of the Wilson subway station have an unusual landlord: the City of Toronto.The Shops at Wilson Station, officially opened on Thursday, is the first — and maybe the only —shopping mall developed entirely by the city’s real estate development firm, Build Toronto.Typically, Build sells off the city’s surplus property to other developers. The revenue goes into the city’s capital funds to pay for municipal infrastructure.But the unusual zoning designation as an airport hazard area meant Build needed to act as its own developer to maximize the value of the plot, an old TTC parking lot, said CEO Bill Bryck.The mall, which sits southeast of Downsview Airport and a few kilometres east of the old Sunrise Propane explosion site, will be sold. But for now, the stores are the city’s tenants.“We’ve had potential buyers look at it. We haven’t consummated a deal yet,” he said.The 4.5-acre property has generated about $1.3 million in development charges and will bring in about $800,000 annually in property taxes.Although Build is a joint owner with Tridel of a condo at 10 York St., the mall is its first sole construction project.Bryck didn’t rule out the possibility there could be others in the future. But, he said, “our activities will generally be limited to the development of land — creating the development opportunity.”The Shops at Wilson Station was billed on Thursday as a step forward in transforming the city’s surburban landscape.City councillors touted its tunnel connection to the TTC, short-term and long-term bike parking, bike pump and repair station, wider footpaths and landscaping — calling it a departure from the typical big box centres such as the Home Depot and Costco across the street.“This ...
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