First post in 10 months

 My last post was in January of this strangest of years.  Instead of talking about the opening of The Amazing Brentwood in the Fall of 2020, we will likely see it's full opening sometime in 2021.  It's been very nice to see people hanging out in the Entertainment Plaza during summers days and evenings.  I hope to resume posting regularly as we move towards winter.

Retail tenants revealed for Brentwood

It has been about 2 months since my last post.  During that time, the Willingdon Linear Park has won an award while cycling advocates complain about not having a dedicated bike path along the length of the park.  If we are having discussions and debates about separating pedestrian from bicycle paths, it's a good thing as we move towards designing our city to be more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly

As the pedestrian areas in and around Brentwood's Entertainment Plaza begin to take shape with nicely lit steps, benches and beautiful greenery in the form of trees and shrubs, it appears that a full opening of Phase 1 of the Brentwood development has been delayed.  However some retail names have been revealed for the development as it inches closer to a gradual opening that will unfold between this fall and 2020.  According to the Daily Hive article below, the Cactus Club and McDonald's, will join Starbucks in the Entertainment Plaza.  H&M, Wilfred, Nike and Adidas have joined Sporting Life among the retailers announced.  More retail names should be revealed beginning this fall.

First look inside: The Amazing Brentwood shopping mall will live up to its name (PHOTOS)

Kenneth Chan

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Jul 26 2019, 9:59 am

It is safe to say The Amazing Brentwood (TAB) will live up to its name.

The first phase of the expansive redevelopment of what was previously known as Brentwood Town Centre shopping mall is now racing towards completion, with project team crews now well into the process of incrementally handing over completed shell commercial spaces to the construction contractors hired by the many retailers.

Darren Kwiatkowski, the executive vice-president of acquisitions and development for Shape Properties, provided Daily Hive this week with an exclusive first glimpse of the project nearing its final stage.

“We’re really excited that after many years of planning, design, and construction, we are close to being finished,” said Kwiatkowski.

“This place is coming alive… We think the public will be very excited and really embrace the project, and we’re looking forward to many years of success here.”

To say the least, it is certainly a highly impressive application and scale of a mixed-use, transit-oriented redevelopment concept; much attention to detail has been provided to this $1.5-billion phase of the new indoor and outdoor shopping mall with a wide range of retail and dining, residential and office spaces, and an immersive public realm.

The new shopping mall’s selection of retail, restaurants, and entertainment, with a greater-than-normal emphasis on the latter two, is intended to bring people to TAB. It speaks to how the next generation of malls in the rising retail age of e-commerce are increasingly focusing on creating experiential activations that supplement traditional retail.

To achieve an optimal mix of global luxury, mid-market, and local-serving retail, the developer partnered with global firm L Catterton Real Estate to turn TAB into a mall with high-calibre architecture, public art, and world-renowned and luxury retail brands.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE WITH PHOTOS

Bigger hole in the ground

The Brentwood Mall Redevelopment continues with McDonald's shutting down. Only the Bank of Montreal remains along that section slated for removal as part of Phase 1.

Meanwhile, activity continues in and around the future Entertainment Plaza with rows of dump trucks snaking through the development beginning as early as 7:00am this morning.

New retail space to be built next to old Zellers

According to the minutes of tonight's Burnaby City Council Meeting, in order to accommodate affected businesses during Phase 1 of the Brentwood Mall Redevelopment, a new temporary retail building will be erected at the northwest corner of the mall site.  According to comments by city councillors, the temporary building may be there for as long as ten years as the BMR progresses to Phase 3 over that period.  Once it's usefulness ceases, the building will be replaced by a high-rise tower,

Perhaps we'll see McDonald's and IHOP move into the new building along with Kin's Farm Market.

BMO, McDonalds and IHOP moving by 2014

I prematurely blogged last year about a plan to relocate the Bank of Montreal by the fall of 2012 to make room for the construction of the Entertainment Plaza during Phase 1 of the Brentwood Mall Redevelopment (BMR).  I've heard from the grape vine that the entire mall front from BMO to the IHOP will be torn down to make room for the new development and plans are being made to relocate the affected businesses to other locations in the mall.  Phase 1 of the BMR is expected to begin in early 2014 pending a public hearing sometime this year. Whereas the BMO's relocation in the mall shouldn't be too complicated, the same can't be said about IHOP and McDonalds.

IHOP to move

Where the IHOP restaurant will move is potentially a complicated matter.  The only existing location in the mall where a restaurant might be able to go in would be the recently vacated restaurant inside the old Zellers location on the west side of the mall.  Of course, the entrance to the old restaurant used to be from inside the Zellers.  A way around this would be to renovate and build an external entrance into where the old restaurant stood to allow IHOP to remain in business with a separate entrance into the restaurant.  The other option could be to merely close down the IHOP and not reopen either until the BMR has created a new space for it, or to close it down permanently.  I hope it remains in the mall as there sure aren't many restaurants (if any) nearby that can satisfy a sudden craving for pancakes.

McDonalds to move

The Mcdonalds will also be required to move from its current location.  The same issue as IHOP arises regarding where a suitable place might be for a McDonalds restaurant.

McDonald's renovation complete. What did they renovate?

The McDonald's express located at Brentwood Mall's south entrance next to IHOP and BMO underwent renovations in July and had to be shut down for a few days.  Now that it has reopened, I am wondering what the renovations and subsequent closing of the store accomplished.  As far as I can see, everything looks exactly as it was before the renovation.  The entrance and ordering counter remain in the same position as before. In my opinion, it would have made sense to at least change the layout so the ordering area would not spill into the mall as it does now and become crowded during hours when the mall is closed and the accordion doors are closed.

Maybe the work only involved electrical and plumbing updates.

McDonald's Renovating

If you're craving a McDonald's breakfast on your way to catch the train in the morning, you're going to have to make new plans for your fix as the McDonald's located at Brentwood Mall is currently boarded up and  renovations are underway.  My guess is that because it opens earlier and closes later than mall hours, they want to change the layout including the entrance/exit location.  The area in front of the counter was very narrow and crowded outside mall hours when the accordion doors were closed to prevent access to the closed mall.