As Toronto's complexion increasingly acquires brown hues, developers are responding with shopping-mall projects that cater to the fastest-growing segments of the new Canadian market. While the Gerrard India Bazaar, on Gerrard Street East between Greenwood and Coxwell, remains a one-stop shop for all things South Asian, shopping destinations are also being built further out toward the suburbs.
The latest project is T. Junction - pronounced T-dot junction, with the initial doing double duty for Toronto and Tamil. Touted as North America's first Tamil shopping plaza, its foundation stone is to be dedicated tomorrow near Eglinton Avenue and Warden Avenue in Scarborough.
T. Junction is the third project in Scarborough aimed at shoppers looking for South Asian specialties, joining the completed (but not yet occupied) GTA Square on Finch Avenue East near Markham Road and the planned Sitara at McNicoll Avenue and Markham Road.
Architect Yaso Somalingam, one of the project's four developers said the mall will be spread over 80,000 square feet and will house two theatres screening Tamil and Indian movies, in addition to retail outlets, restaurants and food courts.
Statistics bear out the developers' interest in tapping the South Asian market. According to the 2006 census, 184,135 people in the City of Toronto Census Metropolitan Area - out of a total population of 2,476,565 - were born in South Asia.
Numbers like those prompted seafood importer turned developer David Lam to abandon a decade-old plan for a Chinese mall near McNicoll Avenue and Markham Road and go with a South Asian theme under the name Sitara ("the star").
The mall is projected for 240,000 square feet.