Barton Street East and Kenilworth Avenue North
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada's first regional-size retail complex was built on a 71-acre site, located 2 miles east of Hamilton's Central Business District. Once owned by the Gage family, the plot was developed as the Hamilton Jockey Club, a thoroughbred racing track, which opened in June 1893. Toronto's E.P. Taylor, under the auspices of the Canadian Equity & Development Company, acquired the property in 1952. Ground was broken in April 1954 for a suburban shopping complex.
During an initial construction stage, a 2-level (225,000 square foot) Simpsons-Sears was built. The store, which included a freestanding (15,000 square foot) Auto Centre, opened its doors on November 17, 1954. At this time, plans were being drawn for a fully-enclosed mall; this to be added to the west side of Simpsons-Sears. Due to cost restraints, the enclosed and climate-controlled mall plan was abandoned in favor of one for a more economical open-air facility.
In the meantime, a (32,000 square foot) Dominion supermarket was built on the west end of the mall site. This freestanding store was dedicated on February 3, 1955. Construction was progressing on the open-air mall section.
Lloyd D. Jackson, Mayor of Hamilton, cut a ceremonial ribbon at the official dedication of GREATER HAMILTON CENTRE (a.k.a THE CENTRE). Its initial thirty-one inline tenants opened for business on October 26, 1955. By late 1956, the 18 million dollar mall housed sixty stores and services. Among these were Merle's Fashions, The Stag men's wear, Gould's department store, Tip Top Tailors, Kent Drugs, Caplan's Furniture & Appliance, an S.S. Kresge 5 & 10 and freestanding (25,000 square foot) Loblaws Groceteria.
Ground had been broken in July 1956 for a second anchor department store. Montreal's Henry Morgan & Company (a.k.a. Morgan's) built a 2-level (140,000 square foot) mercantile. It opened, as the largest store in the chain, on May 14, 1957. THE CENTRE now spanned approximately 598,200 leasable square feet, with free parking provided for 5,000 autos. It was hailed as the largest shopping centre in Canada.
Anchor rebrandings commenced after the Hudson's Bay Company acquired the assets of the Morgan's chain, in late 1960. By 1964, the west anchor store at THE CENTRE was operating as The Bay. Simpsons-Sears, on the east end, became a standard Sears in August 1973.
A freestanding multiplex was built in parking area north of the Dominion store. Originally known as the National General Cinemas Centre Twin, the venue opened in January 1969. A (23,300 square foot) Canadian Tire store was added to the west side of the cinema.
Greater Hamilton's first enclosed and climate-controlled shopping hub was a downtown redevelopment. The first phase of JACKSON SQUARE was dedicated in 1970. The region's earliest suburban enclosed mall was EASTGATE SQUARE {2.4 miles southeast of THE CENTRE, in Stoney Creek}. This complex opened in April 1973.
As a keeping up measure, a renovation to enclose THE CENTRE had been announced in October 1972. During the 2 million dollar reconstruction, open court areas were filled with new store space. When the project was completed, the shopping hub was renamed CENTRE MALL. A second retail rival opened in the next decade. LIME RIDGE MALL {2 miles southwest, in Hamilton} was inaugurated in September 1981.
Another keeping up-type renovation was performed at CENTRE MALL. The shopping hub was expanded with a new North Wing. It contained thirty-five stores, a 7-bay Food Court, and 1-level (62,000 square foot) Kmart. The 11 million dollar addition was dedicated in January 1983. CENTRE MALL now spanned approximately 700,000 leasable square feet, with a tenant list of 120 stores.
Loblaws, a charter tenant, was shuttered in the early 1980s. Canadian Tire enlarged the vacant store to 61,300 square feet and opened for business in 1985. The original Canadian Tire store, adjacent to the twin cinema, was gutted and reconfigured as four cinematic auditoriums. These were combined with the existing cinema. The new Cineplex Odeon Centre Mall Theatre showed first features on April 18, 1986.
The Bay (the mall's west anchor) had been rebranded by the Hamilton-based G.W. Robinson Company. The Dominion was now an A & P. The Robinson's chain went out of business in 1989. The CENTRE MALL store sat vacant until 1992, when a 2-level (101,000 square foot) Zellers opened in the space. Kmart was shuttered in 1998.
By the dawn of the 21st century, CENTRE MALL was in decline, with most inline store space leased to mom & pop-type tenants . The facility was acquired by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in September 2003. Toronto's Redcliff Realty Group was enlisted as a managing agent. They drew up a plan to redevelop the shopping hub as an open-air power center.
The first order of business was to demolish the vacant North Wing, so that construction could begin on a new Zellers. The 1-level (110,900 square foot) store was dedicated on December 4, 2008. It was the first major retailer to open in the new -100 million dollar- CENTRE ON BARTON. Sears pulled the plug on their CENTRE MALL store on September 9, 2008. The vacant building was demolished in October.
A combination Canadian Tire and Mark's Work Warehouse (encompassing 107,400 square feet) opened its doors in the spring of 2009. The old Zellers was knocked down in April. By June, the last twelve stores in the mall had been shuttered. It was razed in July and August of 2009. Meanwhile, construction progressed on new CENTRE ON BARTON stores. The vacant Canadian Tire was bulldozed, with a 1-level (88,800 square foot) WalMart welcoming first shoppers on November 16, 2012.
Redcliff Realty Group was acquired by Calgary-based Coril Holdings in October 2011 and merged with Vancouver's Tonko Realty Advisors in June 2012. Triovest Realty Advisors, a new Toronto-based concern, was formed.
As this was playing out, Zellers was engulfed by a newly-formed Canadian division of Target. Zellers at CENTRE ON BARTON was Target-branded on April 5, 2012 and was permanently shuttered on April 2, 2015. During the Target trajectory, additional CENTRE ON BARTON stores were inaugurated.
A (30,100 square foot) Marshalls began business April 4, 2013, followed by a (21,100 square foot) Michaels, which held its grand opening on August 10th. In the mid-2020s, CENTRE ON BARTON encompassed approximately 760,000 leasable square feet and contained eighty stores and services.
Sources:
The Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario)
The National Post (Toronto, Ontario)
The Montreal Gazette
"Operation Shopping Centers" / D.L. Curtiss
http://spacing.ca / "The Rise & Fall of Ontario’s First Regional Mall" / Sean Marshall
http://www.redcliffrealty.com /Redcliff Realty Group
www.centremall.ca (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com
https://www.newswire.ca
https://triovest.com / Triovest Realty Advisors
