Results tagged “nassaustreet”

By Ryan North and Unknown Artist

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

There was an article in April 18th's Globe and Mail that began by labelling Kensington Market "the site of the next big battle for gentrification" in Toronto. The central figure in that article was realtor Phil Pick, of Esbin Realty, whose "for lease" signs hang or have until recently hung in the windows of five Kensington storefronts this spring, by our last informal count. One Phil Pick property on Augusta Avenue has already been leased for some time to the owners of Good Egg, a gourmet kitchen implements store. Two more storefronts have Esbin Realty signs without Phil Pick's nameplate attached. Of the seven total Esbin properties not yet fully occupied, three are now leased and undergoing renovation. One of them, though still unfinished, is already selling, of all things, scooters.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Have a closer look at the posters on 234 Augusta Avenue after the jump.

The Post is reporting that talks are currently underway with Starbucks to rent the former home of J & J Fruit Market—on the corner of Augusta and Nassau and thus smack-dab in the heart of Kensington Market. Some Market residents who the Post interviewed were unsurprisingly ready for a fight, and, as the property is partially on city land, Adam Vaughan has said that it will require neighbourhood approval anyway and will become a "very public and pitched debate." That, and he wants Kensington composed of "small, family-run businesses.” So: probably not gonna happen. The winning serve comes from i deal coffee owner James Fortier, who tells the Post that he has no issues with Starbucks coming; he just thinks that the big chain won't make any money if they do. There's the rub: if, by some miracle, Starbucks gets its wings and opens up shop in Kensington, against the violent protests and certain vandalism from the locals, it could still only survive as long as customers' demand for it did.