April 2004

Construction Begins

When we last left off in September 2003, RioCan had just announced their plans for the Oakridge Mall property. While it seemed at the time that construction would begin very soon, there was no action at 1201 Oxford Street West for several months. Finally, in late April, 2004, the first bulldozers moved onto the site to begin construction of some new commercial buildings on the land surrounding the existing Oakridge Mall building. For the time being, Oakridge Mall remained operational, but some of the parking areas were torn up.

These are the early stages of work in building the new Beer Store. Some of the parking lot was torn up, and the site of the former Esso station was regraded in order to build The Beer Store. The staircase in the immediate foreground connected the parking lot with Oxford Street, and was demolished shortly after this photo was taken.

Another angle of the beginning of construction of the new Beer Store site, clearly showing the old retaining wall that bordered the land on which the former Esso station stood. This wall was demolished shortly after this photo was taken. In the background is the intersection of Oxford Street and Hyde Park Road.

Over on the south side of Oxford Street, work is well under way on some of the new commercial developments. Steel has been erected for the Shoppers Drug Mart (right), and a fresh food market (left).

Construction of the exterior of the new Bank of Montreal on the south side of Oxford Street, next to the Shell station, is progressing well towards completion. The new bank opened on June 28, 2004.

Over at the entrance to the old Wal-Mart, crews have torn up the parking lot. One of the new retail buildings will be located here. Do not be fooled by the backhoe; demolition of Wal-Mart was still months away at this point.

Another view of the torn-up Wal-Mart parking lot. The light poles are still up in this photo, but they were taken down a few days after this photo was taken.

A view of the area adjacent to the intersection of Hyde Park and Royal York Roads, where new retail buildings were soon to be built.

This section of the former Wal-Mart parking lot is where the main plaza of the new development is located, which includes a Pizza Pizza outlet.

Another shot that shows the construction site for some of the new retail buildings, directly in front of and near the former Wal-Mart. At left is the rear of the original Loblaws store.

Here I am standing on the site of the future retail building adjacent to the intersection of Hyde Park and Royal York Roads. The grass shown here, as well as the tree at right, was torn up just days after this photo was taken to make way for construction of the new buildings. The existing mall building is visible in the background.

Please click on a link below for more photos of Oakridge Mall.

Last updated: August 16, 2004
Copyright 2003, 2004, Michael J. La Rochelle
This site is in no way affiliated with RioCan, Loblaw Companies Limited, Wal-Mart, or any other company or organization associated with Oakridge Mall.