Foot Notes

Rents in the PATH are not disclosed by the landlords. However, John Crombie, national retail director at Cushman and Wakefield commercial real estate brokers, says the rents vary dramatically and there is not a lot of vacancy. Here is a look at how business in the PATH — (underground tunnels south of Dundas) — compares to other Toronto real estate. These are net rent figures, which are calculated per square foot, per year.

Bloor Street store-front (between Yonge St. and Avenue Rd.): $320 per sq/ft

Yorkdale / Eaton Centre: Up to $200 sq/ftPATH (high traffic, under 500 square feet): Up to $150 sq/ft

Queen Street West streetfront (at Spadina Ave): $75 to $120 sq/ft PATH (high traffic, greater than 2,000 square feet): $30 to $100 sq/ft

Typical shopping mall: $50 - $100 sq/ft

Crombie didn’t have numbers for College Park or Cumberland Terrace. He said Cumberland is under-going a transformation with a new condo above and a “retail revival plan,” many concourse retailers are on short-term deals.

Crombie says retail productivity (sales revenue per square foot each year) in the high pedestrian traffic corridor of the PATH is about $800 to $1,000 sq/ft. That’s pretty solid considering most stores are open only five days a week.

Average retail mall productivity in Canada: $600 sq/ft

Top three malls in Canada* per sq/ft:( *Source: Cushman & Wakefield and ICSC )1) Pacific Centre, Vancouver: $1,547 2) Eaton Centre: $1,303 3) Yorkdale : $1,288

Busiest seasons in path: Fall and winter, anytime it rains.

The city says the PATH has: • 1,000 plus stores (not including upper levels of Eaton Centre)• 280,000 gross square metres of leasable retail floor space• $1.5 billion in annual sales revenue (2011)• 125 grade level exits to escape to the outside world• 60 forks in the road• 6 hotels• 5 residential condos This is completely unscientific, but after a while, I feel like Toronto’s underground is divided into…

next saturday: fun underground