Mirvish's new turkey

Everyone in the Toronto area knows Honest Ed's, but it's not so well-known outside the city.  The venerable cheapie department store is like the love child of Walmart and Barnum and Bailey's.  Can't quite visualize that?  Fortunately for you,  you don't have to:

"Honest" Ed Mirvish passed away in 2007, leaving quite a legacy for the city.  As well as his ramshackle emporium, he had a couple of restaurants and a couple of theatres: an old one that he rescued from the wrecking ball (The Royal Alexandra), and one he built, the Princess of Wales.  That name will give you an idea of its age, which is important for what follows.  Mirvish was also a great philanthropist; most famously, he gave away thousands of turkeys at his store every Christmas.

The Mirvish empire has now passed into the hands of his son, David Mirvish, who seems to see his role in life as busting up everything his late father built.  It's just been announced that Honest Ed's, plus the surrounding blocks that the family also owns, is up for sale.  Not as a going concern, of course: it's all but certain to be snapped up by a developer and torn down so that another ghastly condo development can be stuck in its place.  The Mirvish family is almost certainly correct in judging that the time for something like Honest Ed's has passed, but it will still leave a big hole in the city's psyche when it goes.

But that's not the half of it.  David Mirvish also wants to build a giant three-tower condo development downtown, and in order to do that, he wants to tear down the relatively new Princess of Wales theatre.  When I say giant, I mean it: the towers would, if Mirvish gets his way, be 80 stories tall.  And they'd be designed by Frank Gehry, in the nightmare-inducing style that he's already used to blight cities around the world.  Can't quite visualize it?  Unfortunately for you, you don't have to:

Gehry is a Torontonian, so it's a bit surprising that he hasn't been asked to inflict one of his excrescences on his home city before now.  (He's 84, so time may be said to be running short).  City council has yet to approve the plan, which goes way beyond the height and density regulations for the neighbourhood, but Mirvish is offering an inducement.  If the plan is approved, he'll graciously make his personal art collection available for public viewing.  Considering his taste in architecture, that's an offer I'd find very easy to refuse. In the meantime, that low whirring sound you hear is probably Ed Mirvish, spinning in his grave.