Toronto Star

Under any circumstances, the new Toronto Life Square would be a disappointment, but given its particular history, it's doubly so. In case you hadn't noticed, the "square" is the nasty dark grey bunker that now occupies the northeast corner of Yonge and Dundas Sts. It looms over one of the city's most important intersections with all the charm of a high-security prison. Big, bulky, busy and boring to the last rivet, it is a building untouched by architecture, or any other civic concern for that matter. If this weren't injury enough, the insult lies in the fact that the complex was built on prime real estate expropriated by the city back in the late 1990s for the purpose of revitalizing the neighbourhood. But even before this galactic coal-carrier is finally finished later this year, it's clear it will add little to the area, except its sheer bulk. And as for the contents of this lumpen excuse for a building, they will include Future Shop, Shoppers Drug Mart, AMC Theatres, as well as the inevitable Tim Hortons. How exciting is that?