Toronto residents welcome Costco big box proposal

ABOVE: Plans for Costco to take over former Coca-Cola headquarters in Thorncliffe Park welcomed by residents looking for employment opportunities. Mark McAllister reports.

As Costco plans to move into the former Coca-Cola headquarters, residents are welcoming the proposed moved and the potential job opportunities that could come with it.

Abbas Kolia, from the Thorncliffe Park Tennants Association, said the news is “wonderful” for the area of Thorncliffe which has faced high levels of unemployment.

Still in the initial planning phase the proposal calls for a single-storey 14,543-square-metre Costco on the easterly half of the site with a gas station at the northwest corner next to Thorncliffe Park Drive.

Costco would also bring to the area 150-200 jobs to the area, which is good news for Thorncliffe residents who have a median household income of less than $36,000 a year.

However, there are some Toronto residents who are making an argument against the big box store moving into the area and are calling for the office building to be designated as a heritage property.

Geoff Kettel with the Toronto Preservation Board, says the building is an example of modernist architecture that needs to be preserved.

“That building, the Coco-Cola headquarters is a wonderful modernist architectural building built by Mathers and Haldenby in the mid 1960s. It was the new Toronto,” said Kettel.

Community consultations still need to be scheduled before the proposal can be approved, but residents in the area say if it means more jobs they will welcome the big-box store to their community.

–With files from Mark McAllister