The threat of a big-box development is still alive in Kensington Market—but so is Casa Acoreana

The developer hoping to build a big-box development on the western edge of Kensington Market isn’t giving up. After both the city’s committee of adjustment and the Ontario Municipal Board rejected its application for a 12,000-square-metre shopping centre on Bathurst just south of College, the RioCan-backed company has now applied for a zoning amendment, which must go through city council. That process also gives residents a chance to weigh in, which many will undoubtedly take given the community’s history of fighting against anything that could imperit the market’s character. To wit: recent rent hikes that threatened to displace longstanding café and food shop Casa Acoreana caused enough of a stir that the landlord reconsidered. [Urban Toronto]