...we’re not a poor family, so the lack of rent for a year, or year and a half, is not going to hurt us.
Ted Burnett, 85 Bloor St. W. owner

“We’ve had all kind of inquiries and very serious inquiries and we just don’t want to lease it to anyone except a world class name that we all aspire to shop at,” said Ted Burnett whose family firm Burnac Corp. owns 85 Bloor St. W. Tiffany & Co. vacated that location last year for a smaller store across the street. Ground floor rents on the strip are about $325 per square foot.

“When you’re dealing with often a private and wealthy personal family that probably doesn’t even have a mortgage on the building, they’re not in a rush and they want to do what’s right for the street, because in the long run it will help their asset.”

It’s probably, per square foot, dollar for dollar, the most valuable commercial real estate in all of Canada

The higher rents are justified he said, because Bloor St. sales per square foot average $1,800 to $2,000, compared to “some of the best malls in Canada have average sales per square foot in the $1,100 to 1,300 range.”