I was just talking to Leo, my barber of 27 years, and he informed me that Sunnybrook Plaza has taken another step towards being bulldozed in favor of a new condominium development.

I happen to work with a couple developers and builders, so would it be hypocritical of me to say that I think this is a tragic shame?

Leo has been cutting my hair since I was two years old.  I can’t fathom having another human being cut my hair, or actually having to tell them what to do, ie. “Keep the sides short, the front shorter, and the back long…really long!  Yep, mullet-time!”

The Fleming-Family-Haircut used to be a monthly excursion and male-bonding exercise, as we would head over to Sunnybrook Plaza and take turns in the barber chair.  My dad always used to get a shave, and while I can complete a shave in under three minutes, it for some reason took Leo 45 minutes to wrap steaming hot towels around my Dad’s face and then put on a mechanical contraption to give him a shoulder massage.  Yeah…huh…

I visited Leo this afternoon, with my $15 in tow for the service he would provide (I’m not cheap, I give him $20 since I know that Antonio, Soren, or Miguel would charge me $85 to have my hair “styled” elsewhere…), and Leo and I got to talking as we usually do.

As I began telling him how amazing it was that he is the only person to ever cut my hair, he told me that perhaps he wouldn’t be doing so much longer.  He went on to tell me that Sunnybrook Plaza was just sold, and the new owners have jacked up the rents!

I’m in real estate, and I’m a pure capitalist no doubt.  I know that in order to maximize the investment’s value, you need to squeeze as much blood from the stone as possible.  But seeing 73-year-old Leo limp around his 400 square foot barber shop as his health gets worse and worse, I can’t help but feel like Rio-Can should have just left this poor strip-mall as it was…

Sunnybrook Plaza is the oldest strip-mall in Canada and was the first of it’s kind.  Built in 1952 when the area was nothing but a suburban area with active farmland just a stone’s throw away, it became the first outdoor strip-mall to be constructed in all of North America!

For those not familiar with the intersection of Bayivew & Eglinton, you’ve got a Dominion, Beer Store, and Shell on the northwest corner, a mid-rise condominium on the southwest corner, a McDonalds on the southeast corner abutting the baseball diamond at Howard Talbot Park (I’ll come back to this) and then Sunnybrook Plaza on the northeast corner.

If I close my eyes, I’m pretty sure I can count within 2-3 the number of stores in order from left to right….Macs Milk, Wrap-It-Up, CIBC, Rogers Video, Paws & Claws, John & Chris Interiors, Blacks, Pharma Plus, Home Hardware, Radio Shack, ?Men’s Clothing Store, Mama’s Pizza,  Floka Hair Salon, Subway, ?Storage Place, Second Cup, ?Travel Agent, Sunnybrook Restaurant.

BAM!  How’d I do?

Sunnybrook Plaza is a freakin’ landmark, and it’s gonna be gone….soon.

Leo told me that the plaza just sold for $18,500,000 to Rio Can.  The previous owners purchased the plaza nine years ago for $12,500,000 from the mortgage company who had taken over control of the property.  Those owners then severed a section of the land and built a nine-storey, 72-unit condominium known as 1801 Bayview Avenue.  Bottom line, they made a ton of money in the last nine years!

But the writing was on the wall, since a major redevelopment of this site would prove too much for the previous owners, and they gave way to one of the largest property owners in Canada.  A quick look at Rio Can’s financial statements for the period ending December 31st, 2007 shows $4.5 Billion in investment properties and over $5 Billion in total equity.

A few years back, it was announced that the McDonalds next to Talbot Park would be demolished and a high-rise condominium would be constructed in its place.  This battle raged for years, with many political casualties resulting, and a quick glance will show the McDonalds still remains and the “NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO AMMEND ZONING” sign has faded into distant memory.

I just can’t picture a high-rise condominium at the corner of Bayview & Eglinton.  It’s not Yonge & Eglinton, not even close.  Yonge & Eglinton is much busier, on the TTC line, much more dense, and further away from residential areas.  There are already tall office buildings on the street, and the new Minto Towers aren’t a huge stretch (although they look ridiculous to some people).

But Bayview & Eglinton?  Quaint little Bayview?  Where are we going to go to rent movies, get pet food, or buy a new tube of European hand cream……er…..um……I meant manly ratchet set….

Where will I go to get my customary dish-water-tasting cup of Second Cup coffee before each baseball I game I coach this year at Talbot Park?  (That reminds me, spring training is in three weeks!  I’d better brush up on my teen-slang to win over the kids from the onset…)

Sunnybrook Plaza sits on about five full acres of land, which is more than I have ever evaluated from a real estate investment perspective.  I can’t even fathom what they would construct on site, and the ideas are even more mind-boggling when you consider the zoning changes could make for much higher buildings!

Would they create three or four towers of 40 stories each?

Townhouses?

Will they allow retail storefronts on the street level?

How about an underground parking lot to replace the 100+ parking spaces that are there now?

The possibilities are endless, and for me to think that this won’t happen in the mid-to-near future is just naive.

Poor, poor Leo!

AND WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO CUT MY HAIR??!!#@#

And now the hypocritical part: If and when the red tape has been cut through and the developers start selling condos, I’ll be first in line to buy in pre-construction.  It’s just a terrific area, and an even better investment.

I can yell until I’m blue in the face, but that old adage keeps repeating in my head: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!”