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Don Mills CentreThe Don Mills Centre is a shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on a 44-acre commercial site, at the southwest corner of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East in the planned community of Don Mills. E.P. Taylor of Argus Corporation originally bought the land for a brewing plant, but decided to make the site the focal point of the 200-acre planned community. Initial construction of the Don Mills Centre began in 1954. In 1955, a strip plaza was opened with a Dominion Super Market, Kofflers Drug Store, Brewers Retail and a dozen other retailers. Don Mills Centre was primarily intended to serve the local community, centrally located within walking distance of many rental units built around the core of the community. It quickly became a regional centre, drawing people from North York, East York and Scarborough. As the Don Mills district was developed, the Don Mills Centre expanded to serve the increasing population. Eaton's opened one of its first suburban department stores in 1961. By 1965, Dominion had relocated into a larger store at the south end, Zellers moved in and an outdoor mall expanded to 65 stores. By the mid 1960s, other amenities had been added to the site, such as a post office, curling rink, theatres, hockey arena, service stations and a 15-storey office building. In 1978, a major renovation was undertaken to enclose the mall. The mall was expanded from 400,000 to 462,000 square feet. The number of tenants grew from 87 to 120. In 1986, the under-utilized curling rink at the north-west corner of the development was demolished. A 4-storey office building and a small outdoor plaza were built in its place. In 1989, the service station in the north-east corner of the site at Lawrence Avenue and Don Mills Road was demolished, and replaced by a 6-storey office building with retail on the ground floor. In the 1990s, the Eaton's store was converted to a Sears Canada store, and later closed. The owner of the mall, Cadillac Fairview, has proposed a massive redevelopment of the site to include a new outdoor mall, housing and more office space.
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