High Park Family Fun Place closes

A blog reader has written in that High Park Familly Fun Place has lost their location in the Junction at the building on the north east corner of Pacfic Ave and Dundas St West.

Original post about FFP on this blog click here

Rent arrears is the issue. Of course the building owner cannot carry a rent arrears on such a store front as the city taxes are the highest for this store frontage in the building - which would place the success of the building at risk. It is important to note this building owner has contributed more than probably any other building owner to this community though his support of community activities.

There is a rally being planned for this coming Saturday to support the Fun Place staying in the Junction and to locate a new site.

Creating such a community centric - centre rather than simply a business has been a goal of Jennifer and Pierre.

It has also been a similar goal for the owner of the building (who also owns the lot used by the community next to the building) The building owner allowed the Junction Arts Festival non profit (JFAC during the directorship of Michael Menagon and chairmanship of Bill Sandercook) to build the train station platform on the lot which is still used by the community.

As the Junction area moves towards a stronger commercial and cultural preponderance changes will occur.

We now as a community need to work to ensure both can exist, greater community commercial success and niche business that provide more than simply retail services, in fact a move to the west of Quebec Ave. for the fun place - where there is some really great space could actually help the centre as it is out of the business improvement area and the buildings are not subject to the tax levy associated with buildings within the business improvement area thus reducing there rental costs.

Note: this author has no personal or businesses relationship with the building owner, it is just important to make the facts known.