Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 596

https://twitter.com/donnelly_b/status/1435641373487685639?s=20

Since the summer, I have been using the lunch line at Jimmy the Greek (in First Canadian Place ) as a crude measure for the reopening of the CBD in downtown Toronto. It is partially a joke. Those of you who know me will know I am a fan of Jimmy the Greek (and large filling lunches in general). But at the same time, it is a probably a fairly decent (but again crude) proxy for the utilization rate of the offices that sit above and around Jimmy. Pre-COVID the lunch lines were always long and there was usually nowhere to sit. In the spring of this year, I was often the only person there, single-handedly keeping Jimmy alive. But things picked up throughout the summer months and there was a significant spike this week, following Labor Day (see above tweet). This was the spike that many/most of us were predicting and it showed through in the Jimmy the Greek Reopening Index.

We have been working with Vanderbrand for many years. They are the creative agency behind both Junction House and One Delisle . We love the work that they do. It's beautiful, and they have always managed to get our vision behind each project.

In the case of Junction House, we wanted something clean and simple that at the same time responded to the creative edginess of the Junction neighborhood.

And in the case of One Delisle, we wanted something elevated but that wasn't traditional or typical. One Delisle is all about pioneering architecture and the brand needed to reflect that (we ended up creating our own typeface that will be carried through into the completed building).

If you're interested in learning more, Vanderbrand has just updated their website to include a full "case study" on One Delisle. You can check that out over here . Below are a few of my favorite images.

I jus pre-ordered a copy of Edward Glaeser and David Cutler's new book called, Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation . (I'm usually a hard copy kind of guy, but I decided to try this one out on Kindle / my iPad). The official release date is September 7, 2021, so if you're reading this post in your inbox, the book is now available online .

I'm not familiar with the writing of David Cutler (he's a public health expert), but I am a follower of Edward Glaeser and have written about his work on a number of occasions . Glaeser's last book, Triumph of the City , was a kind of celebration of the wonders of urbanism. After reading it, you couldn't help but feel that cities are our best chance at creating healthy, sustainable, and wealthy communities.

But in listening to Glaeser throughout this pandemic I have noticed that his commentary on the future of cities hasn't been filled with unbridled optimism. You get the sense from him that cities are at a crossroads. This is not to say that city life will not persist, because it will. Cities are powerfully resilient. But not all cities are created equal. Some will continue to flourish in this new economy, but others will not.

This is one of the arguments that they make in this new book and I'm looking forward to reading it once it lands in my Kindle app.