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You could not be faulted for approaching the new Minto building at the western gateway of Beechwood Avenue with excited anticipation.

After a fire devastated the previous structure in 2011, reducing apartments and beloved shops to ash, the sad and barren site sat boarded up until 2015, when construction began on a nine-storey, mixed-use building.

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As you approach the new edifice, however, you may be puzzled. You recall the renderings showed an attractive entrance and transparent windows at a notched corner focal point, beckoning passers-by.

Instead, you are confronted at the door by a Bank of Montreal emergency exit sign directing you elsewhere. Shade-drawn windows obscure the view inside. To get to the actual entrance, you round the corner and pass by three more large windows, equally opaque, creating a mirroring effect and dulling the pedestrian experience.

The active street front you imagined is missing. The implicit promise you thought was there – community acceptance of increased height at that site in exchange for a dynamic contribution to your main street – is unmet.