A mall planned for the northeastern edge of Toronto has been scrapped following a 95-year-old billionaire's purchase of the site.

The now-scrapped Lesso Mall proposal at 5855-5955 Steeles Avenue East was just the latest in a series of planned shopping centres on the Scarborough site, following aborted plans for a development marketed as the Landmark Mall and a subsequent scheme known as Mosaic.

In 2023, a faded sign advertising the Lesso Mall plan was removed from the site following its acquisition by billionaire Jim Pattison, the nonagenarian tycoon behind Jim Pattison Group, Canada's second-largest privately-held company.

Now-scrapped plan for Lesso Mall. Image via City of Toronto.

Since then, plans filed with the City have revealed that the mall proposal has officially been scrapped, and a revised plan for a one-storey distribution centre and warehouse complex with 35,752 square metres of space has been proposed in its place.

Updated plans from Jim Pattison Group. Image via City of Toronto.

While the cancellation of a mall amid the current retail climate shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone, the change is likely to be a huge disappointment to locals who had long endured the vacant site in hopes of a future retail development.

After over twenty years of waiting, they now have had their hopes of a new mall dashed in favour of a nondescript complex that will offer little more than new employment lands in the area.

According to a 2023 document filed with the City, the development "will contribute to employment intensification on an underutilized site and will generate approximately 300 jobs."

The project was recommended for approval in late 2023, though the book is not entirely closed.

The amended zoning bylaws include holding provisions that will only be lifted once site issues including vehicle access, trees and soil, and other matters. Most recently, Pattison hired a lobbying firm to help iron out the final unresolved issues with the project.

The new lobbying file, unearthed and published in Matt Elliott's City Hall Watcher newsletter, says that Pattison "has hired Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP to lobby about a development planned for 5855-5955 Steeles East."

According to City Hall Watcher, "Fasken's Dana Gregoire and Daniel Brock met with Councillor Jamaal Myers on July 25 and had several other contacts with Myers and staffer Darnel Harris. Michael Lee, Senior VP for Jim Pattison Developments, and Joey Goncalves, VP of Construction & Project Management, also attended."