Well, I think it's a mistake. If you look at the
fly-through, you'll see that nearly at the end (at 2:05 in the video) the Meares/ Cook corner suddenly shows cafe tables under the colonnades. I noticed this because, prior to the sudden addition of cafe bric-a-brac when the video zooms out, that corner struck me as especially unsuited for such a big setback. It's empty at first, but when the video zooms out, it's filled with cafe stuff.
I guess the idea is to have "life" on the street (cafes) here. But I have to say that (imnsho) Cook St. north of Fairfield is one of the most unpleasant streets to sit outside on. If you've ever sat outside at Bubby Rose's you'll know just how damn loud it is. Sure, plenty of people do sit out there - and seem to like it. But the street noise makes conversation really difficult. The regular traffic is loud enough, and all it takes is for a bus to roar past and your voice is literally drowned out. Add a Harley or two, and you can just forget about talking to anyone.
IOW, the soundscape is part of the context, too.
That part of Cook Street has a really unpleasant soundscape. It's fast-flowing traffic-noise, not people-noise.
Given that context, I would argue for stores or cafes that offer a refuge, NOT more exposure to the street. Give enough
visual exposure to people on the street with large glass frontages (as well as an aspect of the street to people inside), but give the customer an intimate place to dive into. Intimacy is good, too. Just my 2 cents.