NOW THAT’S CONVENIENCE!
Fine dining right in the building newest condo attraction
THE QUESTION I GET MOST IS ‘WHEN IS IT GOING TO OPEN? WHEN CAN I GO EAT THERE?’ YOU CAN PULL UP TO THE BAR WITH PREFERENTIAL ACCESS AND IT’S YOUR BAR. — JOSH ZAGDANSKI OF TORONTO DEVELOPER THE MADISON GROUP, WHICH IS BEHIND THE NOBU DEVELOPMENT
Thanks to services like Uber Eats, it’s never been easier to have the best of restaurant menus delivered to your door. But for buyers moving into the new Nobu Residences, it’s about to become even simpler.
The tower — owned by Nobu Hospitality, the multimillion-dollar luxury restaurant and hotel chain co- founded by actor Robert De Niro and chef Nobu Matsuhisa — will have a two- level restaurant right in the building. They’ll also have takeout service, for residents only.
It just one of a wave of condos using onsite dining as a feature to woo buyers. Transit City Condos, in Vaughan, will house a Buca — the first non-toronto outpost of the popular Italian restaurant co- owned by executive chef Rob Gentile and his partners at King Street Food Co. — expected to be completed in 2020. The Waterworks Building on Richmond Street at Bathurst will have a food hall that opens on to St. Andrew’s Playground, while The Well on Front Street, in The Globe and Mail’s former home, will include a 95,000- squarefoot food market along with more formal offerings in its “restaurant row.”
“We’re always looking for great food options in our buildings,” says developer Brad Lamb, whose 47-storey King Street condo Theatre Park will soon be home to the newest location of the celebrated Montreal steakhouse Queue de Cheval, expected to open in summer 2020.
Lamb always knew he wanted a high- end restaurant in Theatre Park, which is adjacent to the Royal Alexandra Theatre; he designed the ground floor and patio specifically to suit one.
Still, it took some convincing to get residents on board. Queue de Cheval came in and cooked for the condo owners in the building’s party room to bring them around to the idea of having a potentially busy restaurant in their lobby.
Heather Holmes, a real estate agent in Toronto and resident at Theatre Park, says she is “personally excited” to have a high- end dining option in her building and isn’t concerned about some of the disturbances other residents flagged: the potential for extra noise and crowds, for instance. The condos start on the seventh floor of the building, she noted, which offers a buffer between the restaurant on the first and second floors.
Although there may be more people in her courtyard smoking, she says, this is already something that happens pre- and post- theatre with the Royal Alexandra next door.
“Downtown l i ving is about accepting and adjusting to many influences, and for me, this is one of the reasons I choose to live here,” says Holmes. “Living in the Entertainment District, an additional restaurant below the building will barely be an adjustment.”
Lamb has developments across Toronto, as well as in Calgary, Ottawa and Hamilton, and prefers to rent space in his buildings to high-end, sit- down restaurants over quick- service casual food operators. He believes the impact a quality food operator has on a building is immeasurable, and courts them by design, installing ceilings at least 20 feet high in the mixed-use areas of the buildings he develops. These aren’t spaces meant to draw dry cleaners or variety stores.
“We do it because architecture and design are a big calling card for high-end restaurants,” says Lamb. “It makes me sad when I see an A&W or a Tim Hortons or some variety store in the retail area. Not that those places shouldn’t exist. I just don’t want them in my buildings.”
Over at Nobu , t he 15,000- square- foot in- house dining room will be open to the public, but it will also hold special tables for residents, who will occupy 660 units (alongside 36 hotel suites) in the building, with an average price of $850,000.
“The question I get most is ‘ When is it going to open? When can I go eat there?’” says Josh Zagdanski, vice-president for Toronto developer the Madison Group, which is behind the
Nobu development. “You can pull up to the bar with preferential access and it’s your bar,” Zagdanski says of the perks residents will enjoy.
As for the degree of risk a builder assumes by offering a lease to a restaurant — which are known to be highrisk ventures — partnering with a premium brand with a good track record mitigates it, Zagdanski says. He also believes that when units come with unique lifestyle features, they retain value better.
Not everyone agrees. Marco Cupido, the owner of Frontier Appraisal in Toronto and a member of the Appraisal Institute of Canada, sees it this way: “Let’s say you put something on the market and it has an exposure time of 10 days. But it’s got a Starbucks in the building. Maybe it’ll go in eight or nine days. I can see that. But I’m not … spending another 10 or 20 grand on a unit. That’s a lot of coffee.”
Still, Nobu is no Starbucks. The property is 100- per- cent sold; breaking ground at Christmastime this year, is expected to be completed by spring 2021.
And while Toronto’s dining scene has had the eyes of the world on it the past few years, the addition of a Nobu will still have impact, not the least for those who live there. They’ll be sharing an address with Robert Deniro and Chef Matsuhisa, both of whom are said to be taking apartments in the building.
“People want to have a lifestyle associated with their home,” says Zagdanski. “And this is a very tangible way to achieve that.”