A new star in the east
Revitalized Broadview Hotel on Queen St. E. just one pleasant example of fresh buzz coming to the neighbourhood
Sitting on the second-floor rooftop patio of the stunningly revitalized Broadview Hotel, Les Mallins is looking out at a view he knows will change.
The president of Streetcar Developments, the company that is playing a huge role in the wave of change sweeping through Queen St. E., and surrounding area, is enjoying his new gig as an innkeeper. The Broadview Hotel — on the site of a former roominghouse and the old Jilly’s strip club — is the company’s first non-condo project. However, it has also developed the Crowsnest Theatre at the foot of its condo building at Dundas and Carlaw and is now developing Riverside Square, a massive new project just steps away from where Mallins is relaxing in the city’s hottest new hotel and drinking spot.
“I’m honestly blown away by the amount of positivity that we’ve gotten. Look, I’m a condo developer, and other than for our purchasers who are excited about moving into the area, we’re not good news for anyone. That’s just the way we’re seen. So it’s nice for our team to have brought to the community something that’s truly special and has been so uniformly positively received.” He jokes that when he goes up to the Broadview’s other rooftop bar and patio, on the seventh floor, so many people gush over the place and thank him for the addition to the area that he doesn’t want to leave.
He’s not the only one. Thursday was the hotel’s “soft opening” and the word is already out about the stunning seventh-floor bar, decreed to be this summer’s it spot — its all-glass walls furnish incredible views of the city. What’s more, it leads to a swanky outdoor patio, where in the corner stands the building’s familiar tower — a century-old holdover from the site’s previous incarnations and one that has a rustic indoor seating area.
On the second floor is a large event space, meant for weddings or cultural and entertainment programming. On that same storey, patio space stretches onto the roofs of neighbouring buildings, where, Mallins says, there will be more casual events like barbecues. (The final piece will be the hotel’s flagship restaurant, The Civic, which is still under construction.)
The natural observation is that the Broadview is the Drake Hotel of the east side. Mallins shies away from that and says just due to size — 58 hotel rooms compared to the Drake’s 17 — his place will be more hospitality focused. Still, he admits it’s an example.
“Is it the Drake of the east side? Definitely not. I don’t think. The Drake has done unbelievable things for the west side, and I just don’t mean as a place for people to drink,” he says. “They have shown that in a community-based boutique hotel, community engagement is very important. Culture is very important, programming is very important.”
Comparisons aside, it seems to be almost a given that the new Broadview — the building has been known by that and several other names since its birth in 1891 — will accelerate the already-rapid pace of change in the area.
A generation ago, the east side was known for Riverdale and the Beaches, and not much else. Then in 2005, the New York Times was drawn to Leslieville and famously declared that “Queen Street East is the new Queen Street West.”
Over the past decade, the east side became the city’s brunch zone, where the stroller mafia rules and more affordable housing could once be found. The east versus west debate in the city is outdated and silly, but historically, east siders have been protective of their ’hoods.
“I would say that development has happened much faster in the west . . . Whereas here, the development has been a bit slower, more careful,” says Jennifer Lay, executive director of the Riverside BIA. “There have been instances where residents have said, ‘no, we don’t want this type of development’ — usually it’s larger-scale things than what people are used to.”
The east side famously said no to big-box stores about a decade ago but, in that time, the area has seen an influx of young homebuyers, who change the dynamic.
“Well, a lot of us have paid a ton of money to buy houses on the east side and we don’t want to always have to go 40 minutes to find something cool,” said Jessica Haisinger, a television/film makeup artist who lives near Gerrard and Coxwell.
Things that once seemed to coming slowly are now coming all at once. Beyond new and buzzed-about places on Queen St. E. such as the White Lily Diner and Eastbound Brewing, Dundas and Carlaw has the Crowsnest and Gare de l’est, a new French restaurant.
Much of the excitement now centres on Gerrard St., where spots such as Left Field Brewery and the Maple Leaf Tavern felt like pioneers a few years ago. Now it sports hip spot Pinkerton’s and, farther down in Little India, Lake Inez, a well-reviewed Pan-Asian restaurant has been packing them in.
The excitement is leaving new owners a little overwhelmed. In the past month, both Chula Taberna Mexicana — a restaurant at Gerrard and Jones — and Godspeed Brewery at Gerrard/Coxwell — a venue much anticipated by the city’s beer nerds — opened, were immediately besieged and have been packed ever since.
“We thought we had a good concept, but we didn’t think we’d be as busy as we are,” says Adam Dolley, one of one of people behind Chula. “We thought the patios would fill up, and the dining room would be slow in the summer, but we’re filling the place every night. Like Monday night, we’re doing sales way better than McGugan’s (the former Scottish pub it replaced) ever did on Friday night.”
All the same, almost everyone interviewed expressed a hope that a variety of businesses can prosper.
“I think that people are ready to see the vacant storefronts that used to be here filling up with interesting things,” says Lay.
“We want a diversity of what’s here, we don’t want just more restaurants, or just more beauty shops, we want
“Is it the Drake of the east side? Definitely not . . . The Drake has done unbelievable things for the west side.” LES MALLINS PRESIDENT OF STREETCAR DEVELOPMENTS
to see a little more of a mix.”
The revitalizing Drake and Gladstone Hotels in the 2000s had an incredible effect on West Queen West, and it remains to be seen if the Broadview Hotel will do the same for its neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, just west of the hotel on Queen, Riverside Square seems sure to have a profound impact on the area — a 20-storey tower will greatly increase the local population.
And if the TTC ever builds the Downtown Relief Line, there are planned stops at the bottom of Broadview St. and near Gerrard and Carlaw, which will continue the transformation.
Whatever the future brings, the rooftop of the Broadview Hotel looks to be the best perch to watch it all happen, and not just for the locals.
“That’s also something we’ve talked a lot about,” says Murray Henderson, the Broadview’s general manager. “Having locals and internationals sitting at a table together. And the experience of Toronto you’ll get coming into this neighbourhood. Even versus say a few kilometres down the road, it’s a totally different Toronto over here. And I know that’s a big part of what the community is excited about.”