Developer brings in help to manage Broadview Hotel
Streetcar Developments hires Crescent Hotels & Resorts to fulfil initial vision of project
It’s one thing to build a $24-million boutique hotel with bags of century charm featuring one of the city’s most popular rooftop patios. But it’s quite another to run the place, says Les Mallins, founder and president of Streetcar Developments.
The company that made over the rundown, former Jilly’s strip club into the boutique Broadview Hotel has hired Crescent Hotels & Resorts to manage the property at Broadview Ave. and Queen St. E. Virginia-based Crescent, which manages a number of properties with brands such as Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton in North America and the Caribbean, took over the Broadview earlier this month.
But rather than strip it of the uniquely local vibe that emanates from its red Romanesque Revival facade, Mallins says the new management will allow Streetcar to realize more of its initial vision for the Broadview.
“We were, quite honestly, struggling just to do the basics. We never really got into the cultural programming element, some different things regarding our food and beverage offering (and) deeper
engagement with the local community,” Mallins said.
“Essentially, when you’re so bogged down with the day-today operations, you can’t tackle that next layer of stuff that people actually appreciate.
“It’s definitely not going to change the flavour,” he said.
Since it opened last year, the 58-room Broadview has been praised for its historically sensitive renovation and there have been laudatory comparisons to the boutique Thompson and Drake hotels in Toronto’s west end.
The Broadview has about 150 employees, with about 120 related to the food service operation. But consistency between the accommodation and food and beverage sides of the business was a problem.
Mallins said he reached out for advice from Tony Cohen, one of the original owners of Toronto’s Thompson and Le Germain hotels, without even realizing that Cohen was also a partner in Crescent. Contracting that company to manage the Broadview seemed like a logical decision, although it wasn’t financially driven, he said.
“But if you don’t take advan- tage of some of the underlying opportunities and fulfil the full promise that was made at the outset, the shininess will disappear. We wanted to nip it in the bud and realize it needs a certain level of attention and expertise,” he said. “It’s popular and it’s done really well. We want that to be the case for the next 25 years, not the next six months.” The Broadview was about 65 per cent occupied this year even though it is outside the core and it only began building corporate business in 2018. Mallins expects it will be about 71 per cent next year.
Streetcar donated $1.25 million to the development of the Crowsnest Theatre on Carlaw Ave. The company’s next project is Riverside Square, a 900unit condo Mallins said will be ready in the spring.