Eatery to boast greenhouse
A desolate block of University Avenue that once housed Canada’s first electric trolley warehouse will soon create history again — Canada’s first large restaurant-urban farm.
Businessmen Van Niforos and George Sofos plan to turn a former industrial building in the 1100 block of University Avenue into a second Penalty Box, the popular family restaurant at Tecumseh and Walker roads.
“I’m so excited I haven’t got to the nervous part yet,” Niforos said Tuesday night at an open house introducing the concept to neighbours. “It’s a huge project but I think the neighbourhood will be proud of it.”
Niforos and Sofos intend to open the 300-seat Penalty Box and Delightful Farm in the spring. Delightful Farm will start as a greenhouse operation on the site, eventually producing 1,400 pounds of tomatoes a week, among other produce, in organic soil. The fresh fare will show up in Penalty Box dishes.
Niforos plans to seek heritage-site designations for the 14,800- square- foot building, which will include 24 skylights and other restored features.
Yet Niforos and Sofos imagine something even grander: a cultural hub with museums, possibly Canada South Science City, and more. They hope to attract like-minded investors to the forgotten corner.
The ambitious plan would eventually turn the slope down to the Canadian Pacific tracks into an outdoor part of Delightful Farm.
Perhaps even wilder down the line: a parking lot solarthermal collector, a rooftop orchard and an aquaponics operation in the basement where fish would help filter farm water.
“It would be efficient and economical,” said project manager David Fields, an organic master gardener. “Whenever you work with nature you’re investing less time and resources to get the job done. And the flavour’s great.”