| Klaus Tenter
is no stranger to the demand of the client with a penchant
for being self-involved.
As the former general manager of the Four Seasons Toronto,
he developed a legendary reputation for his coddling of Hollywood
celebrities, along with the merely ultra rich.
Now Tenter -- known affectionately as the mayor of Yorkville
because of his larger than-life status in Toronto's most upscale
retail district -- is set to battle his former employer from
a new hotel at Yorkville Ave. and Hazelton Ave., right across
the street from the Four Seasons. When The Hazelton Hotel
and Private Residences opens its doors in June it will be,
for starters, the most expensive place in the city to crash
for the night.
It will feature the largest rooms, the tiniest starting at
a condo-sized 620 square feet, (56 square meters). Its washrooms
will have walls cut from a solid sheet of marble. The nine-storey
building will be made of costly limestone. But more importantly,
there are a growing number of people in the industry who believe
that by this time next year it will be considered the best
hotel in the city.
"Imagine the kind of old-world European service that
will really stand out," Tenter said in his gentle, German-inflected
accent. "It will be about the kind of personalized service
that makes a hotel unique."
Make no mistake: no one thinks the 77-room Hazelton will sound
the death knell for the Ritz or the Four Seasons, both giant
luxury chains that are global brands. But it will give the
most demanding clients of those chains an appealing alternative
as The Hazelton tries to skim the cream off the top. And there
are bragging rights at stake in being considered Toronto's
finest hotel.
Still, for any hotelier to suggest his or her establishment
could be the best in the corporate home of the Four Seasons
seems like a marketing department fantasy.
Except the Toronto developers Peter Cohen and Bruce Greenberg
have put together an all-star team from the worlds of design
and hospitality. The interiors will be designed by Glenn Pushelberg
and George Yabu of YabuPushelberg in their first Toronto hotel;
food will be provided by chef and reality TV star Mark McEwan
of Bymark and North 44; architecture is by Sol Wassermuhl
of Page + Steele.
"We have so much talent in Canada that it just seemed
natural to get the best, especially when they're in your backyard,"
Cohen said in an interview. "When we started building
this hotel, we really had to think what ingredients would
go together to make this a true five-star hotel."
Cohen, and accountant and president of private real estate
investment firm The Dawsco Group, and Greenberg, a lawyer
whose company The Starwood Group concentrates on loft conversions
and mixed-use hotel projects, were inspired by hotels they
had stayed at in their travels, including The Savoy in London,
the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Hotel Cipriani in Venice.
"There was a sense from day one that the developers wanted
this to be the premiere address in the city," says architect
Wassermuhl. "This was built to make a statement - money
was really a secondary consideration."
That's a big statement from Wassermuhl, who was the designer
of the Prince Arthur condominiums in Yorkville and the Cheddington
at Bayview Ave. and Lawrence Ave., Toronto's two most expensive
large-scale resale condominium projects. But The Hazelton,
he acknowledges, will be in a class of its own.
If real estate is about location, then to get a prime site
at the corner of Yorkville Ave. and Hazelton Ave. -- ground
zero for the luxury buyer -- is in the words of Wassermuhl,
"incredible."
The developers started building their team with the hiring
of Tenter, who had retired from the Four Seasons. Most Canadians
wouldn't know the Toronto design firm of YabuPushelberg for
example, but they are huge internationally. In New York, YabuPushelberg
redesigned the iconic Tiffany's on Fifth Ave., the swanky
Bergdorf Goodman department store and the flagship W Hotel
in Times Square.
Despite having 24 luxury hotel projects on the go worldwide,
this will be the first Toronto hotel for the two Ryerson graduates.
Over the years, this has meant that the two designers ended
up making their mark in Tokyo, Las Vegas and Dubai, rather
than Toronto.
But as their fame grew, YabuPushelberg essentially ended up
pricing themselves out of Canada - until the Hazelton.
"I think it was a question of timing that we didn't have
a design in the city earlier. The Canadian market wasn't ready
for this kind of luxury before, and sometimes it's a question
of having the right client find you," Pushelberg said.
"In this case they wanted to build the best, and I think
what you will have is something that will be incredibly glamorous,
much more so than what Toronto has been used to. We're really
excited that we have the opportunity to make a great hotel
in our own hometown."
Eschewing the trend to build boutique hotels that look like
night clubs, as pioneered by French designer Philippe Starck,
the Toronto design firm is using the inspiration of an old-world
European hotel to design the interiors of the Hazelton.
"We want good, lasting design, but not too trendy. We've
seen a lot of throw-away design lately, but we want something
that has permanence," Pushelberg said.
To attract the Toronto International Film Festival crowd,
the developers are installing a $2 million YabuPushelberg
designed home-theater that seats 26.
The walls will be covered in mohair - the same kind you'd
find on pricey men's suits on Savile Row. And service will
include the city's first private-jet concierge for guests
arriving on private planes.
A great hotel needs a great chef, and Cohen thought about
importing an international name such as American sushi master
Nobu Matasuhisa, or France's Alain Ducasse.
Enter Mark McEwan. McEwan's first two restaurants, North 44
and Bymark, are culinary institutions in Toronto, and Cohen
was already a fan. Moreover, McEwan knew a thing or two about
hotel kitchens since he started as the executive chef at the
Sutton Place Hotel.
McEwan understands over-the-top. At the Toronto-Dominion Centre's
Bymark, he introduced the city to the outrageous $33 truffle-topped
hamburger - which quickly became a favorite with the Bay Street
crowd. At his new restaurant, 'ONE', the restaurateur will
be responsible for 24-hour dining service in the hotel.
"We want the restaurant to be sophisticated, but ultimately
comfortable," said McEwan, who recently entered TV stardom
with his own reality show The Heat, which debuted last month.
"I'm not interested in gimmicks or trends." Meanwhile,
the 16 private residences above the hotel will look like the
grand homes they are, since they will be finished by custom
residential home builder J.F. Brennan, the builder of choice
for the Canadian Establishment. Brennan may be best known
for his controversial major redesign of the compound in Rosedale
owned by OnexCorp's Gerry Schwartz and his wife Heather Reisman,
chief of Indigo Books and Music.
Price of entry for the sold-out condominiums is among the
highest for any condominium building in Canada and not far
off prices for estate homes in Rosedale.
The "starter" condo was offered at $2.7 million,
while the penthouse, which included a regal 6,000 square feet
(557 square meters) of outdoor terrace space was priced at
$12 million.
To create an intimate Park Ave. feel for the building, Wassermuhl
says, developers stopped at nine storeys in order to keep
the building in context with the neighbourhood.
The hotel closest in spirit to the Hazelton is the tiny, 28-room
Windsor Arms Hotel off Bloor St., another Sol Wassermuhl design
that woos guests with large suites and Frette sheets.
However, George Friedman, the owner of the Windsor Arms, who
pioneered the renaissance of the small, European-style boutique
hotel in Toronto, thinks The Hazelton takes its inspiration
a little too closely from his own hotel.
"I think they're trying to mirror what I've done,"
Friedmand says. "There's no greater compliment than being
copied, but it does get a little nauseating. They didn't have
to be that literal."
Certainly, The Hazelton doesn't hide the fact that it is referencing
1980's Toronto in some of its interior designs, including
the Windsor Arms' famed Three Small Rooms restaurant.
More than half a dozen projects have been placed on the market
over the last few years, the proliferation of rooms sparked
by a condominium boom that makes building them economically
feasible.
The profit from the condominiums pays for building the hotel,
while the hotel makes some of its money from servicing condo
owners. Meanwhile, the cost of building infrastructure such
as parking garages and amenities such as a pool or spa are
shared.
But in addition to a new Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, there
is also a Trump Hotel to be built in 2009 and a Shangri-La
hotel in the works, giving the city an unprecedented supply
of luxury rooms. Some analysts have warned that this will
create a glut and drive down rates.
Other believe the Hazelton can carve out a profitable niche.
"No one is catering to the very high end like they are, for
people who want a more intimate setting," says Toronto-based
hospitality consultant Joel Rosen.
Helping the business case is the fact that The Hazelton will
be open a full two years before the competition. Developer
Cohen isn't saying exactly how much his hotel will cost, although
the entire project - including residences - is in the $100
million range. Both architect Wassermuhl and consultant Rosen
say the cost per room - calculated by dividing the total cost
of the hotel by the number of rooms - will almost certainly
be the highest in Canada.
"This will certainly set a new benchmark. You're talking numbers
that nobody's ever heard of before," Cohen said.
A Wealth of Luxury
Among the five-star hotel-condo projects under development
in Toronto.
Hazelton Hotel and Private
Residences
Hazelton Lanes and Yorkville Ave
Yorkville
Nine storeys, 77 hotel rooms, 16 private residences
Estimated completion: June 2007
Four Seasons
Bay St. and Yorkville Ave
Yorkville
265 hotel rooms, with 125 to 150 condominiums
Cost $325 million
Estimated completion: 2009
Ritz Carlton Hotel & Residences
Wellington and Simcoe Sts.
Entertainment District
53 storeys, 267 hotel rooms, 135 condominium suites
Cost $300 million
Estimated completion: 2009
Trump International Hotel & Tower
Bay and Adelaide Sts.
Financial District
72 storeys, 265 hotel rooms, 109 condominiums
Estimated completion: 2009
Hazelton Highlights
Interior will be designed
by Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu in their first Toronto
hotel; food will be provided by chef and reality TV star Mark
McEwan.
|
