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FREED OF
CONSTRAINTS: A Developer on the Rise
Text: Si Si Penaloza
Image: architectsAlliance
In the international high-end high rise game, a tag-team force is
now in effect: the celebrity property developer meets the celebrity
hotelier. Of course, such developers and hoteliers do not refer to
themselves as celebrities, but given their invitation only first
wave clientele and the subsequent stream of enquires, their
proliferation and success is taking off.
Peter Freed and Tony Cohen are Toronto’s answer to this hot new
realty/hospitality equation. Freed is the affable founder of Freed
Developments, a Toronto-based property development company with a
billion dollar portfolio. Cohen, President of hospitality-focused
Global Edge Investments, opened the award-winning boutique hotel Le
Germain Toronto, partnering with Groupe Germain from Quebec. With
Freed’s talent for bringing together the hippest creative teams in
the city, and Cohen’s expertise in tapping the current lifestyle
Zeitgeist – this no doubt marks the start of a beautiful friendship.
By 2011, Toronto’s luxury market will boast its Beau Monde, finally
reaching a coming of age. Visitors to the city will enjoy a bevy of
cosmopolitan choices: a Ritz-Carlton, a Shangri-La, a Trump Tower
and a 21st-century Four Seasons flagship.
With The Ritz Carlton and The Four Seasons mounting luxury
“condotels,” who could give Freed and Cohen the gravitas needed to
enter the ring? Enter the “too cool for school and Zagat” boutique
hotel chain, Thompson Hotels. Freed and Cohen most certainly
achieved a coup in partnering with Jason Pomeranc’s Thompson Hotel
Group, marking Pomeranc’s first hotel project outside of the U.S.
Thompson Toronto will join its six New York and California-based
siblings in the poshest portfolio in North America.
New York’s 60 Thompson and LA’s The Roosevelt remain infamous for
celebrity sightings. The Roosevelt’s been the territory of the stars
right down to its pedigree, initially financed by the likes of Mary
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. Just this past
June, a small sea of fellow celebs gathered to toast Prince, who
staged an unusual 7-night residency at the hotel. His intimate shows
took place in the Blossom Room, home of the very first Academy
Awards in the 1920’s. From Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway and
Salvador Dali to Lindsay Lohan, Brett Ratner and Marilyn Manson –
every celeb in Tinsel Town’s had at least one indiscretion in the
venerable hotel’s hallowed halls.
The Thompson Thesis is all about the intoxicating chemistry between
cool architectural styling, VIP service and bold adventures in civic
nightlife. Not to mention attractive employees decked out in Diane
von Furstenberg and Nino Cerruti designed dress codes. The ultimate
endorsement? Both Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe are regulars at 60
Thompson.
550 Wellington will no doubt draw its share of celebs shooting or
promoting films in Toronto. The property’s most desirable features
include a rooftop infinity pool with stunning views of the skyline,
fingerprint lock security, Ciccone-Simone interiors, and a whopping
offering of four licensed resto-lounges. At a projected 102 rooms,
the hotel should prove large enough to be socially and commercially
substantial, yet intimate enough to feel like an inner-city
sanctuary.
Toronto’s per-capita feather pillow count is on the rise and shows
no signs of slowing down. Is that the new deal breaker in the
upscale condo market – the ability to opt into amenities like
turndown service and chambermaids? With the popularity of this
building model, it looks like this trend is here to stay. Not long
ago, a punishing row of Stairmasters used to pass for de rigueur
extras. Now, everyone wants what they want, when they want it.
Moreover, they want it in the comfort of their own home. Indeed, one
of the main draws of such a lifestyle is the expedient, brisk
service of a Concierge. When “home” is a residence that’s
essentially integrated into a hotel, the sky’s the limit.
In staking his claim in a neighbourhood that’s distinctively not
Yorkville, Freed’s built his reputation on successfully gauging the
appetite of his clientele. As early as 2000, he started to buy what
he thought to be undervalued sites in the district. He has five King
West condo projects either built or breaking ground within mere
blocks of one another: 66 Portland St. (where he himself enjoys a
penthouse and office), 75 Portland St., 20 Stewart St., 455 Adelaide
St. and 550 Wellington St. This growth spurt is nothing short of
staggering – basically a thousand condos going up in a two-block
area – as his company single-handedly reinvents the King/Bathurst
quarter into a residential lifestyle utopia.
75 Portland generated huge buzz upon announcement; the 212-unit
condo will be the first Canadian project to feature interiors by
world-renowned French designer Philippe Starck. Of course, this coup
had the local design community drooling, and those in the know
couldn’t wait to peek at the plans.
The 11-storey building will be U-shaped, with an oversize “catwalk”
table anchoring a common courtyard. With a Dr. Seuss-inspired levity
reminiscent of the Starck’s design for South Beach Miami’s The
Delano, the 100 foot long table plays on scale and sociability. The
communal table is the current design metaphor for democracy. And
Freed is Toronto’s best example of a new generation of condo
developers influenced more by Apple than by how many units you can
cram into a conversion. Promoting social and spatial intersection is
a signature of their conceptual approach.
Freed tapped European talent once again by bringing Barcelona’s
Estudio Mariscal onto 550 Wellington St. Mariscal will choreograph
the colours and textures used in the lobby, allowing for a fresh,
inventive first impression. The firm is perhaps best known for the
interiors of The Gran Hotel Domine, across from the Frank
Gehry-designed Guggenheim Bilbao. Completion of the modernist
condominium and hotel complex is projected for the summer of 2009.
And with the four restaurants and bars slated for Thompson Toronto,
it should be quite the party. Indeed, if Freed’s grand plan comes to
fruition, King West will emerge as a bonafide international, gold
standard destination in the spirit of SoHo and South Beach. |
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