Friend: Ever go to Jilly’s?
Me: No, actually.
Friend: Same.
Me: What about you? [Addressed to random guy in elevator]
Random guy in elevator: I’m from Portland. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I went to check out the new Broadview Hotel last night in Riverdale, Toronto. (Riverside if we’re being pedantic.)
Originally built in 1891 and most recently a boarding house with strip club at grade (Jilly’s – the best party in town!), the building was acquired in 2014 by developer Streetcar and turned into a “58-room boutique hotel and charismatic gathering spot.” The soft opening was July 27, 2017.
Official website here. Lots of interior photos here.
Besides the pink neon above the lobby bar (which is obviously great), I really like what they did in the stairwells. Credit to Supermilk Studio. Here’s a photo I snapped last night while trying to find the WC:
Each floor is painted with murals that pay tribute to the building’s history, from the early days of Dingman’s Hall to its most recent iteration as Jilly’s.
Interestingly enough, the building originally served as an important social hub for the community, though it did not initially house a hotel. On the ground floor was a bank (see, there’s a long tradition of this) and above it were offices and grand meeting halls.
It wasn’t until the original developer sold the building that it was converted to a hotel and granted a liquor license. It’s worth noting that this conversion is said to have faced stiff community opposition. A hotel that serves alcohol to people? Not in my 1906 backyard.
With the reopening of the new Broadview Hotel this summer, you could argue that east of the Don River is once again regaining its grand gathering spot. And the feeling I got when I stepped foot inside the hotel last night was that it was time. The demand was latent and, yes, condos wouldn’t have cut it.
At the same time, this is obviously bigger than the east side. There are many who don’t know this building’s infamous history. Jilly’s? What’s that? Time to go for a walk in the stairwells.
Hotels play such an interesting role within cities. They are public-facing in a way that many other uses are not and they invite a mixing of different people – everyone from transients to locals. It is therefore no surprise that they can serve a variety of different roles. They can be cultural hubs. But they can also be places in which to misbehave.
When the Drake Hotel opened up on the west side of downtown Toronto in 2004, I remember it feeling far out. It was on the edge of that which was interesting at the time. But it quickly anchored West Queen West with its cultural and nightlife offerings. And today, we could be about to see the exact same story repeat itself in the east end with the new Broadview Hotel.
It’s for these reasons that I was both excited and curious to learn that Bedrock (real estate company) and Shinola are in the midst of launching a new boutique hotel concept in Detroit. It is called The Shinola Hotel. It will be located at 1400 Woodward Avenue. And it will be all about the city of Detroit. They expect it to open sometime in the fall of 2018.
What I am about to say may be an availability bias talking, but there seems to be a push by many companies into the hotel space. In 2015, Equinox Fitness announced that it would be opening its first hotel in 2018 at Hudson Yards in New York. And just last month furniture retailer West Elm announced that it would be opening a first set of hotels in both Savannah and Detroit. (Go Detroit!)
West Elm sells furniture. Equinox operates gyms. And Shinola makes and sells watches, bikes, and leather goods. But all of them are now in the hotel space. What other new hotel brands have I missed?
Image: Shinola
The big news in Toronto real estate today is that Streetcar Developments has picked up the Broadview Hotel at the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue in the city’s east end. The building is best known for housing Jilly’s–the finest in adult entertainment.
I don’t know what it sold for, but the twittersphere seems to think it went for somewhere between $4 and $6 million. My guess is that it’s on the higher end of that range.
The deal is interesting because there have been rumors circulating for years about its future. At one point there were rumblings that it was going to become a Drake Hotel on the east side–which does seem like a natural fit, and would be exciting for the Riverside area.
And while we still don’t know what it’s going to be, Streetcar–which is a condo and loft developer–has said the plan isn’t to turn it into residential condos:
“Although rooted in loft development, Streetcar does not see this building as a residential condominium project. We are in the early stages of planning, but our focus is to revive this building to a landmark everyone in the area can be proud of.”
That’s interesting. They also don’t deny that it could remain a hotel.
I don’t want to automatically assume that something along the lines of the Drake Hotel (a hotel, bar, restaurant and cultural community center) is the right recipe for this building, but I do think there’s an opportunity for it to become a significant anchor–even more so than Jilly’s–on the east side of downtown.
Earlier this week I wrote about the rise of the east end. Maybe this will end up as the establishment that really gives West Queen West a run for its money. But in order to do so, I think Streetcar will need to find the right cultural entrepreneur to partner with. You can’t fake being effortlessly cool.
Either way, I’m thrilled that this building–built in 1893–will be preserved. If there were any plans to demolish it, I would chain myself to a stripper pole in protest. The Broadview Hotel is a real gem with loads of potential.