This past Monday, I got together with David Wex (of Urban Capital) and Rick Sole (my business partner) for a night of DJ'ing electronic music. We called it our inaugural developer rave session and it was a ton of fun. I (mostly) had no idea what I was doing. Rick and David were great. And together, we played to a sold out crowd that consisted of two of our wives.
David was also kind enough to host us at his bar Lisbon Hotel (it's closed on Mondays). Which is why when I posted some of the above photos on X, Affan Imran asked if we are calling ourselves the Lisbon House Mafia. I thought that was pretty good. And since I'm still in search of a proper DJ name, that's the title of today's post.
Maybe when we do this again, we'll open it up to more than 2 people. Maybe.
My friend David Wex recently opened up a new bar called Lisbon Hotel, and this evening I went to check it out with him. It's not in Lisbon. And it's not a hotel. But it is deliberately designed to feel like a hotel lobby bar, and it is a great place for drinks and snacks. I recommend both of the dishes pictured above -- especially the cucumber and dill one.
It's also housed in the River City community, which his firm Urban Capital developed. And I think that's something. Developers are often criticized when they put in boring (yet profitable) uses in the ground floors of their buildings. And this is not that (though hopefully it's still profitable). This is him and his partners wanting to do something cool and help create a "place."
Who said new ideas need old buildings? Rhetorical question. It was Jane Jacobs who said this.
For more on Lisbon Hotel, check out this profile in Toronto Life.
It’s the Christmas and holiday season, which means two very important things.
One, it’s time for the latest rendition of Urban Capital’s annual Naughty or Nice party. That was last week and it was #7. Here are the obligatory photo booth snaps to prove it happened.
And two, the latest issue of Site Magazine (from Urban Capital) is now out.
This year I wrote a piece called “The Canada mission”. It’s all about Urban Capital’s pan-Canadian mission to build from coast to coast. How it happened. The challenges. What’s driving it. And what have been the results.
The article includes case studies from Urban Capital’s two newest markets: Saskatoon and Winnipeg.
One of the things that I didn’t fully appreciate until I started researching for the article was just how pioneering these projects were. At the time, there were no proof points to suggest that the pro formas would work. And this is a leap of faith that Urban Capital has had to make on many of its projects.
Click here to download a PDF of the full magazine.