Parkview Mountain House has just launched a new creative residencies program intended to reinforce the house's identity as a creative retreat. The way it works is very simple: If you're an artist, designer, creative or a brand doing culture-shaping work, you can now apply for a free three-night stay at the house. In exchange for the stay, we ask that creative residents produce and share original content that reflects their experience in the mountains of Utah and at Parkview Mountain House. This could include photography, videos, written pieces, branded campaigns (such as a lookbook), and maybe even an artifact for the house. Long term, the idea is to assemble a kind of cultural archive with credit being given back to each individual creator and/or brand. We're really excited to see what this residency program produces and we hope that the results will be design-focused, globally minded, and rooted in a deep love for the mountains.
If you'd like to apply, or know of someone who would be a good fit, here's the link.
Everybody wants a 3 bedroom condo or apartment until they see what they cost. We've spoken about this before. We know that the barrier is cost (i.e. affordability) and that many cities have more cost-effective alternatives. The result is that developers have a strong incentive to build smaller 1-bedroom apartments. And by strong incentive, I mean that it might be the only way to pencil a new project.
I think some people believe that developers are only doing this to profit maximize and that they could build more family-sized apartments if only they really wanted to. But it's not that simple. There needs to be a market for it at rental rates that can generate a positive margin for developers.
If you would like to visit southern Ontario (specifically somewhere outside of Toronto) and stay in a cool design-forward lifestyle hotel, what are your options? The obvious ones are the Drake Devonshire, The Royal Hotel, and Wander the Resort in Prince Edward County (~2.5 hours east of Toronto).
Looking north of Toronto, The Postmark Hotel in Newmarket is a nice boutique hotel. But I can't think of any others and there aren't any lifestyle hotels in Muskoka. That's cottage country.
Moving toward the west, Elora Mill is a popular hotel and destination (with very high ADRs), but I would not call it a design forward lifestyle hotel. It's traditional luxury. So that's roughly it. Your only other options are trendy motels, such as the Beach Motel in Southhampton.
Now let's look specifically at the Niagara Peninsula (where we have proposed a design-forward lifestyle hotel). The three most popular destinations are Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the Niagara Benchlands. And each year, this region receives over 13 million visitors, 30-40% of which are American.
But again, I would argue that there are exactly this many design-forward lifestyle hotels on the Peninsula: 0. The market is dominated by Vintage Hotels, which is not this.
But that's set to change next year. The Clayfield, which is part of Hyatt's Unbound Collection, is currently under construction across from Stratus Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The design is by Sid Lee Architecture out of Montréal (which
Parkview Mountain House has just launched a new creative residencies program intended to reinforce the house's identity as a creative retreat. The way it works is very simple: If you're an artist, designer, creative or a brand doing culture-shaping work, you can now apply for a free three-night stay at the house. In exchange for the stay, we ask that creative residents produce and share original content that reflects their experience in the mountains of Utah and at Parkview Mountain House. This could include photography, videos, written pieces, branded campaigns (such as a lookbook), and maybe even an artifact for the house. Long term, the idea is to assemble a kind of cultural archive with credit being given back to each individual creator and/or brand. We're really excited to see what this residency program produces and we hope that the results will be design-focused, globally minded, and rooted in a deep love for the mountains.
If you'd like to apply, or know of someone who would be a good fit, here's the link.
Everybody wants a 3 bedroom condo or apartment until they see what they cost. We've spoken about this before. We know that the barrier is cost (i.e. affordability) and that many cities have more cost-effective alternatives. The result is that developers have a strong incentive to build smaller 1-bedroom apartments. And by strong incentive, I mean that it might be the only way to pencil a new project.
I think some people believe that developers are only doing this to profit maximize and that they could build more family-sized apartments if only they really wanted to. But it's not that simple. There needs to be a market for it at rental rates that can generate a positive margin for developers.
If you would like to visit southern Ontario (specifically somewhere outside of Toronto) and stay in a cool design-forward lifestyle hotel, what are your options? The obvious ones are the Drake Devonshire, The Royal Hotel, and Wander the Resort in Prince Edward County (~2.5 hours east of Toronto).
Looking north of Toronto, The Postmark Hotel in Newmarket is a nice boutique hotel. But I can't think of any others and there aren't any lifestyle hotels in Muskoka. That's cottage country.
Moving toward the west, Elora Mill is a popular hotel and destination (with very high ADRs), but I would not call it a design forward lifestyle hotel. It's traditional luxury. So that's roughly it. Your only other options are trendy motels, such as the Beach Motel in Southhampton.
Now let's look specifically at the Niagara Peninsula (where we have proposed a design-forward lifestyle hotel). The three most popular destinations are Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the Niagara Benchlands. And each year, this region receives over 13 million visitors, 30-40% of which are American.
But again, I would argue that there are exactly this many design-forward lifestyle hotels on the Peninsula: 0. The market is dominated by Vintage Hotels, which is not this.
But that's set to change next year. The Clayfield, which is part of Hyatt's Unbound Collection, is currently under construction across from Stratus Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The design is by Sid Lee Architecture out of Montréal (which
To show just how strong these market forces are, here's a chart from Bobby Fijan showing how Austin has changed its unit mix over the past 25 years. From 2000 to 2005, more than 50% of new apartments were 2 beds. But from 2021 to 2025, this shared dropped to less than 25%, and studio and 1 beds now make up nearly 80% of the new multi-family market.
This is the new construction market in the vast majority of North American cities today.
Cover photo by Jeremy Doddridge on Unsplash
But this is only one hotel in what is Canada's largest and most important wine region. It's also a region with two Michelin-starred restaurants, countless recreational and cultural offerings, growing cycling tourism, and much more.
We need more of this kind of offering, which is why we have also proposed a design-forward lifestyle hotel on the water in the Niagara Benchlands. Today, we refer to the larger mixed-use development as Project Bench.
For those of you that are interested, the Bench is a separate wine appellation from NOTL. It has an elevated and sloped terrain and a longer growing season that is ideal for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling. But in the end, we view these two subregions as being entirely complimentary, akin to Sonoma and Napa in California (incidentally, they also share similar differences in terms of style, climate, geography, and terroir).
A rising tide lifts all boats.
And we are of the opinion that a lack of design-forward accommodations — with global appeal — is holding back the economic potential of this region. And so we're working as hard as we can to correct that. If this opportunity is also exciting to you, please do get in touch. We're always looking to collaborate.
You can also check us out here for more about the project.
Cover photo from Beaumier
To show just how strong these market forces are, here's a chart from Bobby Fijan showing how Austin has changed its unit mix over the past 25 years. From 2000 to 2005, more than 50% of new apartments were 2 beds. But from 2021 to 2025, this shared dropped to less than 25%, and studio and 1 beds now make up nearly 80% of the new multi-family market.
This is the new construction market in the vast majority of North American cities today.
Cover photo by Jeremy Doddridge on Unsplash
But this is only one hotel in what is Canada's largest and most important wine region. It's also a region with two Michelin-starred restaurants, countless recreational and cultural offerings, growing cycling tourism, and much more.
We need more of this kind of offering, which is why we have also proposed a design-forward lifestyle hotel on the water in the Niagara Benchlands. Today, we refer to the larger mixed-use development as Project Bench.
For those of you that are interested, the Bench is a separate wine appellation from NOTL. It has an elevated and sloped terrain and a longer growing season that is ideal for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling. But in the end, we view these two subregions as being entirely complimentary, akin to Sonoma and Napa in California (incidentally, they also share similar differences in terms of style, climate, geography, and terroir).
A rising tide lifts all boats.
And we are of the opinion that a lack of design-forward accommodations — with global appeal — is holding back the economic potential of this region. And so we're working as hard as we can to correct that. If this opportunity is also exciting to you, please do get in touch. We're always looking to collaborate.
You can also check us out here for more about the project.
Cover photo from Beaumier
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