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Volume 27 Fall 2006
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Liberty Village • King West • King West Central • Entertainment District • St. Lawrence Market Area • Queen Richmond East • College St.
2 Critical Mass takes up on Adelaide West
4 Richmond Street East Renos
5 Red Bull makes a splash in Vancouver
Plus: Sobeys on College, Second Cup on King West, Totum’s Boxing Workout, WHAT’S ON East & West, and Ye Olde King Street Pics
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Liberty Nights New Maro lounge hangs its velvet ropes in Liberty Village
King West Centtral King West Centtral
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Digital Marketing Firm Critical Mass Takes Adelaide Offices
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ritical Mass understands the role of a company Web site as being more than just an electronic brochure. It is this understanding that has helped it grow steadily from its roots as a Calgary-based promotional CD-ROM developer in 1995, to one of the Web design industry's leading agencies. And success appears to have also grown its Toronto presence as it opens its new office in the penthouse at 425 Adelaide Street West. With digital marketing moving well into the Web 2.0 paradigm (the reinterpretation of the Web’s role following the dot-com bubble), “platforms” rather than applications rule the information highway (think Netscape vs. Google). Critical Mass has long adhered to the notion of a Web site as a platform rather than just another avenue of contact, and as such has successfully navigated the dot-com bust retaining blue-chip clients like Mercedes-Benz USA and Hyatt Hotels by creating sites that “deepen customer relationships” for these clients. CEO Dianne Wilkins, in a 2005 Marketing Magazine article explained that the business “has only a very small element of e-commerce. We see ourselves as a marketing company that specializes in e-communication, relationship building and branding.”
Big bold sites with catchy graphics weren’t what most marketers were after, the company found. Viewing the Web site as a platform where users can have an experience is a notion that can be tied directly to a client’s bottom line performance. And it’s an approach that, for Critical Mass, has resulted a number of longstanding relationships with blue chip companies. With a proven background in the areas of customer experience management and customer relationship development, it has helped high profile organizations like Dell, Pampers and NASA forge deep relationships with their customers. Profitable and stable, Critical Mass has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards including the Forrester Wave in 2005; Forrester Research Web Design Agency Shootout in 2004; eHealthcare Leadership Awards in 2005; Webby Awards, 2005 (Best Automotive site - Mercedes-Benz USA), and; Internet Retailer, 2005 (Best of the Web, Dell.com). www.criticalmass.com
425 Adelaide Street West
COMPANY SNAPSHOT What They Do: Critical Mass is a Calgary-based digital marketing firm that develops web sites and web-based products for some of the world’s leading companies.
Employees: 400+ Offices in: Calgary, Chicago, Toronto, New York, Austin, Atlanta, Las Vegas
Ownership: 52% owned by Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE: OMC), 48% employee-owned
Featured Clients:
Critical Mass clients use Web sites as viable marketing channels.
Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
• Albertsons, Inc. • Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC • Dell Inc. • The Procter & Gamble Company • AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) • Hyatt Corporation
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Liberty Nights Warehouse space turns Euro-Asian-Inspired lounge at 135 Liberty
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ike any spot worth investigating, Maro’s inauspicious exterior is a bit misleading. But the velvet ropes at the tall glass doors tell you you’re at the right place if you’re looking for the Brant Group’s latest project, a Pan-Asia-meetscontemporary-Europe warehouse space on the ground floor and lower level of 135 Liberty Street.
“We envisioned a very slick interior, but not cold,” says co-designer Marc Kyriacou who has worked on the original Brant House and West as well as the redesign of West. The main level houses a 16,000 square-foot dining area with an open concept kitchen at the far end of the room (you can see much of the culinary activity from the main space). There’s also a step-up lounge area on the north side – with a large projection screen that can be put into action at corporate events – and a couple of sectional couch clusters staged strategically on opposite sides of the room near the entrances. The black “lacquer” bar fronts, black bamboo flooring and dark red columns of the main space give it a strong Asian influence that is tempered by the use of contemporary European-
style furnishings like the grey settees that make up most of the seating in the lounge area. Three Indian-granite-topped bars are equipped to handle the space’s 900-capacity, and bar backs are framed in dark Blackwood with Chinese lanterns flanking each end. For revelers seeking privacy, Kyriacou and co-founder John Tsoumaris have put a lot of thought and design into a lower level VIP room that isn’t available to the public. Rather, it’s slated for private, celeb-heavy functions. Some of the design elements found downstairs include Thai-type ceiling panels and damask wallpaper. Designer Antonio S. Tadrissi, who designed Hammam Spa, was brought in solely to design and execute a state-of-the-art staircase. The VIP lounge also features floorto-ceiling banquettes along with marble fireplaces. And for those seeking sustenance, Kyriacou and Tsoumaris have further enhanced the dining experience with a menu executed by Chef David Adjey.
Hammam’s Antonio Tadrissi designed the state-of-the-art staircase.
Contemporary Euro-style settees in the raised lounge. An Indian granite countertop is set to serve a quick midday meal.
Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
Liberty Liberty Village Village
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Queen Richmond East Queen Richmond East
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ANATOMY OF A RENO:
Queen-Richmond Centre’s Little Sister
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solid structure in need of a facelift, 103 Richmond Street East has undergone a series of strategic renovations. Since Allied Properties REIT brought this turn-ofthe-last-century dry goods warehouse into its portfolio, it has worked to link the building aesthetically to neighbouring Queen-Richmond Centre. The exterior brick on the north side was painted red and new windows, identical in both colour and design to the ones across the street, were two
A View from Here: The operable “six-over-six” double-hung windows are replicas of the style typical 200 years ago.
Walk of Ages: Putting in new carpet always cleans up a space, but putting in good carpet that will retain its shape and colour for the next ten years is what allows a space to stay that way. And that’s what crews did here, laying high grade commercial carpet (like that used in the TD Centre) and bordering it with durable Italian porcelain tiles.
Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
of the outdoor initiatives designed to help these two buildings connect visually, but there are also a number of interior renovations. “We’re using high-end materials on all the wear surfaces,” says Andrew Clarke of Market Block, the firm conducting the work. “That keeps the space looking contemporary and fresh.” Track lighting will highlight the exposed brick which was formerly an exterior wall (103 was originally
three separate buildings), giving the space an art gallery feel, while ribbedglass fixtures that are replicas of factory fixtures used at the turn-of-the-last century will light the centre of the hallway and complement the building’s historic character. Less sexy things like laying a new roof, putting in proper exit signage and tiling the bathrooms have been part of the program to update this address, but the most obvious changes will be seen on the ground floor.
Topping it Off: Much-needed attention has been paid to important infrastructure components. For example, the roof was recently replaced after some 25 years of neglect.
Elevating Experience: Tenants may recall the washroom feel of the tiny cab's mosaic tile interior. Crews removed three layers of tiles and replaced these with mirrors and scuff-resistant Mayatek fabric.
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Red Bull “Flight” Event Splashes Down in Vancouver
INCOMING New food service tenants on King and College
Sobeys Soon ‘Ready-to-Serve’ on College
Second place winners, Team Pirates of False Creek, abandon ship.
Spring of 2007 will see a Sobeys opening at 555 College Street. The Nova Scotiabased grocery retailer, which owns or franchises more than 1,300 stores in all 10 provinces under retail banners that include IGA extra, IGA, Foodland and Price Chopper, builds stores as large as 51,000 square feet and as small as 6,000 square feet. The College Street location will likely fall in the middle range and is expected to offer all the services of a large Sobeys including ready-to-eat meals from the deli counter, an onsite bakery and market-fresh fruits and vegetables. www.sobeys.com
Team Back to the Flugtag prepares for impact.
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ver wonder what you could get for flying a homemade machine off the end of a pier? How does $7,500 or a set of pilot’s lessons sound? That’s what teams were competing for this August at Vancouver’s False Creek when Red Bull, whose Canadian headquarters are in King West Central, recently brought Flugtag to Canada. A Flugtag (German for flight day) is an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade contraptions. Usually launched from a pier, the machines rarely fly at all. Still, the first-place winner in Vancouver, team Big Shooter, bested the existing North American flight record by soaring 86 feet before splash down. While the idea is to fly as far as you can, most competitors enter for the entertainment value. In Vancouver, contraptions included a lobster from Moncton, Poutine from Montreal, a Winnipeg jet and a Zamboni from Vancouver. An avid sponsor of extreme sports and varied cultural events, Red Bull builds it brand recognition by working with unconventional entertainment activities. www.redbull.com
®
Wired Second Cup Coming to King Street West 905 King Street West tenants will be able to pick up a Second Cup coffee in November as one of Canada’s largest specialty coffee retailer and café franchisor (with more than 360 locations nationally) plans to opens its doors. This site is also an Internet hotspot, offering wireless Internet access so that customers can surf the Web and check e-mail over a hot cup of java. www.secondcup.com Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
College W est est & KingCentral West Central College West & King W
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TOTUM TIPS
Thinking Outside the ‘Box’ Long after Stallone drank raw eggs and spent his early mornings running up stairs to portray comeback boxing champion Rocky Balboa, the notion of punishing workouts remains tied to this tough-guy sport. Great aerobic and anaerobic workouts aside, what about the fighting part? “You don’t have to get popped to get the exercise benefits of boxing,” assures Garfield Watson, Totum Life Science’s certified boxing coach. In fact, the trainees in his Boxing Boot Camp are executives, stay-at-home moms and just about anyone looking for a total body workout, he explains. Curious about what some of these exercises entail? Here are a couple to consider...
Squat with left and right hooks 1. Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, legs bent at 90˚ and elbows and arms in. 2. & 3. Rise till your knees are slightly bent and throw a left, then right hook.
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Great for working your ’love handles’ and shoulders, Watson says you should start this exercise with your chest out, back straight. “Like you’re sitting in a chair,” he says, adding you should do two sets of 20.
Lunge with punches 1. Start with your left foot forward, fists and elbows in and drop your right knee down so that your bent left knee doesn’t go past the tip of your left shoe. Your back leg should form an L. 2. Now come up partway, straightening your back leg and twisting your torso slightly to throw a right, then a left punch. Do two sets of 20, switch legs and repeat.
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Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
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WHAT’S ON
ONGOING EVENTS
Events at East and West Downtown Locations NOVEMBER 2 Nicholas Metivier Gallery is hosting an opening reception for an exhibition of new paintings by Ric Evans (from 6 to 8 p.m.). The Gallery will also be exhibiting at the Toronto International Art Fair on November 9th to the 13th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (Booth 446). The Nicholas Metivier Gallery is at 451 King Street West. www.metiviergallery.com
NOVEMBER 9 The Calphalon Culinary Center presents its 2nd Annual Rising Chef Challenge, an evening of exquisite cuisine prepared by three of Toronto’s rising chefs. Each chef competes to please palates and wow senses with specific ingredients. Guests are both diner and judge at this event that is unique to the Centre. The competing Sous Chefs, hailing from Tundra, Mildred Pierce and Flow restaurants, will help diners navigate a three-course meal with wines paired by Vincor International. Tickets are $135/person. The Calphalon Culinary Center is at 425 King Street West. www.calphalonculinarycenter.com
NOVEMBER 30 O’Connor Gallery is presenting a show by visual artist Jeff Szuc who spent an industrious year completing a 5”x7” painting every week. “Seeing the passage of a year through 52 rather fantastic paintings makes for an incredible show,” says Dennis O’Connor. The show opens on November 30th with all 52 paintings on display. The O’Connor Gallery is at 145 Berkeley St. Suite 100. www.oconnorgallery.com
Nicholas Hoare’s Books and Brunch Series: One Sunday morning a month, this St. Lawrence market area bookstore brings four authors to the Vanity Fair Ballroom at the King Edward Hotel to discuss their respective works. Past speakers have included John Keegan, Michael Redhill and Margaret Atwood. Space is limited and events sell out fast, so call early to find out who’s expected this Fall. Nicholas Hoare Books is at 45 Front Street East, (416) 777-2665.
Totum Lifescience Running Group: Every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Totum takes runners at all levels of experience out for a run. Interested in the running boot camp? A dedicated few meet at Totum on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 a.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. for training that’s a little more intense. Free for club members, $10 for non-members. Totum is at 445 King Street West. www.totum.ca
To list an event, please send details to news@alliedpropertiesreit.ca Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
EastW andest West East and
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Picturing the Past and Present King Street Rails Form City’s Third Public Transit Line
City of Toronto Archives (TTC
Fonds, series 71, item 481 2)
TTC repairs on King Street West in 1927.
King Street West, September 2006
T Published four times a year by: Allied Properties REIT 602 King Street West, Main floor Toronto, ON M5V 1M6
Editor: Yvan Marston yvan@gravitydesign.ca
he rails in the photo above are in the midst of a 1927 repair. Six years earlier, the Ontario Parliament passed an Act that formed the Toronto Transit Commission (making it a corporation separate from the city). In doing so, the TTC assumed responsibility for the various rails around the city that, since 1849, had been operated privately. The King Street line, which ran from Bathurst to the Don River, was the third line built and operated by the Toronto Railway Company (Yonge Street was the first and Queen Street the second). The King service began as horse-operated transit in 1874 and was electrified on September 5th, 1892. To the right of the photo is the Ontario Cabinet and Furniture Works at 468 King Street West, which was built in 1910. And further in the background is 500-522 King Street West, the former Gurney Stove Factory building which today houses MINI Downtown, Cossette Communications Group and the Acton Leather Co.
Design/Layout: Gravity Design Inc. scott@gravitydesign.ca
Community Chronicle • Fall 2006
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