The chef of the Ritz-Carton's flagship restaurant, TOCA by Tom Brodi, is leaving, a little over a year after the hotel and restaurant opened.

Of course, posh hotel restaurant closings are not unique to TO. It was just announced that L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, the 2-Michelin star restaurant at the Four Seasons New York is closing.

With Daniel Boulud (who opened and closed restaurants in Vancouver) coming to Four Seasons Toronto and David Chang coming to Shangri-La (Vancouver's Shangri-La features a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant), one hopes for the best. But a quality hotel and a quality chef are not guarranteed to succeed.
 
I've scanned some old pictures of this site circa 1989. What would have happened to Ritz if the Simcoe Place tower was twinned, as suggested in this render.

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AndreaPalladio said:
The early '90s recession. They couldn't lease the space in the second tower. It was eventually built as the RBC building.
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I guess they (C.F.) now have the 43 Simcoe site to make up for that, im also going to predict that Oxford sooner or later demolishes that hotel at the MTCC for a future 50-60 storey office tower. Obviously they will replace and relocate a new hotel to the most westerly edge of that site.
 
steveve said:
interesting ^ I had no idea it was a 2 phase project.. I wonder what happened :confused:?
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The plan was for 3 towers when the development was approved, but as AP said, only Simcoe Tower got built at the time due to the 90s recession. The third tower is now the Ritz, though I don't remember if it was supposed to be office, hotel, residential, or a mix.
 
The area bounded by the red box is actually the CBC Broadcast Centre. Simcoe Place would be built in the parking lot to the east.
 
I've always liked the shape of this building; the materials and execution could be better, however. Anyway, a few days ago I sent an email to the building, regarding LED lighting for it's exterior. I basically said I thought the tower would look great with some LEDs running up the zipper portion on the east and west profile and up to and including the steel grates at the mechanical level. I mentioned that I thought it was a wasted opportunity to leave the building standing in darkness, at night, especially considering that the fellow and nearby 5 star hotel/condos (Shangri-La and Trump) have incorporated LEDs onto their buildings. I wasn't really expecting much of a reply, but to my surprise, the chief engineer said this: "Thank you for the email about lighting for our building. If you want to come by one day we can discuss it further." I was caught off guard by this. I don't really know how to respond. It sounds as though he's open to the idea, but I know little to nothing about LEDs and don't feel like I'd really be comfortable discussing this in person. Does anyone have any suggestions on how and where LEDs could be applied to the exterior of the building? I know many here have said that they don't like the way the mechanical portion is illuminated on the south side of the building. Maybe this could be an opportunity to improve this? If anyone has the time and desire, maybe they can photoshop a picture of what the building could potentially look like with such lighting?
 
I wouldn't know what else to say. I feel like I've already said as much as I can. I wouldn't really have anything else to add. I'm just surprised that he would want to meet with me. I would have thought that he'd just consult an actual professional, if interested in my idea and they could, together, figure out a plan.
 
As evident from the Trump there are quite a few people on this forum familiar with lighting and LED in particular. Maybe sift through that thread and PM some of the individuals who gave detailed comments about lighting if you don't get any responses here.
 
Dark buildings at night are more energy efficient, contribute to less pollution (light pollution and physical pollution, both), and protect our migratory birds. I also personally think they look classier on the skyline than when every tower is trying to stand out.
 
RC8 said:
Dark buildings at night are more energy efficient, contribute to less pollution (light pollution and physical pollution, both), and protect our migratory birds. I also personally think they look classier on the skyline than when every tower is trying to stand out.
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Most of our towers are barely even noticeable on the skyline, at night. I think some subtle lighting could be implemented on more than just this tower. Chicago and New York don't look any less classy with their towers aglow. As for the FLAP issue, the neighbouring RBC building and CN Tower are already lit.
 
RBC hasn't been using the LED for a couple of months now. They did install a new RBC sign facing south, replacing the old Dexia signage
 
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