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11.17.09 12:45 PM

5 New Toronto Venues for Holiday Parties

Dolce Social Ballroom
Photo: BizBash

Based on our recent readers poll, it looks like corporate holiday parties are back in season. Here are some new options for festive events in Toronto.

1. Nightclub owner Travis Agresti unveiled his latest venture—Dolce Social Ballroom—on Saturday. Agresti called on Charles Doell, founder of the California-based firm Mr. Important Design, to create the 6,000-square-foot space at King and Bathurst streets. The venue, Doell's first Canadian project, holds 560 and has custom origami chandeliers (from MADE) and a handcrafted brass ceiling and wall treatment designed by local artist Zac Ridgely. A backlit onyx platform surrounding the private booths doubles as a catwalk for fashion events. A 280-seat patio is slated to open in summer 2010. MORE >>

Corporate Holiday Parties

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11.03.09 11:45 AM

Roosevelt Room: A Supper Club With Art Deco Style

The main bar
Photo: Igor Yu Photography

Inspired by the Art Deco movement, the Roosevelt Room is a new supper club in the entertainment district directly behind the Toronto International Film Festival Tower. Jeff O'Brien of One Development Corp. developed the concept for the venue and called on the Design Agency to handle the decor—modeled on Hollywood's legendary Roosevelt Hotel, which hosted the first Academy Awards.

"We wanted to bring back the carefree excitement and exuberance of the Roaring Twenties," O'Brien said. "We went to the Design Agency and asked them to incorporate the 1920s feel into a modern environment. We're trying to marry the old Art Deco lines with more contemporary materials." MORE >>

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10.23.09 4:21 PM

Allstream Centre Retains Original Architectural Details in Modern Conference Space

The 43,900-square-foot ballroom
Photo: BizBash

A $46-million renovation has transformed the historic Automotive Building, which opened to the public on the grounds of Exhibition Place in 1929, into the Allstream Centre—dubbed the greenest and most energy efficient conference facility in Canada. Just inside the Princes' Gates, the 160,000-square-foot venue officially opened Thursday.

The renovation, completed over the past 19 months under the direction of the architectural firm NORR Limited, included the restoration of the exterior of the building, constructed in the Art Deco style. Many historical elements have been retained throughout, including the tulip-shaped lighting, iron railings, and terrazzo floors in the north and south lobbies. MORE >>

VENUE NEWS

10.09.09 4:15 PM

HK Hotels to Build at Exhibition Place

An agreement reached Thursday between the board of governors of Exhibition Place and HK Hotels—which operates four boutique properties in New York City—calls for a 320-room, 26-storey glass tower to be built on land adjacent to the new Allstream Centre, which is slated to open October 22. "The hotel is deemed necessary to attract business," said deputy mayor and Exhibition Place chairman Joe Pantalone.

The proposed project, which will go to city council for approval in December, will have a ballroom, library, meeting rooms, and a spa. The venue will include underground parking for 400 vehicles, and will be built according to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver rating design standard. The hotel is slated for completion in 2013. —Susan O'Neill

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10.07.09 10:58 AM

Radisson Plaza Offers Victorian-Inspired Event Space Near Pearson Airport

The Grand Victorian Ballroom
Photo: Courtesy of Radisson

The new Radisson Plaza Mississauga Toronto Airport, is a $36 million Victorian-themed hotel eight kilometers from Pearson International Airport. The full-service property, which has 100 suites, opened on September 17 and is the first in Canada to be awarded the brand’s Plaza distinction in more than 16 years.

Owners Harpreet and Ginni Sethi of Priyance Hospitality broke ground on the property, designed by Desmond Silveira Design Ltd., in 2005. Crown moulding, crystal chandeliers, dark woods, and a mix of Asian and Victorian furniture fill the public areas, event and meeting spaces, and the guest rooms. MORE >>

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09.30.09 9:00 AM

Royal Conservatory's New Telus Centre Offers Multiple Event Spaces, Concert Hall

Koerner Hall
Photo: Tom Arban

The Royal Conservatory of Music has officially opened Koerner Hall—the centerpiece in the Telus Centre for Performance and Learning, which represents the final phase in the transformation of the conservatory’s headquarters on Bloor Street. Designed by architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, the Telus Centre includes state-of-the-art music studios, fully wired classrooms, a library, a 1,140-seat concert hall, a rehearsal hall, and a new-media and broadcast centre.

Koerner Hall, which opened with a concert Friday, features a layered wood veil that forms a floating ceiling canopy above the orchestra. The hall is suitable for music and spoken-word events such as lectures and conferences. The space holds 1,140 in a theatre-style set up, 117 for a reception on the stage, and 100 for dinner. MORE >>

Royal Conservatory of Music, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects

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09.22.09 12:35 PM

Rosewater Supper Club Gets New Look With Gold Murals, New Bistro

The dining room at Rosewater Supper Club
Photos: Courtesy of the Liberty Entertainment Group

After a three-week closure, Rosewater Supper Club reopened September 10, in time to host an opening night cocktail reception for the Toronto International Film Festival. The venue, operated by the Liberty Entertainment Group, has a new menu and a more contemporary look, courtesy of aredesign by creative director Nadia Di Donato.

Dark oak tables fill the dining room, and the bar is now faced in blue glass. A front room that formerly housed a piano bar now offers bistro-style seating. Downstairs, a private room, formerly decorated in dark tones, has been washed in white. "It's a Philippe Starck influence," Di Donato said of the space, which has a 22-foot table surrounded by white Chippendale chairs. The Supper Club, a second private room, is being renovated in the next phase of the redesign. MORE >>

VENUE NEWS

09.18.09 11:50 AM

Harbour Sixty Marks 10th Anniversary With Parking Lot Party for 1,000

The party tent
Photo: George Pimentel

Not only did Harbour Sixty owner Ted Nikolaou call on Dee Dee Hannah to renovate the the interior of the historic Harbour Commission Building in honour of the restaurant's 10th anniversary, he also hosted a party for 1,000 guests to commemorate the occasion on Sept. 9. The Nikolaou family called on Samantha Brickman of MAS Communications to plan the event in conjunction with the Mint Agency. To accommodate the number of guests, the event team erected a large black tent in the parking lot behind the multilevel restaurant. MORE >>

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09.08.09 1:48 PM

Russian Samovars, Soviet-Era Propaganda Posters Fill New Cabbagetown Lounge

The bar at Samovar
Photo: courtesy of www.dine.TO

Samovar, a new vodka, absinthe, and champagne lounge in Cabbagetown, is the latest Russian-themed venture from Rumen Dimitroff—the man behind the original Pravda Vodka Bar and Rasputin on Queen Street East. The lounge, named after the traditional Russian teapot, is on the second floor of the historic Winchester Hotel.

The space, formerly the Laurentian Room, has hardwood floors, burgundy banquettes, and a long mahogany bar that dates to 1935. Paintings of samovars hang on the walls and a copy of War and Peace sits on the counter at the coat check. The lounge is said to be haunted and a favourite spot of Al Capone. "I get a kick out of it," Dimitroff said. "At the end of every shift we leave [the ghosts] something to drink." MORE >>

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09.04.09 10:52 AM

Luxe Fabrics, Finishes Fill Renovated Harbour Sixty Steak House

The Vintages Room at Harbour Sixty
Photo: George Pimentel

Harbour Sixty, located in Toronto’s historic Harbour Commission Building, has a new look, thanks to a multi-million dollar redesign in honour of the venue's 10th anniversary. Owner Ted Nikolaou called on Dee Dee Hannah of Taylor Hannah Architect Inc. to renovate the space.

The multilevel, 7,500-square-foot restaurant now features a colour palette of blue, plum, black, and cream, and includes a Carrera marble open kitchen with a front façade in blue agate; an onyx bar with walls detailed in mother of pearl and banquettes upholstered in fabric interwoven with copper; a formal dining room with Italian crystal lighting and an art collection (hung in the windows) that includes custom works by Joshua Jensen-Nagle; and a lower-level private dining room with Italian marble flooring inspired by Manhattan's Carlyle Hotel. MORE >>

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