The Drake Hotel is expanding to Prince Edward County
Jeff Stober, the hotelier behind the Drake, is planning on exporting his brand of Queen West cool to Prince Edward County. Stober recently bought the former Devonshire Inn (to be renamed the Drake Devonshire Inn) in the village of Wellington for $1.3 million, and he plans to turn it into a six-room boutique hotel with a “rough-luxe design palette,” a restaurant serving locally sourced ingredients and a deck overlooking the lake that he hopes will be as scene-y as the rooftop patio on Queen. Stober told the Globe and Mail that he envisions the hotel as a “camp for grown-ups” eager to leave the city on the weekend but still hang out someplace hip (he plans to offer cultural programming from local artists and musicians, plus an old-school games room). However, urban vacationers, oohing and ahhing over the region’s rustic charm, may get a cool reception from locals. Prince Edward County residents have historically shunned development, afraid of the area becoming resort-like (i.e., getting spoiled)—and that anti-outsider mentality has been partly responsible for hindering previous attempts at trendy development. Here we were thinking Lansdowne was gentrification’s next frontier. [Globe and Mail]
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Jeff Stober, the hotelier behind the Drake, is planning on exporting his brand of Queen West cool to Prince Edward County. Stober recently bought the former Devonshire Inn (to be renamed the Drake Devonshire Inn) in the village of Wellington for $1.3 million, and he plans to turn it into a six-room boutique hotel with a “rough-luxe design palette,” a restaurant serving locally sourced ingredients and a deck overlooking the lake that he hopes will be as scene-y as the rooftop patio on Queen. Stober told the Globe and Mail that he envisions the hotel as a “camp for grown-ups” eager to leave the city on the weekend but still hang out someplace hip (he plans to offer cultural programming from local artists and musicians, plus an old-school games room). However, urban vacationers, oohing and ahhing over the region’s rustic charm, may get a cool reception from locals. Prince Edward County residents have historically shunned development, afraid of the area becoming resort-like (i.e., getting spoiled)—and that anti-outsider mentality has been partly responsible for hindering previous attempts at trendy development. Here we were thinking Lansdowne was gentrification’s next frontier. [Globe and Mail]){kind=link}
Stoiber is almost singlehandedly responsible for reawakening/making useful/revitalizing Queen west of Shaw. Enormous kudos to him.
If he wants to try it somewhere else, I wish him the best of luck.
I wonder how many comments will be posted here before some jacka*s slams Stoiber. 3? 4?
“Drake you ho… You ruined the tranquility around the municipal bottle bank”, or whatever else the village of Wellington has going for it.
There ya go Jimmy – Did it in 1.
Cool! the devonshire is the childhood house of my Mom! Looking forward to see what they do with the place.
As a former resident of Prince Edward County who still has family ties to the County, I find it quite insulting that your article paints residents of the area as people who lack the ideas of trendy culture. The County residents have tried to preserve the natural beauty and history of the area rather than allow big business to open up in the region. The Devonshire has a history that is befitting to the cultural history of the Drake and you will find that the County will welcome the owners and patrons of the Drake with open arms. Perhaps try not to insult the residents of an area before moving in there next time.
It’s Stober his name is Stober.. your the jack ass i guess..lol it’s kinda ironic how im slamming you instead of Stober in the end..