Casa Loma could become Toronto’s next fine-dining destination

The fate of Toronto’s gaudy Gothic mansion, which needs $20 million in repairs, has become a tad less uncertain. Next week, Rob Ford’s executive will consider a plan to turn Casa Loma into a fancy restaurant and event space run by the Liberty Entertainment Group, the company behind Rosewater, Spice Route and Cibo Wine Bar, as well as the Liberty Grand entertainment complex at the Ex. The city began fielding proposals in 2012, one year after the landmark was wrested from the Kiwanis Group, who’d been running the structure as a tourist attraction since the 1930s. The new proposal would see the castle’s library and sun room used for private functions and a section of the ground floor transformed into a fine-dining destination. Specific details about the proposed restaurant are scarce; however, judging by the Liberty Group’s other Toronto venues, we’re confident they can deliver the right degree of faux-European opulence. [Globe and Mail]