Romantic waterfront dinners are mere months away, says the city’s acting waterfront development manager.
The city on Friday officially opened a two-week window for interested restaurateurs to submit expressions of interest to locate within the still-under-construction water garden pavilion.
The building features 2,300 sq. ft of interior space, with an added 1,000 sq. ft of outdoor patio space overlooking Lake Superior.
“This marks another opportunity for the private sector or community groups to get involved with the development,” Paul Pepe said, offering he really has no preconceived notions of exactly what type of establishment belongs on the redeveloped waterfront.
“Right now it’s an open slate. The idea behind the expressions of interest is to hear ideas, hear concepts from the culinary community, from the community in general on how they would program this space.
“What are their ideas? Obviously we’d like to see something that fits in with the theme of Prince Arthur’s Landing.”
First and foremost, Pepe said, they want operators who can sustain the business, preferably year-round.
Once the ideas are in – the deadline is Oct. 12 – city officials will ultimately narrow them down and press applicants for more solid information.
“We’ll score them and shortlist and move to the next phase of requesting more detailed proposals and business plans from those who make the short list,” Pepe said.
He added they will accept proposals from new and existing businesses. Potentially it could be anything, Pepe said.
“We could be looking at a brand new operation, we could be looking at a concept that has worked well elsewhere in the community that they may want to locate, or have a satellite here or another additional venue to their business. At this point we’re keeping it wide open,” Pepe said.
It’s the first of several potential avenues into the waterfront for the private sector, he pointed out, citing a revitalized Baggage building as another opportunity.
The private developer behind the as-yet-unnamed 120-unit hotel and 104-unit condominium, also has the potential to lease space in the former CN rail station at Marina Park.
