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Toronto’s come a long way in variations on the “ultimate bachelor pad” theme. I remember when the terms “utilitarian, vermin-free, furnished in Early Ikea” used to pass for progressive bachelor living. These days, with singles playing the field longer than ever, it pays to invest in sophisticated style – even if it means going solo on that high-end sectional.
Of course, one Toronto bachelor has taken this investment in personal style to a whole new level. Enter Zark Fatah, social entrepreneur and nightlife architect extraordinaire, whose name is synonymous with all things hip and hot.
Ten years ago, he was a bartender at clubs like Fluid and the Guvernment. Today, his company, Zark Inc. spearheads six businesses. And of course, there’s the fact that he’s on too many most eligible and best-dressed lists to mention.
With five of his six Zarkinc businesses on or near King St. W. – the Century Room nightclub, Atelier, restaurants Blowfish and Doku 15 and the Hammam spa, it’s no surprise Fatah grew wary of living where he worked.
The ICON condo development on Wellington, his first Toronto real estate acquisition, put him right in the middle of the action. With his businesses thriving and firmly entrenched in the downtown scene, the impresario of King West looked east for a sanctuary to call home. Of course, his must not be a mere dwelling. His must be the signature of a lifestyle itself.
It doesn’t take long to realize Fatah isn’t your run-of-the-mill property-buyer. Upon his first viewing of his current home at The Broadview Lofts, there was a considerable Gulp Factor – a kind of gulp-in-your-throat “I Have to Have It” sort of deal. He recalls, “I walked in and was blown away by the expanse of open space and spectacular views. It was the kind of space where I could really import the best creative possible. And the fact that I could see panoramic skylines sealed the deal.” The view, as any man on a meteoric rise can tell you, is everything. Fatah explains further, “I had seen about a dozen loft spaces all over the city before seeing this one; I knew as soon as I saw it that I could make any ambitious design idea work here as it’s such an open concept, raw space.”
As founder of entertainment empire Zarkinc and Prototype Design Lab, “a design-and-build company” in Mississauga, Fatah has made it his business to set social and design trends in the city, importing the best experiences of his travels to the heart of Toronto. And, as a man who likes to have a hand in everything, his own company, Prototype Design Lab, produced a lot of the fixtures and fittings for his marquee properties, including the signature metal steam “spout” of Hammam’s gorgeous steam room.
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Featuring soaring 21-foot ceilings, a mezzanine that feels like a true second floor, floor to ceiling warehouse style windows, two south facing terraces, two full bathrooms – this pad has James Bond written all over it. At 1,424 square feet, Fatah definitely had room to flex his design muscles. The first thing he decided to do was drop a Versailles-sized, gleaming black glass chandelier from the altitudinous ceiling. Seriously. When this man dresses to impress, it doesn’t stop at mere shoulder pads. The drama of the stark black glass against a towering, textured Baroque ivory and vanilla wall treatment creates the key signatures in the decadent dining room.
In choosing a dining room set, Fatah went for a Valentino-Meets-Gothic Cowboy kind of thing, and to great effect I might add. Heavy black empire chairs get the royal treatment with sumptuous fabric and silver rodeo studs. And, if conversation ever flags around that big dining table, the two storey panoramic views provide endless talking points. “It’s a different energy when you wake up and you see water and the skyline,” Fatah elaborates. “It just opens your mind.”
Fatah designed the space to be functional and purposeful without needless embellishment. His main attraction to modern and minimalist décor? Large, spare spaces lend themselves to entertaining – an activity that lies at the heart of the bachelor lifestyle. Guests to his home no doubt enjoy the HDTV, as Fatah invested in that most ubiquitous electronic accoutrements of bachelorhood: the flat screen plasma television. Although Fatah’s looks gigantic to me, rivaling the size of an exit sign on the Gardiner Expressway.
Nowadays, fashionable bachelors invest in the same consumer culture that has historically been the mainstay of women. Men cultivate their homes and spending money on them in ways that only women used to. From the way they customize floor plans to the way they accessorize, their choices reveal a lot about their ideals of masculinity.
With the Broadview Lofts, The Sorbara Group caters to the architecturally educated consumer, those who desire just the right balance of history and modernity. Heritage savvy buyers won over by tongue & groove wood ceilings were equally wowed by the gorgeous exposed brick walls. The builder retained much of the building’s original structure and materials, an approach that appealed to Fatah. Active in real estate development, investment and management, The Sorbara Group has been involved in the GTA’s most successful residential communities including The Village of Brooklin, Sherwood Village, Britannia Meadows and Bankside in Mississauga, as well as Tanglewood in Oakville. No stranger to Toronto’s east side, the company’s landmark Corktown project, the Brewery Loft on Sumach Street, is now regarded as a Toronto classic.
Collectively, The Broadview Lofts community enjoys a beautifully landscaped central square, underground parking, a party room and roof deck patio. The builders also engaged the contemporary palate with their penthouses, adding two floors of brand new lofts to their original, turn-of-the-century Rexall drug warehouse, for those like Fatah, who yearn for a truly contemporary space.
Loft living is all about the city and its myriad sights and sounds – endless choices and possibilities. Fatah loves that his loft is actually part of three vibrant neighbourhoods: Queen & Broadview, Leslieville and The Studio District. Each nurturing its own vibrant and unique character. Hip cafés and restaurants. Funky shopping everywhere you turn, all within walking distance. Not to mention the close proximity to Queen Street and Toronto’s major artery, the Don Valley Parkway.
A bachelor pad is a cultural icon. It has earned mythic status. And it has essential ingredients. The quintessential pad is masculine, minimalist and, in the best-case scenario, cleaned by a maid. There is leather, hard exotic wood and fine wine. The views are befitting of a emerging master of the universe, but one touch remote can kill the lights, lower the shades and turn on the David Bowie before a girl knows what hit her.
So is there a downside to living so high? When I ask the question, Fatah stifles a simultaneous laugh and a blush. “You wouldn’t think so, but there is,” he confides. “Girls seem to get really attached to the idea of not necessarily leaving. I brought a girl back here once who, as soon as she walked in the door asked, ‘So when am I moving in?’” Indeed, this may seem like the Hollywood version of a bachelor pad, but it’s just a little place he likes to call home.
THE BROADVIEW LOFTS: 68 Broadview Ave., on the northwest corner of Broadview and Eastern Ave.
Builder: The Sorbara Group. A six-storey building. The first five storeys will be a restored brick warehouse. A new five-storey extension will have a facade of steel and glass.
Amenities: rooftop patio and large party/media room.
www.broadviewlofts.com |
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