This excerpt is from an article that ran in the Toronto Star on June 19, 2009.
By Tony Wong,
Star Business Reporter
In the depths of the worst recession in decades, one of Canada's richest men is taking a $1 billion gamble on suburban Chinatown with plans for a massive mall and luxury hotel/condominium complex in the heart of Markham's shopping district.
Plans for the Remington Centre, an 800,000 square-foot Chinese-themed mall adjoining a 20-storey hotel and condo tower, are expected to be announced by Toronto developer Rudy Bratty's Remington Group at a news conference today.
"We are really proud of this – we believe it will be the pre-eminent centre in North America," the 77-year-old Bratty said in an interview.
Bratty, ranked 58th on Canada's wealth list by Canadian Business magazine with a personal net worth of almost $1 billion, intends to knock down his existing 325,000 square foot Market Village mall at the corner of Kennedy Rd. and Steeles Ave., further shifting the centre of Toronto's Chinatown to the suburbs. The area is already home to three other large Chinese-themed malls.
Bratty's timing for a GTA project of this scale is all the more audacious considering most other retail and commercial builders have closed up shop as the weak economy and job losses sap consumer confidence.
"We're certainly taking a chance, particularly in today's market, and I don't kid myself that the credit markets have changed, but I think we're offering something different than what's out there," says the lawyer turned developer.
