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Move over Miami and Austin, Canada’s Toronto is Quietly Becoming the Next Big Tech Hub

Published on July 19, 2022
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A shout out to our brothers and sisters North of the border in Toronto. Turns out, it isn’t all hockey and maple syrup up there; in fact, there is a burgeoning tech expansion in Canada’s largest city. Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, Amazon and Meta (formerly Facebook) all have a presence but others are following, including, Pinterest, Stripe and Klarna (a Scandinavian payments company and shame on you if you don’t know the others). With local university and government money and Canada’s lenient immigration policy, Toronto has become the third-largest tech hub in North America behind Silicon Valley and New York. And to some in the US who may not know, Toronto isn’t a fly-by-night city with nothing to do: nearly 50% of Toronto’s residents were born outside the country making it a culturally diverse city with a potpourri of splendid cuisine. It is the fourth largest city by population on the continent (with about 3 million people) behind only Mexico City, NY and LA with a deep pool of talented tech researchers and engineers.

For tech workers in Toronto, the government is on your side recently passing a law that explicitly bars companies from enforcing noncompete clauses in employment contracts. Take that Silicon Valley—Toronto is run by a bevy of promiscuous tech workers free to mingle with whatever company tickles their fancy. Is it working though? Simply put, yes. There is some cool tech stuff happening in Toronto like work on “neural networks” to power self-driving cars and digital assistants. Or the cutting-edge AI work that specializes in technology that helps machines understand the natural way people write and talk. There are some concerns about salary creep which may price companies out of the market and, despite all the positives, it’s worth keeping the numbers in perspective. In 2021 and 2022, investors pumped $132 billion into Silicon Valley tech start-ups compared to $5.4 billion in Toronto. Baby steps Toronto, baby steps…

Metz, Cade. “Toronto, the Quietly Booming Tech Town.” The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/technology/toronto-tech-boom.html?smtyp=cur.
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New York City is Back Baby! Not Quite but the Hotel Chelsea Is

Published on July 19, 2022

Longing for the days of celebrity sightings, illicit drugs and carnal pleasure in the heart of New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood? Turns out the historic Hotel Chelsea—a previous magnet for painters, actors, dancers, novelists, playwrights and musicians and a whole lot of debauchery—is opening its doors again after a rough decade of contentious renovation, developer turnover, countless lawsuits, a stop-work order and a pandemic. Current ownership took a “gentle and…respectable” approach to the restoration filling the lobby with the artwork of current and former tenants. There will be a new lounge with a brass-railed bar, a grand piano, as well as an updated version of the Spanish-themed restaurant El-Quijote that’s been “tuned up” a bit.

The hotel will be a blend of 155 rentable rooms and more than 40 permanent residents, who have been “allowed” to remain because ownership likes “the mix” of guests and full-time residents (i.e., owners could not get around NYC’s rent stabilization rules). Described by one famous resident as a place “haunted by dark creative forces” but also a place with “romanticism,” we look forward to what the next century has in store for the Chelsea. Don’t let us down.

Cheshes, Jay. “How the Historic Hotel Chelsea Has Kept Its New York Cool.” The Wall Street Journal, 26 Apr. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/hotel-chelsea-new-york-11650976217?mod=hp_listc_pos1.
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What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Need to Stay in Vegas.

Published on July 19, 2022
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What is a city to do when its hotels and offices are half empty, its bars filled with nothing but lonely alcoholics, and few tourists care to make the journey to enjoy its cultural offerings? For New York City, the answer is to pull a play out of the Las Vegas handbook—a destiny equipped with manufacturing fun and entertainment. In Times Square, more than 20% of its businesses remain closed along with six hotels and a newly opened restaurant endured three robberies before shutting down.

Before the pandemic, this district employed 66,000 people and represented roughly 15% of New York’s total economy. Gotham is resilient and Times Square has already started reinventing itself. Since 2021, a new hotel has been opening in stages with an outdoor pool overlooking the theater district and another opening in 2023 includes a concert stage.

Swimming pools and concerts are nice, but the real money is in the casinos, and world-class REIT, SL Green, has a plan that should excite hotel unions and casino operators. CEO Marc Holiday is proposing a casino project and suggests Times Square is the “absolute best, most obvious, least impactful and most globally accepted area” for it. Hard to argue as the neighborhood is already home to comedy clubs, hotels, Disney characters, women wearing nothing but painted-on bikinis, and, of course, the Naked Cowboy.

No doubt there will be opponents to turning Times Square into a hybrid mecca of debauchery and family fun but Vegas dances well, so can we.

Konrad Putzier & Peter Grand. “Times Square Plots Its Comeback, and It Looks like Las Vegas.” The Wall Street Journal, 26 Apr. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/times-square-plots-its-comeback-and-it-looks-like-las-vegas-11650965581?mod=hp_lista_pos4.
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If you are getting divorced, best it be from a real estate tycoon with $922 million in art works

Published on July 19, 2022

Take out your pom poms and give a shout-out to real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda, who is said to have an “incomparable eye” for trophy-name modern and contemporary works of art. This week they finalized the second cache of the private Macklowe Collection grossing a total of $922 million eclipsing the previous record of $835 million held by the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection. 

Why did the Macklowes sell after more than 60 years of collecting? Turns out these two previous lovebirds couldn’t come to terms on how to divide their wealth so Judge Laura Drager decided for them, mandating the sale of their collection via public auction. And what a sale it was…for art aficionados (and even you dilettantes), the sale included works by Mark Rothko, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Warhol and de Kooning. Despite a market shift placing a premium on female artists and ones of color, this collection comprised works solely of canonical white male artists (looks like Harry and Linda aren’t PC-motivated when buying their masterpieces).

In the art market like “the spare parts market—works are hard to find and very expensive.” Upset by the sale of his prized works, not Harry, who said he was “thrilled by it…everybody endorsing the choices…made over the last 65 years.” What a good sport, we love you Harry.

Reyburn, Scott, and Robin Pogrebin. “The Macklowe Collection Tops $922 Million at Auction.” The New York Times, 17 May 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/arts/design/macklowe-collectors-sothebys-art-warhol-richter.html.
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