Winter 2007
Volume 27
Liberty Village • King West • King West Central • Entertainment District • St. Lawrence Market Area • Queen Richmond East • College St.
2 GLOBAL PLAY King West’s JumpTV serves up the world’s largest selection of ethnic channels
Sandwich Box Lines ’em Up
3
Totum’s High-Tech Fitness Test
4 6 Best Way to Boost your Car
Plus: Elegies in St. Lawrence market, Award winning PC Financial offices, King Street’s circa 1961 Winter Storm.
LEAP FORWARD JumpTV’s Internet TV channels take ethnic programming to immigrants around the world Now with over 250 channels from more than 70 countries, JumpTV delivers full-screen news, sports and entertainment content on a real-time basis to subscribers in over 80 countries who view channels on its online network via high-speed Internet connections.
JumpTV moves into 461 King Street West this winter.
There are often two places in a new Canadian’s heart. The home he came to live in and the one he left. To date, Internet radio broadcasts and email have helped to close the chasm that exists between families spread around the globe. Now Internet television, or IPTV, is a growing part of the threads that keep people connected to their homelands, and JumpTV, a new King West Central tenant, is proving itself as an early leader in this rapidly evolving industry.
Toronto-based with Montreal Roots Said to be a cross between YouTube, MySpace and cable television, JumpTV is the world’s leading broadcaster of ethnic television over the Internet with more channels than its rival traditional cable and satellite companies. The company, which moves into its 461 King Street West offices in February, was founded in Montreal six years ago and reinvigorated in 2005 by its chairman, Toronto-based investment banker and IPTV pioneer Scott Paterson. (Over the past 18 months Paterson raised $90 million in shareholder investment funds, including a successful IPO in August 2006.)
What is IPTV? Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is the delivery of digital television stations and programs over the Internet using a high speed (or broadband) Internet connection. IPTV subscriber counts are expected to increase 13-fold over the next four years. Source: Paradigm Capital Inc.
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IPTV Threatens Conventional Broadcasting “Internet television brings a whole new world of possibilities in terms of serving you with live and on-demand content from overseas TV channels that isn’t available on your local cable,” says Willem Galle, the company’s EVP Operations and a 20-year veteran of the information technology industry. Analysts like this public company because it appears poised to capitalize on two growing trends: the rise in levels of immigration and the rapid advancement of entertainment content being delivered online. These trends are also the reason industry observers consider IPTV such a threat to conventional broadcasting. With 37 Arabic language stations, including Al Jazeera, and a recently signed Israeli soccer channel, the company closed 2006 with a total 254 channels under exclusive license.
24-hour Global Network Managed from 461 Channels everywhere from Latin America and the Middle East to China and Ethiopia are available to subscribers for $9.95 a month, and the 24-hour global network is managed from 461 King Street West. The corporate and operations functions are consolidated in Toronto while international business development and content acquisition is managed from Dubai, London, Singapore and Buenos Aires, explains Galle, who sees the King West Central location also as recruiting benefit to the company. And given its goal of achieving 500,000 subscribers by 2009, expansion and recruiting for JumpTV may very well be an ongoing challenge.
Build your Own: Sandwich Box offers customers a choice from a dozen different Ace bakery breads like Swiss triangle and Rosemary focaccia, seven spreads and any three toppings (all meat if you want), all for under seven dollars.
Bay Streeters Line up at the Sandwich Box for Some of City’s Best Fast Fare It’s shortly after noon on a Wednesday, just a block north of First Canadian Place, and the crowds are already gathering. Since opening the Sandwich Box at 67 Richmond Street West in November, owners Amir Aziz and Abdi Ghotb have enjoyed the attention of Bay Streeters apparently starved for good fast food. All the seats are taken and a lineup thickens in the lunch spot’s clean, white space while behind the stainless steel counter, 10 servers work feverishly to assemble each custom-made grilled sandwich (another five kitchen staff work on making the fresh spreads and soups as well as preparing sandwich ingredients including roasting the beef and turkey on site). Patrons choose from a dozen different Ace bakery breads like Swiss triangle and Rosemary focaccia, seven spreads and any three toppings (could be all meat if you’re so inclined), all for under seven dollars, and a little more if you want additional toppings.
It’s what Now Magazine calls “some of the best fast food in the city.” But what’s the secret? As far as Ghotb is concerned, it’s just a simple matter of people wanting healthy food and wanting it to taste good. This is Ghotb’s second Sandwich Box, the other, a lunch spot on Queen Street West that opened in 2003, is well-known for queues that run right out the door. He says he expects to build an express counter in the 67 Richmond Street West space shortly that will serve pre-made popular sandwiches to reduce wait times. Beyond its sandwich riches, the Box sells salads by weight, a selection of two daily soups (one veggie and the other based on a chicken broth), and an assortment of desserts, including concoctions from the in-house pastry chef as well as mousse and crème brule. The Sandwich Box is open from 11:00 to 7:00 and you can find a catering menu at www.sandwichbox.ca. 3 • WINTER 2007
What’s your REAL max heart rate? High-tech Metabolic Testing at Totum Life Science Teaches Smarter Workouts This winter, as the gyms see attendance numbers climb and line ups for machines grow, Kris Padman suspects there are a lot of people wasting their time working up a sweat. “It’s not about how hard you workout, but whether you are working out in the right heart rate zone,” says Padman, a trainer with Totum Life Science.
The 30-minute test will tell you how hard to work to tune your body’s ‘engine’.
Heart Rate Formulas Flawed Generally, people use formulas and equations based on age and sex to estimate the optimum heart rate for burning fat, for example, but this method is flawed, says Padman who operates Toronto’s only mobile metabolic testing service. Based on NASA technology, Padman’s 30-minute test tells you how well your body’s engine is running. If you need a tune up, your engine runs inefficiently, which means you are burning less calories. Essentially, you want your engine firing on all cylinders and burning calories through regular exercise and a balanced diet. The aim of the test is to figure out at what intensity you need to work to tune your engine.
Finding your VO2 Max The equipment typically needed for this test is often housed on a cart and available only in hospitals and research institutions, but Padman uses a tripod-mounted gas analyzer and heart rate monitor linked to a laptop to get the numbers he needs for analysis. Results are provided in real time and Padman uses the elaborate software program to factor in lifestyle variables such as diet and type of work to yield a custom-designed training program based on your VO2 max value, that is, the volume of oxygen you consume while exercising at your maximum capacity.
Fat Facts • The key to losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume over an extended period of time. • One pound of fat is approximately equal to 3500 calories. • To lose two pounds a week, you need to reduce your net caloric gain by 7000 in a week by reducing your intake and increasing your activity to burn extra calories. • If you consume 100 more calories a day than your body requires, you will gain 10 pounds in a year. • Health professionals do not recommend losing more than 2 pounds a week. It is also important to remain active when you are dieting since pushing your body into starvation mode is counter-productive, in fact, taking in too few calories will prompt your body to slow down its metabolism to reduce further caloric loss.
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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH Tony Award Winning Writer’s Elegies on at Berkeley
Wearing a mask and heart rate monitor, you start the test by sitting still for 15 minutes to determine your resting metabolic rate (RMR). “By doing this, I can determine the capacity of your body’s engine (i.e. your heart). The number it shows is the amount of calories you need for basic life functions,” says Padman, who explains that this number is vitally important, and yet the error between using formulas to guess it and doing a metabolic test can be as large as 21 percent.
Work within your Zones For example, if you base your training on the notion that your RMR is 1840, when in fact it is 1700, you are actually burning less calories than you think, which means there are 140 calories you are not accounting for as you try to lose weight. Since one pound of fat is approximately equal to 3500 calories, you could actually gain a pound after three and a half weeks, despite your new training regimen. “[The RMR] test will give you exactly how many calories you require for your body to function, then we do a test where you work hard, to determine how many calories you are burning when you are working out. Then you have all the numbers you need,” says Padman, whose software divides the heart rate information into five zones, from a warm-up to a maximum. “You’ll work smarter now because you know what your body needs, and what heart rate zones you need to stay in to burn the maximum amount of fat, or to stay on the anaerobic threshold to improve performance,” he explains. The initial test costs $195 with subsequent testing at $150, and is available to members and non-members alike. To learn more, contact Totum Life Science at 416-979-2440 or call Kris Padman at 416-300-1555.
BERKELEY STREET / – Through the 18 stories told on stage, Tony Award winner William Finn (Falsettos, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) pays tribute to relatives and friends, long-lost pets, and the victims of 9/11, celebrating those who have passed on in the Toronto premiere of Elegies: A Song Cycle, which runs February 15th to March 3rd at the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre. Described as “often hilarious, always touching, and very poignant,” Elegies stars Thom Allison (from the National Tour of RENT), Barbara Barsky (Dora Award winner), Steven Gallagher (Toronto’s Urinetown), Eliza-Jane Scott (Toronto’s The Producers), and Michael Strathmore (Shaw Festival), and is directed by Lezlie Wade. Elegies: A Song Cycle is a presentation of the Acting Up Stage Theatre Company. For more information visit www.elegiesasongcycle.com.
First-Time Parents Offered Free Prenatal and Parenting Program ADELAIDE STREET WEST / – Somewhere between the fear and excitement of having a baby, new parents are often overwhelmed by all the information on child development and the science of parenting. That’s why 425 Adelaide Street West tenant Invest in Kids recently launched The Parenting Partnership. Designed for first-time expectant parents, this is a free two-and-a-half-year prenatal and parenting program that promotes the development of sensitive and responsive parent-child and parent-parent relationships through a combination of weekly online sessions and face-to-face sessions held once a month. First-time parents in Toronto expecting their baby in May or July 2007 can now register for The Parenting Partnership by calling Invest in Kids at 1-877-583-5437 (KIDS) or (416) 977-1222. For more information visit www.theparentingpartnership.ca. 5 • WINTER 2007
INCOMING Casa Cucine Features Minotti Kitchens and Wide-plank Flooring
On the car receiving a boost, it’s best to ground the negative cable to the frame or engine, rather than connecting it to the negative terminal on the battery.
DOWNTOWN DRIVING: 5 Things you need to know about jump starting a car 1. Here’s the Golden Sequence: According to CAA South Central Ontario, the safest sequence is… Positive on the GIVER car to Positive on the RECEIVER car, then Negative on the GIVER to a Ground on the RECEIVER (ground to the engine or frame). KING STREET WEST / – Casa Cucine, a new 3,000square-foot showroom opening this winter at 443 King Street West, will feature kitchens from Minotti as well as appliances from Miele, Bosch, Viking and Thermidor. “We saw a need in the area, not only because the residential component is growing so strongly, but also because the design community is so strong in the King West area. So we thought it would be a good operation to open up,” says Robert Knuth, who also operates a nearby plumbing centre, Aqua Cucine, which specializes in complex, high-end kitchen installations. Casa Cucine is the only Minotti retailer is Canada and will also install custom kitchens and millwork. It will show mostly modern looks in the front part of the space, which features Miele and Bosch appliances, and what’s known as ’new traditional’ in the back space, where you’ll find top-of-the-line Viking, Thermidor, Décor and LeCorneau appliances. Also special to the marketplace is the store’s flooring options. Consumers interested in wide-plank flooring might look to Casa Cucine’s boards which range in width from a modest four inches right up to 20 inches.
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2. Ground the Negative on the Receiver. Some cars, like the Mini Cooper (above), have battery housings that cover the negative terminal, encouraging the driver to ground the negative cable to the car’s frame. (Mini battery housings are removable if you’re the one giving the boost and need access to the negative terminal.) Most other cars, you can find a ground on the engine. Just make sure the cable is solidly connected. 3. Don’t run your engine when you are giving a boost. Try it first without the giver car’s engine running, that way you can protect that car’s expensive onboard computer from a power surge. There should be enough juice in the charged battery to start the dead one. If you decide you need more juice and want to run the engine, disconnect all cables, start the car and then reconnect using the sequence described above. DO NOT start the car with all the cables connected. 4. Look for the Lugs. Some new cars have special jump-start lugs to attach the jumper cables rather than directly to the battery terminals. These allow any potentially damaging surge of current to bypass the electrical system (and your expensive onboard computer). Check your owner’s manual before jump starting a car. 5. Get Good Cables. Not all cables are created equally. A heavy gauge (4-, 6- or 8-gauge) cable with a long enough span will make quick work of passing a charge. Small, cheap cables are less likely to do the job.
PC Financial’s Offices Recognized for Design Excellence KING STREET WEST/ – “It’s a high energy, creative group and we designed the space to accommodate that kind of energy,” says Yvonne Campbell of B/H Design Consultants, the firm responsible for the new look of President’s Choice Financial’s space at 439 King Street West. The project, which took home an Award of Excellence for the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario in the Fall, uses colour, light and graphics to connect with the company’s retail roots. Designers also created quirky spaces the staff could enjoy, like the small, casual meeting room (right) with custom-printed wallpaper featuring movie quotes. “It was a fun exercise,” recalls Campbell, adding that there were hundreds of submissions. Part of the fun of the room, she explains, is that it doesn’t tell you the movie from which the quotes are taken. You just have to put your movie trivia knowledge to the test.
Former Techspace now PC Financial offices.
A meeting space wall is covered in staff-picked movie quotes.
7 • WINTER 2007
City of Toronto Archives, Fon ds 1257, item 22
City Reels Under Winter’s Onslaught!
Winter at King Street West and John, 2006
Winter at King Street West and John, 1961
Traffic crawls through the intersection at King Street West and John in 1961 during a January storm. With the exception of a single storm, this year’s January appears comparatively tame, and many are apt to point to global warming as the culprit for the contrast in these two images, but truth is, it’s El Niño, well sort of. Climate scientists say there is no question that the immediate cause of the unusually warm weather in the Northeast this winter is “the little one”. “Whatever the natural causes are, they are riding on top of the warming trend that has been induced by humans using the atmosphere as a free place to dump out tailpipe waste,” Dr Stephen Schneider, a climatologist from Stanford University told MSNBC earlier this month. He went on to explain that while Katrina, for example was not a product of global warming, it drew its strength from an ocean that was half a degree warmer than it should have been. El Niño aside, Ontario is the battleground where the cold arctic air meets the warm moist air pushing up from the Gulf of Mexico. As such, Toronto’s weather history is spotted with temperature fluctuations and freak events like… • Christmas Day, 1980 saw temperatures plummet to -25C and two years later, we basked in +17. • January 2-15, 1999, a series of storms dumped nearly a year’s amount of snow in less than two weeks. In all, the city recorded the greatest January snowfall total ever with 118.4 cm and the greatest snow on the ground at any one time with 65 cm. The storms cost the city nearly twice the annual budget in snow removal, and considerable shame when the army was called to dig us out.
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Published four times a year by: Allied Properties REIT 602 King Street West, Main floor Toronto, ON M5V 1M6 Editor: Yvan Marston yvan@gravitydesign.ca Design/Layout: Gravity Design Inc. scott@gravitydesign.ca To list an event or submit a story idea, please send details to news@alliedpropertiesreit.com
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