40 Comments October 28, 2014 at 5:50 pm

Extra, Extra: Royal York to Be Sold, a Big Win for Polls, and David Soknacki to Join Team Tory

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An ownership shuffle is afoot at Toronto’s historic Royal York Hotel. According to the Toronto Star, real estate company KingSett will nab a 60 per cent interest in the hotel, worth just over $110 million. Meanwhile, the similarly unfortunately named InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust will acquire a 20 per cent stake for nearly $40 million. That leaves 20 per cent for the hotel’s current owner, provincial pension fund company Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. The deal is set to close in January, after which the new owners will invest millions of dollars in renovations to the 85-year-old hotel. Fairmont will continue to operate the Royal York, which has been on the market since May 2014.

Éric Grenier, political poll boffin and founder of ThreeHundredEight.com, found that polls predicting the outcome of last nights municipal election were remarkably accurate: on average, they “estimated each candidate’s support to within two percentage points.” Mainstreet Technologies proved to be the most accurate pollster. Although the company slightly overestimated John Tory’s support and slightly underestimated Olivia Chow’s, Grenier reports that Mainstreet was exactly right in pegging Doug Ford’s support at 34 per cent—which is particularly satisfying given Ford’s confident assertion that election night would “be an opportunity to embarrass the pollsters once again.”
The Star‘s Jennifer Pagliaro reports that unsuccessful 2014 mayoral candidate David Soknacki will join John Tory’s “Transition Advisory Council.” According to a press release, the council, which is to be chaired by former deputy mayor Case Ootes, “will meet with the Mayor-elect and City staff to brief and provide advice on three priority areas: transportation planning and SmartTrack; congestion and gridlock; and housing.” The 20-member team will also include Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy, University of Toronto civil engineering professor Eric Miller, and CivicAction chair Rod Phillips. What Soknacki’s precise role will be is unclear as yet, although one imagines he will not be tasked with spicing up John Tory’s kindly-but-boring image.