Kellogg Plant redevelopment

[jammer139]

I agree that the theme restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Hooters are universally mediocre in food quality and over priced but I don't believe this will have a HRC. It's just going to be the Hotel. I may have missed it if in fact they do plan to have the full serve restaurant rather then the typical hotel breakfast service.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

It is interesting, but I have never really understood the appeal of HRC. I don't need to see Madonna's underwear, Taylor Swift's toenail clippers, or Geddy Lee's jean jacket. Overpriced food that really isn't all that good. And will it actually bring tourists to London? Maybe those big spenders from Exeter, Fingal, and Strathroy.

But anyhow, it is a net good for East London. Better than the vampiric casino, in any event.

[jaradthescot]

Originally Posted by jammer139

I agree that the theme restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Hooters are universally mediocre in food quality and over priced but I don't believe this will have a HRC. It's just going to be the Hotel. I may have missed it if in fact they do plan to have the full serve restaurant rather then the typical hotel breakfast service.

The article says that it will include "The hotel will include amenities like a bar lounge, restaurants and patios, meeting rooms, fitness center, retail stores and a pool." (emphasis mine)

[Djeffery]

I didn't take a look at the entire Hard Rock Hotel roster, but from the several I looked at, none had a Hard Rock Cafe on site. They all had your typical mix of onsite restaurants and lounges you would expect at something like a mainline Hilton or Marriott hotel. Now, the separate brand "Hard Rock Hotel and Casino" seems to have more HRC locations on site.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Either way, I think the Kellogg redevelopment and the Hard Rock Hotel, etc are the closest thing London has to a real attraction, unless you include the world class Storybook Gardens,

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

Either way, I think the Kellogg redevelopment and the Hard Rock Hotel, etc are the closest thing London has to a real attraction, unless you include the world class Storybook Gardens,

It's funny, I've worked in Woodstock for 3 years now (and moved here this past year). Our company opened this location and all of the staff were from other southern Ontario locations and most still live where they used to work. Hamilton, Brantford, Kitchener mostly. London is not on the radar for most of these people. A place you drive by on the 401 on the way to Detroit, same as how Kitchener is a place you drive by on the way to Toronto for most of us, but rarely ever go there.

So, it has amazed me how many times I have heard in the last year and a half or so that someone had taken their kids to The Factory that weekend or that a guy and his buddies went there for the Club House and sat outside on the Powerhouse patio. I remember one guy saying to me "My wife wants to go see this thing with some artist projected on the walls in London, do you know where this place is", I tell him where it is, that it's in an old cereal factory, and him looking all suspicious. Then him coming back in on Monday raving about the place. A couple people that had taken their kids to The Factory asked me what I knew about the Childrens Museum and are really looking forward to taking their kids there when it opens. We talked about having a Christmas party at work and everyone talked about going down to London to 100 Kellogg, no one had other suggestions for closer to where they live. Unfortunately we waited too long to put plans in motion to be able to get in there this year.

So yeah, based on my small regional demographic, this place certainly does have the opportunity to be a major attraction that will draw people to London, especially on a year round, on-going basis. I would venture to say when it's all built out, it will be a bigger tourism player in London than Budweiser Gardens, and no taxpayer money has gone into it.

[jammer139]

Still short of the fund raising goal for the new Children's Museum. Apparently have $18M of the $23M goal now.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/video/c284...is-on-the-move

[jammer139]

Latest update on the progress on the new Children's Museum. Still short on their fund raising goal.



https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...on-agriculture

[Djeffery]

Also in regards to the Hard Rock Hotel, if you are in Dundas, you can see the bottom floor rooms framed in (can't tell if other floors are framed yet but I would assume so). They've also done significant work around on the south side with the new addition for what I guess would be the hotel entrance.

[ssiguy]

The Hard Rock Cafe will be one of the best things to happen to Old East in a very long time.

Personally, I wouldn't be caught dead in the place. I really would attend a Trump convention before I would step a foot into such an establishment. However, this is large corporation and these places cost a LOT of money and they don't throw them up every day. They do a LOT of homework and studies before they commit to such large expenditures and one of the primary considerations is location, location, location.

They want to be absolutely certain that the bar will be financially sustainable over the LONG TERM and obviously their studies have shown that they see Old East as such a location. This bods well very the eventual rejuvenation of the area. Other businesses who are looking to expand will look at Hard Rock and say to themselves, "if a large corporation sees the potential in the area then maybe this is where we should go".

It's not the Hard Rock Cafe that is the issue but rather the very positive sign it sends out to both new businesses and residents..............Old East isn't dead and dying but rather up and coming.

[jammer139]

Actually I think this is just a Hard Rock Hotel which is being licensed by a different owner. I'm sure there will be the typical hotel food service but not the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant that many people associate with that name brand.


Of note the ground floor rooms which you can see on the Dundas St side previously mentioned have had their steel partition walls up since the end of last year. There has not been any progress on finishing those rooms in months.

Originally Posted by ssiguy

The Hard Rock Cafe will be one of the best things to happen to Old East in a very long time.

Personally, I wouldn't be caught dead in the place. I really would attend a Trump convention before I would step a foot into such an establishment. However, this is large corporation and these places cost a LOT of money and they don't throw them up every day. They do a LOT of homework and studies before they commit to such large expenditures and one of the primary considerations is location, location, location.

They want to be absolutely certain that the bar will be financially sustainable over the LONG TERM and obviously their studies have shown that they see Old East as such a location. This bods well very the eventual rejuvenation of the area. Other businesses who are looking to expand will look at Hard Rock and say to themselves, "if a large corporation sees the potential in the area then maybe this is where we should go".

It's not the Hard Rock Cafe that is the issue but rather the very positive sign it sends out to both new businesses and residents..............Old East isn't dead and dying but rather up and coming.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Actually I think this is just a Hard Rock Hotel which is being licensed by a different owner. I'm sure there will be the typical hotel food service but not the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant that many people associate with that name brand.


Of note the ground floor rooms which you can see on the Dundas St side previously mentioned have had their steel partition walls up since the end of last year. There has not been any progress on finishing those rooms in months.

I don't think he actually reads the threads he posts in lol. Several times he has said he wouldn't ever be caught dead in a HRC, and several times it's been said there isn't a HRC as part of this, and also that it's not the Hard Rock corporation spending the money on this, but the Leach and McLaughlin families. I'm sure whenever phase 1 opens, he will be back to tell us he won't he caught dead in the place lol.

[Pimpmasterdac]

I occasionally have business lunches at Powerhouse Brewery which we could see a lot of the work being done on the Hard Rock Hotel. They've been doing work since 2021 and still seems like they're not getting any closer to opening date. I remember being told in 2021 by the manager that they were intending to move Powerhouse into the Kellogg building, and it to be a bigger space for that and the existing building to be used as a the actual brewery and for tours. When I've talked to staff recently those plans have been scrubbed.

Paradigm distillery opened up in 2021, and initially it was open similar hours to Powerhouse for lunch and dinner. However this has been significantly scaled back and has effectively been used only for distillery operations and for private special events.

Perhaps they will ramp up again once the Hard Rock Hotel is finally open and is busier with more people staying in the area.