Stinson files for bankruptcy protection

[Mongo]

Why all the attention?

It's because he's a local guy, and no local guy can compete with out-of-towners at his level for long without being attacked by other locals who consider him 'above his station'.

Nobody will admit this, of course, but the amount of hostility directed at him is beyond ridiculous. He had done well for such a loser as he is supposed to be. 1 King West is a fine addition to the TO skyline, and I still think that Sapphire would be rising right now, if not for the absurd shadowing issue that caused such a lengthy delay for redesign that certain investors got fed up and pulled the plug.

If he had come from Kazakhstan, I imagine that he would be held in somewhat higher esteem here.

Bill

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

If he had come from Kazakhstan, I imagine that he would be held in somewhat higher esteem here.

Bill

maybe he should have let borat market his projects?

 

[vultur]

Nobody will admit this, of course, but the amount of hostility directed at him is beyond ridiculous. He had done well for such a loser as he is supposed to be.

The man has been personally bankrupt multiple times and is being sued for tens of millions of dollars based on legit claims of gross misrepresentation and probably fraud.

Please reconcile that with 'done well'.

As far as locals are concerned, you've got Menkes, Tridel, Daniels, Four Seasons, Minto, etc all based out of this town. It's not a case of hating one of our own.

What is it then? The cartoonish persona and infomercials?

 

[vultur]

maybe he should have let borat market his projects?

Please don't get me started on 1 BORAT E. I spend enough time in this wasteland as it is!

 

[GovernorARNOLD]

HARRY STINSON
Last weekend I saw a boy order eight hot dogs at Ikea and I thought to myself, “wow. What a dreamer.†He somehow cobbled together the money from his mother’s purse and said to himself, “self? I know I’m only nine and this may very well kill me, but to NOT eat eight hot dogs here and now would kill me, in a different way, in a worse way.â€

Harry Stinson is like that boy, but he took that money, flew too close to that hot dog sun, and fell to earth with remarkably bad indigestion. As everyone knows, Mr. Stinson has been given the boot from his digs at 1 King West, the building having gone into receivership. His long battle with David Mirvish, the mother’s purse, is done and now Harry Stinson, the dreamer, may be leaving town. Out of embarrassment?

For fear of plummeting detritus from abandoned builidings? Nope. Because Canadians can’t cope with dreamers. "If one wants to be an entrepreneur, with original ideas, Canada is the wrong country to be born in. This country focuses on telling you why you can't do something."

Clear words from the broken dreamer’s mouth, empty of hot dogs. With our best minds heading south we talk about the “brain drain,†but between you and me we can afford to lose a few brains here and there. Can we afford, though, to have a “dream drain�

Frankly, a “dream drain†terrifies me, not just because it sounds like a Stephen King novel, but because that’s how great things start, like great buildings or the pride of downed wieners. With dreams.

FORTUNE
Harry will go the States, but soon realize that even though America supports dreams, they also love seeing people fail. Oh, what a land!

Photo illustration by Steve Murray for National Post

 

[syn]

HARRY STINSON
Last weekend I saw a boy order eight hot dogs at Ikea and I thought to myself, “wow. What a dreamer.†He somehow cobbled together the money from his mother’s purse and said to himself, “self? I know I’m only nine and this may very well kill me, but to NOT eat eight hot dogs here and now would kill me, in a different way, in a worse way.â€

Harry Stinson is like that boy, but he took that money, flew too close to that hot dog sun, and fell to earth with remarkably bad indigestion. As everyone knows, Mr. Stinson has been given the boot from his digs at 1 King West, the building having gone into receivership. His long battle with David Mirvish, the mother’s purse, is done and now Harry Stinson, the dreamer, may be leaving town. Out of embarrassment?

For fear of plummeting detritus from abandoned builidings? Nope. Because Canadians can’t cope with dreamers. "If one wants to be an entrepreneur, with original ideas, Canada is the wrong country to be born in. This country focuses on telling you why you can't do something."

Clear words from the broken dreamer’s mouth, empty of hot dogs. With our best minds heading south we talk about the “brain drain,†but between you and me we can afford to lose a few brains here and there. Can we afford, though, to have a “dream drain�

Frankly, a “dream drain†terrifies me, not just because it sounds like a Stephen King novel, but because that’s how great things start, like great buildings or the pride of downed wieners. With dreams.

FORTUNE
Harry will go the States, but soon realize that even though America supports dreams, they also love seeing people fail. Oh, what a land!

Photo illustration by Steve Murray for National Post

Are these letters?

 

[ganjavih]

Here's the link:

http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/toronto/archive/2007/09/06/newsmaker-s-fortune-harry-stinson.aspx

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I am afraid Stintson's dreams aren't even particularly pretty.

AoD

 

[GovernorARNOLD]

Are these letters?

NO.

 

[khris]

I saw an ad today for One King West on CTV during the evening news.

 

[Hydrogen]

Was there a scrawny guy in the somewhere in the background yelling "it's mine"?

 

[MisterF]

The man has been personally bankrupt multiple times and is being sued for tens of millions of dollars based on legit claims of gross misrepresentation and probably fraud.

Please reconcile that with 'done well'.

As far as locals are concerned, you've got Menkes, Tridel, Daniels, Four Seasons, Minto, etc all based out of this town. It's not a case of hating one of our own.

What is it then? The cartoonish persona and infomercials?

I'm pretty sure Minto's based in Ottawa. But I agree with your point. How anyone can think the negative attention is because he's local is beyond me, especially when Toronto's where one of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world got started.

It's because he's a local guy, and no local guy can compete with out-of-towners at his level for long without being attacked by other locals who consider him 'above his station'.

Nobody will admit this, of course, but the amount of hostility directed at him is beyond ridiculous. He had done well for such a loser as he is supposed to be. 1 King West is a fine addition to the TO skyline, and I still think that Sapphire would be rising right now, if not for the absurd shadowing issue that caused such a lengthy delay for redesign that certain investors got fed up and pulled the plug.

If he had come from Kazakhstan, I imagine that he would be held in somewhat higher esteem here.

Bill

If Harry had listened to the City in the first place he wouldn't have proposed such a tall tower in a spot that he was told from day 1 had a height limit. The city decided decades ago that no new buildings could shadow Nathan Philips Square. They're not about to make exceptions for every local eccentric who comes along.

 

[khris]

Well seeing the ad made me wonder what the occupancy is like in the tower.

 

[GovernorARNOLD]

i can assure you the occupany is hiigh at 1kw. the hotel it self is very busy and doing well. a large portion of the hotel mantainece fee goes towards advertising, this was the paln from the beging. Mostly these adverts are made out of Toronto for obvious reasons.

 

[adma]