From what I've heard the hotel is finished and ready to operate, they are just waiting for the fire inspection and final certificates from the City. This should be in a couple weeks.
I was at the Conversations in Design at the recent IDS and Claus Sendlinger, the founder & CEO of Design Hotels AG (which The Templar is their newest member), was one of the keynote speakers and had a really great presentation on his company and the luxury hotel industry. He was staying at the Templar during the event which is probably that occupied room you saw.
The Templar is the second hotel in Canada to be part of the exclusive Design Hotels group. Once The Templar gets going I think they will do well -- the hotel is beautiful inside, they have an innovative concept for the restaurant and guest services, and it is one of the few boutique hotels in the city and definitely the most modern and unique.
I also amazed on how they have the resources to take their time on this project.
At IDS rhed Design showed more vignettes of their next hotel project (a continuation from their display from last year's IDS), Templar Lake By The Mountain resort to be built in Prince Edward County. The display displayed rhed's collaboration with Poliform of Italy on their new line of furniture and cabinetry which are used in The Templar, Langston Hall and Templar Lake By The Mountain. It was a very large and impressive full-size mockup, but I found the design rather austere and gray.
The resort features modern glass pods as private cabins (as seen from last year's IDS display), a faceted glass boat house that will house a collection of specially designed speed boats that will generate their own electricity, and the Langston Hall sales pavilion will be moved up there and be repurposed as a welcome centre.
I can't imagine when this resort will be completed.
Back to The Templar, The Globe and Mail has some great photos of the interior, I will post those soon.
