Q&A: Jeff Stober / Toronto
A place to call home
The Drake Hotel has become the heart and soul of its neighbourhood, playing a role in the community that was carefully thought out by its founder.
It’s difficult to imagine Toronto without the Drake Hotel. Transforming the former flophouse into a 19-room hotel was an important chapter in one of the city’s biggest regeneration success stories. It was opened in 2004 by Canadian technology entrepreneur Jeff Stober in Queen West – once a neighbourhood of artist studios and many of the city’s immigrant communities and now one of Toronto’s most desirable areas.
The Drake brand today includes restaurants, a shop, a lakeside inn east of the city and the Drake Commissary, which supplies its dining…
