The power of advertising: Toronto Star’s Earl Rumm series

By Tracy Hanes Toronto Star August 17 2012 

Fifteen years ago Earl Rumm realized that to survive in the housing industry in Ontario, his business would have to do more than simply build homes.

So in 1998, Rumm and his partner Barry Feiner, who had established Geranium Homes 35 years ago, formed a new entity, Geranium Corp., which has become one of the few fully integrated land development and building organizations in Ontario. They also brought in a third partner, Mario Giampietri.

“I personally wanted to get into land development because in the late ’90s, after what I call the Great Recession (of the early ’90s), all the key players in the industry starting keeping their supply of lots,” explains Rumm.

In the 1970s, Rumm’s father was a developer, buying up tracts of land, shepherding subdivision plans through planning departments and municipal councils, installing the roads and sewers, and then selling lots to homebuilders.

In 1977, Rumm was a brash young man of 23, intent on heading to Europe on a one-way ticket. Feiner was a 30-year-old father of two who had just arrived in Canada from Israel. Family and friends suggested the pair team up to build semi-detached houses on lots developed by Rumm’s father in Scarborough.

So during the day the two worked as builders; then in the evening they changed out of construction clothes and into suits to assume a sales role in the site sales office. Thus a successful and enduring partnership was born.

“When I first got into the business, builders and developers were distinct from one another,” Rumm recalls. “There were a handful of guys like Bramalea and Monarch and Costain that did both, but most were either builders or developers.

“We formed the Geranium Corp. in 1998 and I started buying our first pieces of land in Stouffville. Until that point, I’d strictly been a buyer of lots.”

He continued to assemble land in Stouffville in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Even during the recession of the early 2000s, Geranium Homes built about 400 to 500 homes a year on lots Geranium Corp. had acquired.

Rumm next started acquiring property in the Bradford and Bond Head area in Simcoe County. Given its location between Toronto and Barrie, along with recent building constraints introduced to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine, he calculated the area would become a future development hot spot.

“People will move to where they can get to, find jobs, earn a living and support their families. It was obvious the 400 series highway in Barrie would mean something and that was growth,” says Rumm, pointing out that Simcoe County has become one of the biggest growth areas in the province.

The land Geranium Corp. acquired in Stouffville is still seeing houses being built in the award-winning Cardinal Point community. In the Bradford-Bond Head area, it has assembled more than 3,400 acres, developed in a joint venture with Metrus Developments as a live/work/play village. And in concert with another builder, it is currently “going through the process” to develop 10,000 building lots on land it owns in Midhurst, just north of Barrie, which Rumm predicts will be “the new Barrie.”

But the Geranium Corp.’s crowning achievement is a project on Lake Simcoe in the Town of Innisfil that began with an idea 12 years ago and will take another 10 years to complete: Friday Harbour.

This $1.5-billion resort development on Big Bay Point will eventually comprise 2,000 residential units at a wide range of price points, a pedestrian village, a 1,000-slip marina, an 18-hole championship golf course and a 200-acre environmentally protected area.

“It’s an insane vision,” says Rumm, a longtime summer resident on Lake Simcoe whose interest was first tweaked when he stopped into Big Bay Marina a dozen years ago and noticed a rough sketch of a site plan tacked to the wall.

“I’ve always been interested in resort properties and cottage country properties,” he says. “You can’t beat the location.”

He went about assembling 10 pieces of land on Big Bay Point, including the marina, until he had 600 acres in total. “I understood quicker that it would be larger than life and I had to assemble a large piece of land.”

Geranium Corp.’s projects are collaborative, beginning in head office with its planners, engineers, architects and designers. Then the company works with consultants, legal experts and representatives of the three levels of government, as well as community stakeholders.

In 2002, Geranium Corp. made an application to the town with its plan and went forward with a design charette, followed by numerous consultations with the community and council members. The plan was not without controversy, meeting with some local opposition, and eventually had to go to the Ontario Municipal Board before getting approval.

“The interesting thing is the creation of Friday Harbour, as to what it is today, is a direct result of the input of our offices, governments and the public, including our opposition,” says Rumm. “It’s the collaboration of 1,000 people.”

“The three of us — Barry, Mario and I — understood that we had a jewel here. We decided to get the best of the best and create a resort that is simply unparalleled in Ontario. And that required a lot of research and meant we had to go outside the usual boundaries of looking in Toronto and Ontario.”

That meant seeking out outside thinkers — Miami-based New Urbanism guru Andres Duany ofDPZ Architects, North Carolina-based marina designers ATM, and Vancouver-based Re:Play Resorts (whose principals were formerly with Intrawest) — although Geranium did look to Toronto for the project’s architect, Peter Clewes of architectsAlliance and renowned golf course designer Doug Carrick.

Rumm and his partners realized the site’s unique location — close to major highways and just minutes from the Barrie GO Station — meant the resort was likely to appeal to a new audience of urbanites who otherwise might not have considered a cottage country lifestyle.

“It’s designed as an urban resort, which doesn’t mean it won’t also appeal to cottagers,” says Rumm.

Because Friday Harbour will be “the first in an emerging class of resorts,” Bill Green of Re:Play Resorts says the architecture will be a new style called “Continuation Architecture,” which will be the developers’ take on traditional materials with an urban audience in mind.

“It will be more Lake Como (in northern Italy) than Lake Joe (in Muskoka),” explains Green.

Green says Friday Harbour, at just an hour north of Toronto and reachable by GO Train, will be “a close escape” and will allow those who buy the condos or townhouses there “to reclaim the whole weekend” — they won’t have to deal with maintenance headaches like cutting the lawn or fixing the boathouse.

Registrations for residential unit sales are being taken now online. A sales office will open in October in the Flat Iron Building in downtown Toronto.

Simcoe County and the Town of Innisfil will reap the benefits from the approximately 1,000 permanent jobs to be created at resort and 1,486 jobs off-site upon completion. As well there will be annual tax revenues of $4.4 million for Innisfil and $2.4 million for the county.

Friday Harbour’s impact will felt far beyond the boundaries of Simcoe County or even the GTA, predicts Rumm.

“This project is so special and unique and is going to be a real landmark for the province,” he says. “It will be a real destination place for all Ontarians.”

By Tracy Hanes Toronto Star August 27 2012

As their plans for a new resort on Lake Simcoe took shape, developer Earl Rumm and his partners in Geranium Corp. realized they would need an extraordinary team to create what they envisioned as an extraordinary project.

The inspiration for the project came about a dozen years ago when Rumm, a longtime summer resident on Lake Simcoe, stopped into Big Bay Marina and saw a sketch of a site plan on the wall. He bought the marina and assembled several adjacent properties as the site for what he envisioned.

“The three of us — Barry (Feiner), Mario (Giampietri) and I — understood that we had a jewel here. We decided to get the best of the best and create a resort that is simply unparalleled in Ontario,” says Rumm.

So the partners went about assembling a dream team, looking within Toronto as well as beyond provincial and national borders, to pull together a top-notch collection of experts to fulfill the project’s potential.

Here are some of the key team members and their roles at Friday Harbour:

Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co.

Friday Harbour will bring the concept of New Urbanism to cottage country, with easy access to transit, shopping and green space, as well as compact housing and a pedestrian-friendly environment.

New Urbanism guru Andres Duany and his architecture firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co., which has offices in Miami, Maryland and North Carolina, were recruited to create the master plan.

Duany and his wife Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk created the plan for Seaside, the first New Urbanism community in North America, in the early 1980s in the Florida Panhandle, and have designed many others since, including Cornell in Markham.

New Urbanism is the antithesis of suburban development that glorifies the car. It’s characterized by walkable streets, inviting public spaces, attractive streetscapes that encourage social interaction, and buildings scaled to their surroundings.

For Friday Harbour, the DPZ team looked to great European harbour towns, says project architect Marina Khoury. They included Portofino in Italy, which features a small harbour with pedestrian walkway, and Port Grimaud in France, where an elegant crescent walkway rings the harbour and homes come right up to the water’s edge.

Friday Harbour homes along the marina basin will have access from the back and will be separated from the water by a walkway, to create an inviting public atmosphere, says Khoury. The rest of the village will have periodic interruptions of open public spaces and all streets will terminate at the water. Community activity will be centred on the marina basin.

Friday Harbour is intended to be a lively year-round destination, says Khoury.

“Most people think of cottages as being quiet and remote. If that’s the type of lifestyle they want, this may not be the place,” she says. “The developers wanted to make this available to many people and to create a sense of community and an active lifestyle surrounded by water.”

Although DPZ started working on these plans in 2002 and they have evolved since, Khour says the “bones of the plan remain intact.” DPZ also wrote the building codes for Friday Harbour, so even if builders or architects change over time, the project will be implemented as envisioned.

Re:Play Resorts

Vancouver-based Re:Play Resorts focuses on the planning, design and operation of destination resorts and resort villages.

Its founders include the former CEO and chairman of Intrawest and they have worked on many of North America’s top resorts (Tremblant, Whistler/Blackcomb), as well as others around the world.

“This project is a hyrbrid resort, the first of an emerging class of resorts,” says Re:Play COO Bill Green. “It has a quasi urban location and amenities and services at its doors, including GO, major highways and a hospital, yet you feel like you are in a natural setting.”

The village will also include 50 to 60 stores. “About 70 per cent of the stores will be Mom and Pop operations, as there is a level of reliability there and people are more interactive with the shopkeeper,” says Green. “What makes a resort sustainable over time is those enduring connections to the local community.”

Other community ties at Friday Harbour will include events such as farmers’ markets on the pier and live theatre, as well as amenities such as the Beach Club and lakefront clubhouse.

The first wave of marketing will be geared to Torontonians, with a sales office to open in October in the Flatiron Building on Front Street.

“With the location just an hour north of the (city), it’s a close escape,” says Green. “People will be able to reclaim Sundays, reclaim their whole weekends. They don’t have to cut the lawn or fix the boathouse.”

He added that the proximity to Toronto and the GO Train, not to mention the Internet and WiFi, Friday Harbour residents will be able to shift back and forth between their personal and professional lives — keeping in be touch with their work life, then disconnect and enjoy the resort.

Carrick Design

Since Toronto landscape and golf course architect Doug Carrick launched Carrick Design in 1985, he has been involved in the design of more than 50 golf course projects around the world, including the award-winning Muskoka Bay, Copper Creek, Eagles Nest and Magna courses.

At Friday Harbour, he’ll transform a fairly flat piece of land into a championship 18-hole course, shaped by dirt excavated to enlarge the marina basin.

“The area for the course is close to 200 acres, which is fairly typical today for an 18-hole course,” says Carrick. “On a flat site such as this, topography is not as much of an influence on the layout of the golf course. It’s more of a spatial exercise, trying to fit the holes into the space available. It’s like a blank canvas.”

Carrick says he will create a series of rolling hills and some valleys, “so the land will have a rolling, tumbling character to it that will help define character and interest at each hole. We are trying to create something that might look like a moraine landscape. We are trying to replicate interesting land forms you may find at hillier locations in southern Ontario.

“It’s probably more challenging to have a flat piece of land, as it really draws on your imagination to create character, as opposed to sites that have interesting natural features. It is easier to route the holes because you’re not restricted by significant land forms and, from there, it’s like sculpting, trying to create land-form character.”

The 8th and 9th holes will be the first thing visitors see as they pass through Friday Harbour’s gates. “They’ll see those holes and a water feature; it’s a nice introduction to the resort,” Carrick says.

Because it is a resort community, he’s planning for a mix of players, from those who have never played before to veteran golfers.

“There has to be a balance for all abilities. You want it to be interesting but not too difficult. It will be like a walk in the park, an easy course to walk if people want to get exercise and not use a cart,” he says.

Applied Technology & Management

Applied Technology & Management is a marine and water resources engineering firm, with clients throughout the world. Its portfolio includes the Dubai Marina in the United Arab Emirates, the Charleston City Marina in South Carolina and Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia.

“They (Geranium) had a large basin that didn’t have a vision yet,” says ATM president Sam Phlegar, who is based in South Carolina. “It had a marina plan, but it wasn’t integrated, and that was our focus.”

Toronto’s Shoreplan Engineering had done some of the early work. ATM’s job was to not only define the number of boat slips but the size and distribution of berths.

“We found that boaters are like birds and tend to flock with their kind. For example, sailboaters want to be sailboaters, fishermen want to be with fishers. You can segregate the marina basin into users and plan accordingly, providing elements users want or need, and make it state-of-the-art.”

Friday Harbour will bring “amenities and culture that don’t exist on the lake, quite frankly,” says Phlegar, whose team visited 16 marinas on Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay to research what boaters want.

As well as residents with boats, Friday Harbour will cater to visiting boaters, who Phlegar says are more inclined to “stay up later, go for beer at the pub, sleep on the boat, and want to be close to laundry and bathrooms. It’s an art to determine how to orient docks and place boats.”

He says the marina entrance will be defined by some kind of signature feature (such as the lighthouse at Hilton Head in South Carolina). From there, boaters will proceed to a welcome centre, where they will be greeted by staff, given a visual or map tour of the property, and be informed about the pool, clubhouse, golf course and the village’s restaurants and shops.

A flexible dock system will accommodate a broad range of boat sizes and there will be access to power, pump-outs and fuelling.

“The slips will be completely attuned to the marina village,” says Phlegar. “We learned 15 years ago that marinas were becoming more than places for people to park boats, and that’s when my firm started recognizing opportunities. If you have concierge-style facilities and plan it like a resort hotel, it can be an active, fun, successful place. It’s not just the iconic entrance features, not just the marina, not just the retail. It’s the mix that gives the heart to the development.”

ArchitectsAlliance

Toronto’s Peter Clewes has established a reputation as one of Canada’s most creative architects, and his firm has designed projects throughout North America and Europe. Their work includes some of Toronto’s most distinctive condominiums, including TipTop Lofts, Pure Spirit and Clear Spirit in the Distillery District, Ice, and the Four Seasons.

For Friday Harbour, Clewes and associate Rob Cadeau are creating a style called Continuation Architecture, which is a modern take on cottage-country living.

The project’s mix of attached flexible housing types, including condominiums, stacked and regular townhouses, will have a European flavour (the streetlights are being sourced from Europe) and a look that is “more metro than retro” — designed to appeal to urbanites who have a sophisticated design sensibility.

 

By Tracy Hanes Toronto Star September 7 2012 

Friday Harbour on Big Bay Point on Lake Simcoe is a four-season resort, developed by the Geranium Corp., which will include an 18-hole championship golf course, an 214-acre environmentally protected area, a pedestrian village, 1,000-slip marina and 2,000 residential units. It is the largest resort of its kind under construction in North America and its marina will be the third largest inland marina on the continent.

As we pass by heavy machinery shaping the site of an 18-hole golf course and approach the edge of a heavily wooded area, Shauna Dudding brakes and points out a clump of trees.

“Those are butternuts,” explains the Geranium Corp.’s vice president of development, who is overseeing work underway at Friday Harbour, the resort taking shape on the shoreline of Lake Simcoe at Big Bay Point.

“Butternuts are an endangered species and under an agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), we are replacing every butternut tree we’ve had to remove at ratios from five-to-one to 20-to-one. We’ve planted 300 butternut seedlings and saplings. For every other tree species, we are replacing two for every one we remove.”

Friday Harbour will also be part of a butternut seed collection program where seeds from the healthiest trees will be sent to the Forest Gene Conservation Authority for archiving.

In the 12 years since Geranium Corp. president Earl Rumm noticed a rough sketch of townhouses tacked up on the wall of the Big Bay Marina and realized the development potential there, Geranium and its team of consultants have considered not only the needs of future residents and visitors and the resort neighbours, but the needs of a diverse population of mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, plants and trees.

All existing ecological functions in the environmentally protected forest and wetland will be maintained, with 7 kilometres of low-impact walking trails added so residents and visitors can enjoy the natural surroundings. Educational programs will be held there in conjunction with theLake Simcoe Conservation Authority.

The harbour, which is being excavated to enlarge it from 10 acres to 35 acres, will be swimmable, drinkable and fishable, and meet stringent Ministry of Environment standards, according to Dudding, yet won’t be detrimental to fish habitat. In fact, the enlarged basin will quadruple the available fish habitat and two rare aquatic plant species will be maintained there. The golf course will be shaped with 1.8 million cubic metres of dirt taken from the marina basin excavation.

Before excavation work could begin, arrangements were made to relocate the piscine residents of the old marina basin.

A coffer dam was put in place to separate Friday Harbour’s marina basin from Lake Simcoe, so no new fish could enter. After a permit was granted by the MNR, the fish in the basin were “electro-fished,” says Dudding, receiving a low-level electric current which temporarily stunned them while they were scooped into buckets and tanks and released into Lake Simcoe.

Fish won’t be the only creatures to benefit from new habitats. Two new amphibian breeding ponds will be created as well as an improved, deeper pond for turtles.

“The water in the preservation area now only is fed by surface water, such as rain, and doesn’t stay long enough for frogs to develop through their life cycle,” explains Dudding. “The increased depth pools that enable frogs to metamorphosize through their entire life cycle.”

A snake hibernaculum, an underground chamber where snakes can safely spend the winter protected from the cold, will also be constructed. Wildlife underpasses that will pass under four municipal roads will be built to help amphibians, reptiles and small mammals move to and from spring, summer and winter habitats safely.

From the early planning stages, the Friday Harbour team committed to setting a benchmark for sustainable resort development. Limnologist Dr. Neil Hutchinson of Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in aquatic and environmental science, was recruited to advise on water quality and aquatic habitats.

Due to past land-use practices, Lake Simcoe suffers from phosphorous loading, or excess nutrient enrichment. High levels encourage excessive growth of plants and algae, which sink to the bottom of the lake and decompose in a process that consumes oxygen. Too many plants decomposing creates an oxygen shortage at the bottom of the lake and threatens coldwater fish species such as lake trout, says Hutchinson.

Phosphorous loading is caused by urban storm water runoff containing dirt, oil, fertilizers and detergents, agricultural land runoff or faulty septic systems. In 2008, the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan was created to restore and protect the lake, although Friday Harbour’s developers already had measures in place that met the plan’s requirements.

Runoff from built-up areas at Friday Harbour will be captured in underground storage tanks and pumped to a storm water management pond on the golf course, where it will be used to irrigate the course.

Rainwater from roofs around the marina basin will also be diverted directly back into the basin before it hits the ground.

The Friday Harbour marina will operate as a “clean marina” following best management practices to maintain the water quality. Hutchinson says he’s designed comprehensive monitoring program that will examine every aspect of the marine ecology from algae to bugs to fish and compare it to targets he’s set. “If we get too close to targets, we have remedial actions planned which I’ve not seen for resort development before.”

Sewage from Friday Harbour will be treated at the Alcona Wastewater Treatment Plant. The resort’s infrastructure will be extended to provide water and sewage service to Big Bay Point, at no cost to taxpayers, providing additional capacity to service 1,700 area homes currently on septic systems. Within 100 metres of the lake are 173 homes, which contribute an estimated 78 kilograms of phosphorous a year, so hooking them up to sewers would be “a small but significant improvement,” says Hutchison.

An environment-first approach was also taken with the golf course, designed by Doug Carrick. The course will be certified under the Audubon Signature Series — the second course to be certified in Canada — which incorporates environmental planning, wildlife habitat management, chemical use reduction, water conservation and water quality management, outreach and education.

The New Urbanism site plan for the residential areas and pedestrian village promotes sustainability with its compact, walkable design, which reduces reliance on cars. The resort’s location, just an hour’s drive from Toronto and within minutes of the Barrie GO Transit train station, also helps to reduce gas emissions and greenhouse gases.

Friday Harbour is also the first developer/builder to partner with the Lake Simcoe Conservation Foundation in its Inspiring Greener Communities Program, which helps to enhance the local environment, and has pledged an initial $500,000.

When new residents move into their homes in the area, they’ll receive local eco-friendly products and services through the Greener Communities Program to increase their environmental awareness. The program will also raise funds for environmental projects in the Lake Simcoe watershed.

Dudding says kits for homeowners at Friday Harbour will be tailored specifically for them, containing phosphate-free wash for boats, products for the kitchen, and an educational package detailing eco hints for living at the resort and other enviromental-friendly opportunities within the Lake Simcoe area.

  

By Tracy Hanes Toronto Star September 28 2012

The making of a resort: Last in a four-part series

Friday Harbour is a four-season resort planned for 600 acres on Big Bay Point on Lake Simcoe. When complete in about 10 years, the project will include a golf course, woodlands, 2,000 residential units, a 1,000-slip marina and a resort village. This is the last of a four-part series about various aspects of the development.

It won’t just be a weekend getaway, it will be a “lifestyle.”

That’s how the developers and consultants behind Friday Harbour are positioning the mega project under construction on 600 acres on Big Bay Point on Lake Simcoe. When completed, the resort developed by the Geranium Corp. will include an 18-hole golf course, a 200-acre nature preserve, a 1,000-slip marina, a European-style pedestrian village and 2,000 townhouses and condominiums and a comprehensive roster of activities.

The first wave of marketing will be geared to the urban audience, promoting Friday Harbour’s location as “a close escape,” just an hour north of the GTA offering all the enjoyments of cottage life without the headaches of maintenance or a lengthy drive.

One of the unique aspects is that the resort is reachable by GO train; the Barrie station is just seven minutes away and a Friday Harbour shuttle will transport resident and visitors to the resort.

Friday Harbour is being designed as a vibrant village with a lively social life and busy event calendar. In the Marina Village, there will be live theatre and musical performances, farmers’ markets and socializing at the Lake Club, the BNT (beach and tennis facilities), or in the on-site cafés and pubs.

Golfers can tee off at the Doug Carrick-designed 18-hole championship Stonefences Golf Club, nature lovers can explore four different trails in the nature preserve, and the marina will accommodate fishermen, sailors or powerboaters. In summer, activities will run from tennis to beach volleyball to kayaking; in winter, there will be ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing or downhill skiing.

Geranium Corp. president Earl Rumm anticipates that the resort will have resonance with an untapped market of city dwellers who like the idea of a waterfront getaway without having to forego the conveniences they’re used to. Once residents pass through the entry gates and make their way along leafy Friday Dr., they should find everything they’ll need within the resort’s borders. And big box stores, chain restaurants and a wealth of other city amenities are just minutes away in Barrie.

“Friday Harbour has all the great elements and with the access to GO, we feel we can get people into the resort mode,” says Rumm. “It’s designed as an urban resort.”

Anyone familiar with Whistler in British Columbia, Mont Tremblant in Quebec, or the Village at Blue in Collingwood, will have an inkling as to what to expect at Friday Harbour, albeit at a waterfront community rather than ski setting. Re:Play Resorts, whose principals are the former Intrawest executives behind those prominent Canadian ski resorts, as well as others around the globe, are part of the Friday Harbour team.

Residents will live in compact housing clustered around the harbour with all streets terminating at the water. Its design — by New Urbanist planners and architects DPZ & Co. — is inspired by some of Europe’s top harbour towns, including Italy’s Portofino, a fishing village and upscale resort famous for its scenic harbour and the town surrounding around it. Portofino is characterized by its half-moon shaped village of pastel houses, shops, restaurants, cafés and luxury hotels.

The hallmarks of New Urbanism include walkable streets, inviting public spaces and attractive streetscapes that encourage social interaction. Friday Harbour will be no exception. Within the resort, residents won’t have to use their car. Everything will be accessible on foot, by bicycle or by golf cart.

“This is a hybrid resort and the first in an emerging class of resorts but it won’t be unique forever,” says Bill Green of Re:Play Resorts. “It’s got a quasi-urban location and the advantage of a hospital that just had a $400 million expansion. It has services at its doorstep including a pool of employees and urban infrastructure with GO and major highways, yet it’s in a natural setting.”

There will be three types of housing offered: Boardwalk condominiums in the Marina Village, the larger Harbour Flats suites that will be accessed by elevators; and the Marina Residences, which will sit on two islands in the harbour and have private docks.

The team behind Friday Harbour also recognizes that people’s lives rarely consist of five work days following by two or three days of disconnection.

“People want the ability to jump out of one part of their life into another, to connect with work if they have to, and then enjoy their leisure time,” says Green. With the city just 90 kilometres away and modern infrastructure in place, residents can keep as connected, or as disconnected, as they wish.

The target market will be sophisticated and Friday Harbour’s architecture and design will indicate “we’ve been places and you’ve been places, too,” Green says. Everything from furniture to the streetlights imported from Europe will reflect this worldly, sophisticated atmosphere, says Green.

In the Marina Village, there will be about 50 retail stores, cafés, services and boutiques.

“The reason we do retail is to make the resort a great place to be,” says Green. He says the shops will be a mix of about 30 per cent national stores and 70 per cent independent shops. The reason for the heavy concentration of mom and pop operations is due to the level of reliability customers perceive these shops to have and because “people have more interaction with the shopkeeper.”

The shops will be handpicked and “interactivity” will be encouraged: for example, a candy shop where visitors actually see the candy or chocolates being made will be preferable to one that merely sells the sweets.

Green says that he and his partners have worked on 26 resorts around the world and have been “constantly benchmarking” to see how those resorts are performing.

“What makes a resort sustainable are those enduring connections to the local community,” says Green. “If a resort is integrated with the community, it will evolve over time and stay healthy.

The integration with the community is achieved by employing local people, staging events such as farmers’ markets, which bring in local vendors as well as customers from outside the resort, and live theatre performances. Friday Harbour will also be a destination for Lake Simcoe cottagers and boaters, who will come to play golf, stop for a meal or drink and visit the shops.

Green cites the Mont Tremblant jazz festival, which started on the ski resort but now has grown to the point where there will be stages throughout the municipality for the 2013 version, as a successful example of how a resort-initiated event has evolved to be part of the larger community.

The Friday Harbour sales centre will be opening at 49 Wellington St. E. in Toronto. Go to fridayharbour.com for more details.