Acadia,
Cocktail Bar and
Barchef got some competition last week when
Spirit House opened on Portland after two years of part-time renovation turned the space from a teaching centre into a five-night-a-week bar.
"I've been in the space for 10 years," says owner Len Fragomeni. "I also own and operate the Toronto Institute of Bartending as well as a hospitality company.
"Two years ago, I decided that we needed to evolve the business into a stomping ground for everything that we teach and preach."
The renovation—which was thorough judging from the highly finished
look of the place—took place in the evenings, in a rotating series of sectioned-off spaces, while the space was used during the day for classes and tastings. The biggest addition, Fragomeni says, is the Portland Street entrance, which used to be a window for the building, whose main administrative entrance is around the corner on Adelaide.
The part-time reno, which employed mostly workers already working on other projects in the area, kept the renovation costs low. "The budget was $200,000," Fragomeni says, "and we actually came in under budget."
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Len Fragomeni
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