For Muoi Vuong, it's all about freedom -- the freedom to say "No, thanks" with impunity.
In 1979, she and her family fled Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) by boat, rather than live under Communist rule.
Now a proud owner for the past 19 years of Saigon Flower, a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant at 1138 Queen St. W., Ms. Vuong has invoked the cherished principles of freedom to say no to Jeff Stober, Queen Street West's cultural czar and emerging power broker.
Mr. Stober, the millionaire former dot-com executive who bought the dowdy Drake Hotel in 2001 and renovated it for $6-million, has been quietly buying up property along the Queen West strip. Last fall, he acquired the three buildings east of the hotel, including another Chinese restaurant and two structures that now house new retail stores. For one of those stores, a single-storey building, he is said to have paid $500,000.
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He also tried to buy the Saigon Flower, the next property in line, but Ms. Vuong refused. "He offered me a lot of money . . . but I don't want to sell," she says. "That's what freedom means. I can say no."
Ms. Vuong continues: "I've built up this place from nothing. I love this place. It has my blood and my sweat in it. All my memories are here. There have been big changes in the area. I want to stay and enjoy it." Four years ago, according to Ms. Vuong, who says she is "around 50," she spent $150,000 renovating the restaurant's kitchen.
She acknowledges that the Drake's renovation has energized the neighbourhood and, along with new condo construction in the area, brought her new customers. "But if I sell, what am I going to do? I'm not ready to retire."
Mr. Stober says he has heard Ms. Vuong's message, and is no longer actively pursuing the property.
"The truth is we're doing things very slowly," he says. "There's really no plan. We're sincere about the cultural development of the neighbourhood. But patience is the real virtue in this process."
The couple that owns the Chinese restaurant immediately adjacent to the Drake will continue operating it until 2008, under the terms of a pre-existing lease. Mr. Stober says he will honour it.
For the moment, he says, his goal is simply to add to the community's enrichment, "to extend its cultural DNA." To that end, he will be expanding his artist-in-residence program, by converting three rooms above one of the stores into live-work space for writers, painters, filmmakers and the like. Courtesy of the Drake, selected artists now get a free month's room and board in the one room of the hotel allocated for this purpose.
Mr. Stober says he is interested in acquiring other vintage properties like the Drake, but ruled out buying Jilly's, an east-end property he was rumoured to have been seeking.
Josh Bizjak, co-owner of Omy, a funky clothing boutique/gallery housed in one of Mr. Stober's new properties, says he thinks Mr. Stober's efforts have greatly improved the neighbourhood: "If anything, I think he's getting sucker-punched by everyone in the area. Because property values have gone up, the city is demanding more taxes."
Mr. Stober confirms that his tax bill has risen and accepts it as part of the price of Parkdale's resurrection. "The city has recognized that it's a great neighbourhood."
-- Michael Posner