Nobu Condos Video Interview – TalkCondo Discuss Nobu with Elliot Taube

• Amit Bhandari of TalkCondo interviews Elliot Taube of International Home Marketing Group ahead of the exciting launch of Nobu Condos
• The history of Madison Homes and their role in Nobu Toronto
• Discussion on the Entertainment District being the epicentre of Toronto where real estate values have boomed
• How a Nobu branded restaurant and hotel will elevate both the Entertainment District and Toronto to new heights
• How the 37,000 sq.ft. Nobu Restaurant will make this a new destination in Toronto
• What will make Nobu Condos one of the best investments of 2017
• Discussion on the world class amenities and suites that will be available at Nobu Condos
• How you can secure your suite at Nobu with TalkCondo

Nobu is Launching May 30 – Click here for Front of Line Access

Who is Elliot Taube?

Elliot Taube is the President of International Home Marketing Group (IHMG), the sales and marketing company responsible for launching Nobu Residences Toronto.  IHMG work with some of the top builders in Toronto including Madison Homes, Great Gulf Homes, Menkes, Malibu, Fernbrook and many more.

Amit & Roy Bhandari of TalkCondo have worked with Elliot and his team for many years and we’re excited to bring front of line access to their condominium projects to our clients.

Transcript

Amit Bhandari: Hi there, this is Amit Bhandari of talkcondo.com, and today we are joined with a very very special guest. It’s Elliot Taube, the president of International Home and Marketing. Elliot thank you so much … I know you have a very, very busy schedule. Thank you so much for giving us ten, fifteen minutes of your time.

Elliot Taube: No problem. No, it’s an absolute pleasure. Absolute pleasure.
Amit Bhandari: Wonderful. So, Elliot there’s a few things I want to talk to you about today. Just as a bullet point, I’d like to talk to you about the entertainment district. I’d [00:00:30] like to talk to you about the specific site. Obviously, it’s on the tip of everybody’s tongues. Nobu and Madison homes and the developer of Madison homes, and then the building …

Elliot Taube: … um hmm …

Amit Bhandari: … of course the building itself.

But before that, I’d like to talk about you. I wanted to find out more about you. I know you’ve been in the industry for a very, very long time now.

Elliot Taube: Yes.

Amit Bhandari: Since the early 90’s … I’m just curious to hear how you started. How you started in the real estate industry? How you transitioned into becoming the president of perhaps one of the largest [00:01:00] new homes sales companies in the GTA?

Elliot Taube: It is an interesting history and transition into this position because it wasn’t what I had set out to do. It wasn’t what I went to school to do.

Amit Bhandari: Nobody does.

Elliot Taube: No, no, I mean I came out of school … I came out with a … into computer science. In the days, and I don’t want to date myself, but it was not as exciting as it is now. I’m not going to say punch cards and tapes and stuff like that, but it was pretty close to that timeframe.

Amit Bhandari: Right.

Elliot Taube: I [00:01:30] discovered pretty quickly that I did not enjoy sitting in a cubicle day after day, typing on a machine and not having social interaction. Because I like social interaction. And then, what do you do after you discover that the career that you just studied years and years for is not what you want? What do you do? So I went back to the drawing board. I got my real estate license. I moved in the resale circles. I got into new home sales. I spent ten years with one of the GTA’s largest new home developers. [00:02:00] I decided to leave that company and I joined International Home Marketing ten years ago, actually as a sales rep. Which is an interesting transition, because it shows you can get anywhere if you really put your mind to it …

Amit Bhandari: … of course …

Elliot Taube: … moved into management, vice president, and president for the last three years. So it’s been an interesting ride. There’s a lot of stuff I left out, but that’s really the coles notes version of where I came from.

Amit Bhandari: Awesome. So could you tell us a little bit more about International?

Elliot Taube: International Home Marketing is 24 years [00:02:30] old now. It has operated throughout the GTA, as well as we’ve done projects throughout Canada and the United States. But our real core business is in the GTA. We are a sales and marketing company, and by that … what I mean is we offer a turnkey solution to developers. Mid-size large-size developers. We do high-rise projects, low-rise projects, and we work with those developers in a sense of joining their team as if we were a VP of sales and marketing or a position like that. [00:03:00] So we’ll work with their advertising companies. We will work with their architects, social media … Everything that gets in place to be able to launch a project … design a project and launch a project.

Also though, we supply the sales representatives. We supply the management and the administrative side as well. So even though you’re walking into … You know we’re going to talk about Nobu today, which is by Madison and Madison, the sales reps are actually employed by us and overseen. And same with the administration [00:03:30] staff. So we fulfill that need, so that a developer does not have to carry a large overhead and payroll of those type of positions.
We work with some of the leading development companies throughout the GTA. Some of the names on our client roster from Fieldgate, Menkes, Madison, Fernbrook, Cityzen, Urban Capital, Great Gulf … and that’s just to name a few. So I don’t want to leave out anybody and all of our clients are equally important, but those are some of the names [00:04:00] that I’m sure your viewers will recognize off the bat. We sit in the background. We don’t always take the glory for it, but we’re there every step of the way.

Amit Bhandari: Awesome. So you mentioned Madison …

Elliot Taube: … yes.

Amit Bhandari: I understand Madison were one of your first …

Elliot Taube: … they were our first clients. So it goes before my time and my predecessor who brought me into it with this company, but that was … We were the first company that worked for them and that was just when they started. So the relationship is really … it’s more of [00:04:30] a family relationship than a business relationship if we can describe it that way. We’ve gone through a lot … ups and downs, watched the market swings and we’ve worked together successfully for 24 years and watched Madison probably become one of the preempt developers in the city.

Amit Bhandari: Yeah. So I want to pause on Madison for a moment, because Madison is obviously a big topic of discussion for today because of the developers of … perhaps one of the biggest developments of the year. I [00:05:00] wanted to talk about the neighborhood and the entertainment district. Now, we all know what it used to be. It used to be, originally, a theatre and then it transitioned into the [inaudible 00:05:10] area.

Elliot Taube: Yeah.

Amit Bhandari: And then we had the TIFF which set off the whole other … incarnation of the neighbor … the catalyst if you will. That drove in an alternate development … retail, hotels … and a lot. So I’m curious to find out from your perspective, given what it was [00:05:30] and given what it is today, where do you see it’s progression down the line.

Elliot Taube: Yeah, it’s the epicenter of … the city what I think of it. Because everything is a stone’s throw and sometimes you can throw a football to it. You really can. You walk out the door in the entertainment district and if you’re in the tift, and when we get to talking about Mercer and Nobu … But, you know, if you want to get to work in the financial district, if you want to go see some of the best entertainment in the world, be it plays [00:06:00] at the Mirvish Theatre … Sports, go down … you’re walking down and watching the Blue Jays hitting home runs. You can go over and see the Raptors and the Leafs, hopefully in the playoffs this year …

Amit Bhandari: … hopefully …

Elliot Taube: … we’ll see how that translates, but it’s looking good. Some of the best restaurants … like everything is there. And then the key is to the city … you walk into metro hall which is a stone’s throw as well. And you’re into the whole paths system, getting out of our weather situations, access to the subway and [00:06:30] access to everything else in the city. So it is truly, one of the … probably one of the best locations in the city.

Amit Bhandari: Awesome. And then on top of that there’s a whole layer … say the hotel scene as well. Because we’ve got world class hotels very close to the entertainment. Really, when you think of Toronto, in my mind, the two neighborhoods is Yorkville, more of a conservative scene, but very high scale and high end. And then you got the entertainment district which is sort of this new [00:07:00] youth, younger, fresher neighborhood. So what do you see going forward in terms of the hotel scene for the entertainment district?

Elliot Taube: For the entertainment district, I mean … Most of the brands are here. Like a lot of the brands are here, you just [crosstalk 00:07:14] So, it’s not a ton of other major luxury brands, so … And when I look at occupancies and things like that, these hotels are all doing well. So there’s obviously a need for it. So adding a new one to [00:07:30] the entertainment district, I think it’s the perfect time for it.
I don’t see a lot of other type of brands that may fit as well down into that part of the world too.

Amit Bhandari: Yep. So now moving on … take a step further … Nobu …

Elliot Taube: … yes …

Amit Bhandari: … which is … I mean it’s a big deal for the entertainment, but it’s a huge deal for the city of Toronto. It’s gonna elevate it even further. Could you talk to us about Nobu, the brand?

Elliot Taube: Sure. [00:08:00] It is an interesting educational point for a lot of people because … you know … And we’ve been doing this for a while in talking to our friends and talking to people out on the street and everything. So when I say the name Nobu, either they know it and they know it really well, they’ve kind of heard it, or they haven’t. But it is an amazing organization and company that is global. This is not just a one offer or a one of a kind … we’re not … you know. So, Nobu [00:08:30] represents actually a person. Chef Nobu, who started his empire years ago in the restaurant business … I mean the first time I went to Nobu was probably 15, 18 years ago in Vegas and I was just blown away.

Amit Bhandari: Right.

Elliot Taube: And kind of followed throughout the evolution … Some people also … when they think about Nobu … the partnerships that they are involved in … probably the most famous of the partners is Robert De Niro. But there are a lot of other very important and interesting people in this organization, even though [00:09:00] Chef Nobu is the head of it.
So from a restaurant aspect, they operate, at this point right now, there’s about 33 restaurants … within the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East … it is global. So when … Madonna always had an interesting quote. She always said, “I can always tell if a city is gonna be any good if it has a Nobu in it.” Right?

Amit Bhandari: Really.

Elliot Taube: So we can take that for what it’s ever worth. But I also believe [00:09:30] in that too. From a hospitality stance, they operate hotels … and that’s probably a more smaller portion of it, but it is growing within the hospitality. So the United States, Miami, Los Angeles or Malibu, Las Vegas … they operate in Los Cabos of Mexico. They operate in Rean, Beran … it’s all across the world as well. So this is the first time that they’re actually gonna come to Canada. In any [00:10:00] type of capacity, be it a restaurant, be it a hotel … and now actually moving into branding a residence portion, this will be, as far as the world goes … A lot of places in the world have a Nobu or have a Nobu hotel. This is the first time we’re going to combine all three of them in one place. And it’s Canada. And it’s Toronto …

Amit Bhandari: I was gonna say … what does this mean? [crosstalk 00:10:22]

Elliot Taube: Flat out … like …

Amit Bhandari: … what does this mean to Toronto …

Elliot Taube: … this is the biggest thing. You know, I’m involved in … You and I, we’ve worked together a lot in the past and we’ve [00:10:30] been involved in some amazing projects … great projects. I don’t want to take anything away from those projects, but I don’t think there’s anything like this on the scene today or in the city. Like, I’m not gonna even say the C-Center or whatever … This is incredible … absolutely incredible to bring a global brand at such a magnitude to such an important part of the city. This is huge … absolutely huge.

Amit Bhandari: So how is that going to tie into the development. Can you explain [00:11:00] that to me?

Elliot Taube: So, this is on Mercer Street. Mercer is a very small pocket downtown. King and John would be the most, probably notable intersection that we’re at.

Amit Bhandari: South of the TIFF …

Elliot Taube: … Exactly. So, it’s got some hotels. It’s got an old factory that’s down at the Poke and Tin Glass Factory, that’s our site. So it’s from 15 to 35 Mercer was the site that Madison took over. So, in working with the city over the course of quite [00:11:30] a while, and working with our designers and everything … we came up with this incredible architecture … absolutely stunning architecture. And you’ll be able to show it … It is a podium based with two towers that go up from it. We’re 46 story towers, on each side of it, so it’s equal development. The base will be anchored by a 37,000 square foot Nobu restaurant … a two story. Absolutely …

Amit Bhandari: … fantastic …

Elliot Taube: … incredible … like … will be the place in the city. And … when we talk about some of those other hotels [00:12:00] that we’ve said … and this isn’t a luxury brand. And again, I’m never going to take away from it, because I think everybody does it so great … be it the Ritz, Shangri-La … I love all those places. But that hotel component in those buildings that share residential, the hotel is always at the base … the bottom. You’re looking at the street, you’re looking at something. This time, Madison and the team, they did something different. They took the best real estate in the building, and I mean the absolute best … the top five floors of the west tower … with spectacular views [00:12:30] … be it to the lake, to the city … whatever you want to see. You’re in the best portion of the building to build that hotel.

Amit Bhandari: Um hmm.

Elliot Taube: It’s not something that you would normally give up from a development stand point to put the hotel up there. And we did something else. It’s not a 100 room or 200 room, 500 room hotel. It’s 36 rooms. So it’s ultra boutique.

Amit Bhandari: 36 …

Elliot Taube: … ultra boutique so … to be in the best real estate in town, to have only 36 rooms available [00:13:00] to you, it ties in … It’ll have its own lobby … it’s own elevator bag … It’s annexed in a sense from the development even though it’s part of it.

Amit Bhandari: Right.

Elliot Taube: In there … so you have the 37,000 square foot Nobu restaurant. You got 36 rooms in the best real estate up top. But the rest of it is incredible because now we got over 700 residential suites in that building … in that part of the entertainment district on Mercer Street. And what I’m really [00:13:30] excited … at the end to … is how Mercer is gonna be redeveloped as well. There’s a lot of renderings that we’ve probably seen throughout the city where we show a cobble stone street. That’s gonna become a reality after construction, so …

Amit Bhandari: … awesome …

Elliot Taube: … so this will be from a downtown aspect … I mean … absolutely incredible.

Amit Bhandari: It’s gonna elevate. I mean … just like you said, it’s not gonna just elevate the entertainment district, but it’s gonna elevate the city as well.

Elliot Taube: Yeah.

Amit Bhandari: What Madonna was saying … she probably [00:14:00] … we’ll see her here more often …

Elliot Taube: … yeah … we’ll see her here. It is amazing and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel and travel to different Nobu’s and it’s always been amazing … it doesn’t matter where we are … who you happen to see. If you’re in New York or if you’re in Vegas … who’s been in those restaurants. Like , you know, whether it’s celebrities, sport stars, anything like … People are just … they gravitate to it. First off, the experience is phenomenal, from a restaurant standpoint, service standpoint, the food is … [00:14:30] to die for.

Amit Bhandari: (laughs)

Elliot Taube: And they do it right, you know. I think that why they’ve grown across the world. That’s why they continue to be there. There’s been so many restaurants, over the course of time, that I’ve gone to and that … they’re not there next year … and they don’t grow beyond that point. This is something we know is gonna be there.

Amit Bhandari: The other thing is about the restaurant scene in Toronto. It’s getting there, but it’s going at a slower pace than what we wanted to achieve. So [00:15:00] it looks like it is getting there. So hopefully, I mean … that may be the next catalyst to drive more … perhaps international chefs to the city. Well, it sounds super exciting. We’re very, very excited. So if we have a client that’s interested, what will they need to do?

Elliot Taube: Well, we’re working up to our sales program, which we are gonna commence early June.

Amit Bhandari: Okay.

Elliot Taube: You and your team, as always … you know we’ve worked together a lot. [00:15:30] You’ve got that kind of inside track and knowing when it’s gonna come first and access. Like … that’s the key. With anything, your clients know that access is the biggest thing. And that’s something that you have with us. And I look forward to being able to share more stuff with you and with your clients. Suite designs … I can tell you … we’ve been working on it. We actually just finalized, pretty much the other day … are fantastic. There is something there for everyone. We know that this is not just an investment building. [00:16:00] This is not just an end user building. There had to be something for everybody.

Amit Bhandari: Right.

Elliot Taube: You know … I’m in love … I think it’s a place … I’m involved in so many projects. Where would I want to put my money down? This is a place I want to put it down. So we design things that I know that I can use as not just an investor, but for myself in the future as well. So whether it’s one bedroom, one bedroom and den, two’s, three’s … we have something for everything …

Amit Bhandari: … wonderful …

Elliot Taube: … and all sorts of different sizes. It is going to be [00:16:30] a phenomenal amenity package with it. Yeah, you got a 37,000 square foot restaurant and bar, but from the residential standpoint, we’re doing a gym that you can die for. And there are great party rooms like … the amenity package is gonna be first class. Beautiful lobbies to greet you … I’m really looking forward to this one.

Amit Bhandari: Awesome. So are we. Excellent. Thank you so much.

Elliot Taube: You’re welcome. You’re welcome. Pleasure.

Nobu is Launching May 30 – Click here for Front of Line Access