Lonsdale Quay is announcing a smorgasbord of new tenants moving into the renovated food and market halls, including one recognized by the famous Michelin food guide.
Fiorino, which already has a successful Italian street food restaurant in Vancouver’s Chinatown, will be opening a new location in the second-floor restaurant space the Cheshire Cheese previously leased.
Fiorino is a 2022 and 2023 Michelin Bib Gourmand eatery, a class of highly rated restaurants that the gastro critics praise for their quality but also for their simpler meals and value for dollar.
Co-owner Gio Mascagni said he is aiming to bring the kind of dining experience he had with his weekly dinners at his aunt and uncle’s house in Edgemont when he first arrived in Canada from Florence.
“This is why we chose the North Shore and the Quay for our next venture,” he said in a release. “We want you to enjoy our food just like a wholesome Sunday family dinner.”
In keeping with the international street food theme, Mai Mai BBQ will be setting up shop in 2024, which they Quay says will bring familiar dishes but “re-imagined and elevated.”
For the plant-based foodies, Chau Veggie is joining the food hall, a third location beyond their West End and Victoria Drive offerings. A release from the Quay says to expect “soul-warming pho and vibrant summer rolls,” among other family recipes.
Other existing businesses within the Quay are going through expansions, rebrands, or moving into newly renovated spaces.
Phoenix Books has grown their second-floor location into the adjacent retail space, which is now Phoenix Toys. Butter Lane Bake Shop has been able to expand their offerings, securing a new production facility nearby, and El Dorado Pies & Treats will be relocating within the market in 2024.
There are also changes coming to the Quay’s health and wellness line-up, including an Oxygen Yoga location opening on the second floor in the spring of 2024. Saje Natural Wellness, which has been operating at the Quay for 30 years, is movin’ on down to a prime location at the north end of the first floor. And the second-floor dance studio has rebranded as The Space: House of Movement, and is moving to a new 5,000-square-foot location.
Taylor Mathiesen, president of market’s parent company Quay North Urban Development, said he was excited about all the new announcements, but especially proud of a Michelin-recognized restaurant with North Van connections being added to the mix.
The redevelopment project, however, which was first announced in 2021, is now a full year behind schedule. Mathiesen acknowledged that people who shop and dine at the Quay may be fed up with the construction, and said he shares the frustration.
In October, the Quay fired their general contractor on the site and took over construction management, Mathiesen said, after suffering significant losses. Legal action will be coming, he added.
“We continue to do the best that we can,” he said.
The good news is that the subtrades are now lined up to get most of the interior and exterior renovations completed this winter, with new businesses trickling in right up until the summer season.
There is no timeline for when King Taps, the Quay’s new anchor tenant, will open, but interior work on the 10,000-square-foot restaurant space should be started in the new year, Mathiesen said.
Not every familiar Lonsdale Quay business has signed a lease for the updated gathering place, some by their own choosing, Mathiesen said, but the renovation of the Quay is intended to modernize the Quay, in keeping with Lower Lonsdale’s total revitalization.
“The community has evolved and the demographic has changed,” he said. “We’re really retaining that character of the Quay that everybody loves, but bringing in new ingredients to really serve the needs of this changing community.”
