“Doesn’t the city look better already?”

Sitting in an oversized white cabana, Charles Khabouth grins and nods over his left shoulder. Five stunning young women in white bikinis are lounging at oak tables, framed by a spectacular view of Lake Ontario and the downtown skyline.

It’s Tuesday morning and outside the Sound Academy at Polson Pier the scene (save for the beautiful women) is pretty much as it has been for the past few weeks: frantic construction.

Crews are scattered around the 50,000-square-foot space, assembling lavish cabanas, laying down slate grey interlocking brick, building perimeter rails and awnings, toiling around the octagonal pool.

When it opens on June 15, Khabouth says, his Cabana Pool Bar will be unlike anything the city has known. Inspired by pool party resorts in Miami, Las Vegas and southern France, the president of INK Entertainment expects his lakeside outpost to become a must-see-and-be-seen destination for the upwardly mobile.

“I really see this as a mature daytime playground and dining spot near the water,” says Khabouth, whose burgeoning empire of restaurants and clubs already includes La Société (Toronto and Montreal), Patria, Weslodge, Uniun Nightclub, CUBE, Tattoo Rock Parlour and Guvernment.

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

A drink with: Jorn Weisbrodt, artistic director of Luminato

Bring-your-own-wine a bust in Ontario

Gord on Grapes: Basic and better vino for dad

“It’s not really for 18-, 19-year-olds. It’s more for the 25-plus crowd that has travelled and been to the south of France, been to Miami, been to Vegas. Right now, all those places are all about luxury. What we want to sell here is an experience that has luxury behind it.”

To this end, the front door will be closely scrutinized (hint: don’t expect to gain entry in basketball shorts). Led by executive chef Jamie Meireles, the kitchen will be operated by Oliver and Bonacini (tip: try the Niagara Gold and caramelized onion grilled cheese on apple sourdough). And there will be no shortage of premium potables, including bottles of Champagne so massive they require two men to lift and pour (warning: if you’re planning to indulge in this bubbly decadence, be sure to arrive with $6,500).

“We want a mature clientele that appreciates quality and is willing also to pay for it,” says Khabouth. “I don’t want to say it’s expensive but, yes, it’s more high-end.”

This luxury gambit is also powered by a practical consideration: unlike Miami, Vegas or southern France, Toronto has something known as “winter.” With a focus on the weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. — and corporate rentals Monday to Friday — Cabana Pool Bar will operate only from June to early September this year.

So given the seven-figure investment, did Khabouth have any doubts about bringing a southern concept to our northern climate?

“Unfortunately, that was the only apprehension I had,” he says. “Everybody thought — or maybe thinks — I’m crazy. But I really think people will appreciate what was built and put here for them.”

Designer Alessandro Munge, sitting to Khabouth’s right, nods in agreement.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“You can’t get this anywhere else,” says Munge, whose design firm Munge Leung designed the custom furniture and outdoor space that Khabouth acquired after buying a controlling stake in Sound Academy. “This is a one of a kind.”

Cabana Pool Bar can seat 860 diners and drinkers at once, and has a licensed capacity of 2,500. There will be space for boats to dock. There will be shisha stations and bottle service and a retail store and multiple bars and photogenic staff (including the five women on site Tuesday) in outfits designed by Joe Mimran.

Khabouth hopes Cabana will spur others to build in the Port Lands and along the waterfront, turning it into a lifestyle destination. This hope is based on precedent: his groundbreaking Stillife night club, which opened in 1986 at the once desolate corner of Richmond and Duncan, heralded the Entertainment District.

For now, though, he just wants guests to come to Cabana and forget everything else.

“I want people to come down here and get on the phone 15 minutes later and cancel the rest of their day,” he says, glancing toward the lake. “I’ve been in those situations. My target is for people to come down here and realize, ‘There is no way I’m leaving.’”

Read more about: