Rose Vuong, owner of a west-end restaurant, is holding out.

Vuong’s eatery, open for decades, is wedged between properties owned by The Drake Hotel.

At one point, she was presented with an offer to sell to The Drake, but declined.

“I’ve been in business a long time,” said Vuong, 66, owner of Saigon Flower on Queen St. W. “I have a skill and loyal customers.”

When she retires, she plans to pass down her restaurant, which specializes in a fusion of Vietnamese and Chinese fare, to her two daughters.

This is why she turned down The Drake’s proposal.

Toronto’s hot real estate market makes Vuong want to keep Saigon Flower in the family.

She says it would be difficult to get something close to identical if she were to sell.

“I built up this business. Before, it was nothing,” she said.

Vuong, who lives upstairs from her restaurant, is completely surrounded by The Drake.

The hotel bought three properties immediately east of its flagship hotel in 2004, which is where the planned expansion will go.

Adjacent, to the east of Saigon Flower, is another parcel, purchased a year later. But, says John Granger, director of development, there are no plans to develop it yet. The space was formerly the site of The Drake Commissary, which moved to Sterling Rd. last year, and now boasts a restaurant, larder, bar and bakery.

“Years ago, we did approach Vuong to see if she would be interested in selling,” Granger said. “She’s very adamant; she’s committed to being part of the neighbourhood.”

The hotel’s expansion will begin next month and be completed, Granger projects, by spring 2020.

The development will include 32 new hotel rooms, which will bring the room count to 51, and the lobby will be revamped.

“We’re trying to really extend the existing streetscape,” he said. “Continuing the façade, balancing with what exists there already and extending the hotel lobby experience through there.”

Vuong came to Canada from what was then known as Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as a refugee. She opened the restaurant in 1986 with her late husband, Thai Khac Chuong, a noted photojournalist.

Four full-scale black-and-white photographs taken in Vietnam adorn the walls. One is the winner of a World Press Photo award for spot news in 1976. The picture shows a man being pushed away from bordering an evacuation plane in what was then South Vietnam.

Vuong said she doesn’t know how to feel about The Drake’s expansion until it’s completed, but she does have concerns; it will be five storeys, which would block her windows, she said. She’s also worried about snow and rain runoff.

“I have a view. I have the sun. I open the window and let the fresh air in,” she said.

Granger said that Vuong is being kept informed of all construction-related details, a process that’s been going on for years.

“Those windows are part of the discussions now,” he said. “There’s probably a half a dozen things we’re working on with her right now. We’ve had tremendous success here. This is what’s driving the entire expansion. I think having the local businesses beside us is a key part of it. It really is a community experience when people come out to stay at The Drake. It’s all part of the fabric here.

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

“(Rose has) been our neighbourhood since, for, well, prior to The Drake,” Granger continued. “Happy she’s there.”

On the business side of things, Vuong said that, while it’s hard to say how Saigon Flower could be affected, she said she hopes more young people means more business for her.

“You build first, I’ll build later,” she said, laughing, referring to the expansion.