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TORONTO--The Park Plaza Hotel in Toronto's fashionable Yorkville will get a new look to go with its new owner and new name. The established hotel, recently purchased by the Houston-based Gencom Group, will be known as the Grand Bay Hotel after undergoing a $30-million transformation. The location and this property are an ideal addition to the Grand Bay worldwide collection," said Sherwood Weiser, CEO of Grand Bay Hotels and Resorts. The project involves renovating all public spaces in the hotel and overhauling the north tower. Once complete, the 348-room hotel will feature a redesigned courtyard entrance, an elongated colonnade along Avenue Road and a new lobby. The hotel's 12-storey north tower also will be fitted with new curtainwall and two additional floors. The renovated suites in the 41-year-old north tower will include bay windows, updated interiors, larger washrooms and more space created by incorporating the existing balconies. Modern look The tower will have a modern look compared to its older counterpart, said project architect Harry Christakis. We don't want to mimic the south tower," he said. But to create a homogeneous feel, the color of the precast concrete for the north tower will be similar in shade to the stone of the first three floors of the south tower. Not to be ignored, the historically designated south tower is undergoing renovations as well, with the third and fourth floors converted to additional hotel rooms from office space. It will remain open during the reconstruction phase. Guests will enter the new Grand Bay Hotel from a courtyard off of Avenue Road. The courtyard-driveway will have a redesigned porte cochere flanked by two octagon-shaped skylight structures. These will denote the entrance to the hotel lobby at one end and the north tower restaurant and meeting rooms at the other. Valet parking will eliminate the need for the ramp to the underground parking garage and make room for a landscape component with a tiered fountain. When you arrive, you will get the sense you are somewhere special," said Christakis. Right now it doesn't achieve that." Another area slated for change is the hotel's basement, which will be redesigned to make room for a fitness and pool area. With the exterior and interior improvements, the hotel is negotiating agreements for a spa and an upscale steak house to be located in the main lobby of the north tower. The work is scheduled to be completed next spring. DESIGN TEAM Harry Christakis Architect Inc.; Vanbots Construction Corp. (construction manager); Yolles Partnership Inc. (structural); MCW Consultants Ltd. (mechanical-electrical); Ferris + Quinn (landscape); Lynn Wilson International/VOA (interior design); and Diane Sepler Interiors Inc. (interior design).