Fifty-one furnished corporate apartment units, ranging from 506 square feet to 1,051 square feet, are underway at The Park Plaza Tower. Each unit will include custom designed kitchens and baths, stainless steel kitchen appliances and more. Residents will also appreciate new high-speed elevators for exclusive service to the units, weekly housekeeping, room service, pool and fitness club access, hotel concierge service and all other hotel amenities. Leasing information will be available later this year.

Perez Perfects Palate Pleasers

What keeps you passionate about your work?
I love seeing instant gratification. Once I make a perfect plate, both in taste and in beauty, I like to watch it go out to the table of guests. They stop their conversation. They smell the food. They first eat it with their eyes and then smile —all before they even taste it. That's what makes me love what I do.

What did you think you'd be growing up?
I thought I was going to be working on Wall Street or Toronto's "Bay Street." I also debated being a musician. I went back and forth —sometimes focused on business, other times on the arts. Now I feel I have the best of both worlds, a business that thrives on my creativity and hard work.

What kind of training have you had?
I originally went to university and got my degree in languages and literature, and then pursued an international finance degree. My last semester, I decided to travel through Asia. While there, all I did was eat wonderful food. Once I got back to Canada, I enrolled at St. Pius X Culinary Institute, went to Italy to cook, eat and learn, and then came back to Canada and won a gold medal in the Culinary Olympics.