The space was a former independent gallery in a Queen West heritage building. Beautiful bones — pressed-tin ceiling, original brick south wall, transom windows — and zero plumbing infrastructure beyond the rear washroom.
The build hinged on plumbing. Every pedicure throne needs supply and drain, every drain needs a backflow preventer per Toronto Public Health code, and the only place to take drainage was through the basement to the existing 4-inch stack at the back of the building. We core-drilled the 1908 brick wall, ran ABS through the cellar, and brought hand sinks and pedicure plumbing back up at every station.
The franchise had a hard opening date tied to the lease and the marketing rollout. We kept it.