“Bad things,” Drake sang in ‘God’s Plan.’ “It’s a lot of bad things that they wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’ / They wishin’ on me.”
All of those bad things and all of those equally bad wishes seem to have materialized at his Toronto restaurant, Pick 6ix Sports. The restaurant had only been open for about six months when it flooded during a severe rainstorm in the summer of 2018. The entire interior was gutted, a polite apology was taped to the front windows and, for the rest of the year, it didn’t cater to anyone except the construction crews that were working to piece it back together.
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It reopened in March with a new manager, a new concept, and a new menu that focused on burgers and bar food (and, if the reviews are any indication, it was also the home of some truly horrendous fish and chips). But in November, the restaurant posted on Instagram that it would be closing “till further notice” due to another flood. It also taped another lengthy apology to its front door.
But that might not be the whole story. According to the Toronto Star, the restaurant’s landlord closed the space because of unpaid rent—and there’s a second notice pasted to the building that explains why. The property manager wrote that Pick 6ix owes some $67,514.73 in now-overdue payments, and the company has terminated the restaurant’s lease.
The restaurant’s voicemail still apparently says that it will be reopening in March 2020 (although its Instagram account just urges everyone to “stay tuned” for information about what could be its third re-opening in less than two years). And the restaurant’s operations manager also disputes everything the landlord printed out and taped to the building.
“We have always paid rent on time and this month is no different, despite a number of issues with the building, including two floods in the past two years due to issues with the pipes,” Jeff Darby told Global News. “We plan to continue to work with the landlord to resolve any misunderstanding and get back to repairing the restaurant from the water damage. We’ve asked the building management to remove the sign as it is not only unnecessary but also inaccurate.”
VICE has reached out to both Pick 6ix Sports and to GWL Realty Advisors, the agent for the building’s landlord, London Life Insurance Company, but has not yet received comment on the matter.
Drake, maybe “God’s Plan” is that you don’t need to be in the restaurant business? Maybe?
