The first four-star, full-service hotel built here in two decades has arrived in the burgeoning South Core. We checked in with Jennifer Worden on launch day for Delta Hotels and Resorts' new TO flagship.

The 40-storey hotel has 567 guest rooms and 17k SF of meeting and conference space, including a 4k SF terrace. “This is how most people will experience the new brand of Delta,” Jennifer tells us, noting Delta boldly “went dark” in downtown Toronto for 18 months as it awaited construction of the new digs, having moved out of its previous location at Bay and Gerrard. The company's countrywide brand repositioning involves new and redesigned hotels, flexible customer service, and integration of tech, like web-configured TVs and a mobile app.

Particularly noteworthy about Delta Toronto, says Jennifer, snapped in a festive setting at the hotel, is its double-height lobby (seen below, perfect for visiting basketball teams), with a sweeping staircase, artwork by emerging Canadian artists, and choice views of the surrounding city: “It’s like Toronto is oozing into the building.” The hotel includes SOCO Kitchen + Bar, a 150-seat restaurant, meant for the community as well. Most condos in the area are pretty small, Jennifer points out, “so we wanted to make this a comfortable place where people can come and hang out.”

The South Core is an apt location for Delta to make a fresh start. "SoCo" intermingles new office towers and condo buildings with Rogers Centre, Air Canada Centre, the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium and the convention centre; it's a true mixed-use neighbourhood and new centre of gravity for the city. “The energy down here is so vibrant and hip,” Jennifer says. For so long Torontonians marked their place in the city by looking from Bloor Street southward. “Now you can stand in SoCo, look up, and see Toronto in a whole new light.”