There is a well-known credo when it comes to property valuation – and that is: location, location, location. Now the online magazine Luxury Defined from Christie’s International Real Estate has recently discovered that the positive rating of restaurants in the neighbourhood can also have a positive influence on the value of properties. Luxury Defined writes: “A restaurant awarded a coveted Michelin star doesn’t just bestow gourmet greatness on its own reputation, it can uplift and revitalize the whole neighborhood and community.”
The effect is described by one of the few insiders to have succeeded both as a restaurateur and realtor, the Toronto-based Jimmy Molloy of Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate Molloy+Van Wert, Chestnut Park Real Estate. “Neither are nine-to-five businesses,” explains the former owner of gourmet Toronto restaurant Auberge Gavroche. “Because you are trying to give customers something extraordinary to satisfy their most primeval needs: nourishment and a home.”
Luxury Defined writes Molloy have “witnessed the Michelin effect first hand in his native Toronto. During the 1970s, cheap rents lured art galleries and restaurants to the city’s central suburb of Yorkville, which is stocked with Victorian-style homes.” Molloy is convinced: “If you want to know which is the next neighborhood you follow the creative class.” And he did just that.
He continues: “A great restaurant opening in a neighborhood can change the dynamic over the next decade.” An entire ecosystem, from a florist to a post-dinner bar, opens to service the clientele. “There’s a halo effect because The Michelin Guide is a gold standard, not just in cuisine, but in international recognition of any profession.”
Molloy cites the best example of foodie regeneration as 1980s New York. Back then, British restaurateur Keith McNally opened restaurants such as Balthazar in then-gritty locations including SoHo, Tribeca, and the Meatpacking District. “McNally and Balthazar redefined SoHo,” attests Molloy, with the upscale seafood restaurant starring in the first series of Sex and the City. “So, there’s a chicken-and-egg effect. Which came first, the great restaurant or the great neighborhood?”
Reading the full article on Luxury Defined will give you more information on the Michelin Guide and some Restaurants worth visiting. And here you find restaurants awarded a coveted Michelin star in Switzerland.
