The first was Quebec-based Groupe Germain Hospitality which agreed to partner with Longboat Development Corp. in Winnipeg to build a 200,000-square-foot, 20-storey mixed-use tower featuring a boutique hotel across the street from the MTS Centre, the soon-to-be home for the reborn Winnipeg Jets.
The upper 12 floors will house the ALT Hotel brand with 154 rooms. The main floor will be retail and restaurant space while offices will occupy floors two through six.
The location is no accident. A considerable amount of land located on the north side of Portage Avenue is owned by Longboat, a company owned by the Chipman family, part owners of the Jets.
The plan is for visiting teams to stay at the hotel and only have to make the short walk across the street to get to the rink. The new tower is part of what's being called a Sports Hospitality Entertainment District, or SHED, in the neighbourhood, an initiative spearheaded by CentreVenture, a downtown development agency.
"We are great believers in the rejuvenation of Winnipeg's downtown and the vision CentreVenture is creating for the SHED district in particular," said Jeoff Chipman, president and CEO of the Stevenson Group, which includes Longboat Development. "We realize that Portage Avenue is the face of our downtown and a major initiative for this project is to focus an entire new, vibrant level of activity to the corner of Portage and Donald."
Jean-Yves Germain, co-president of Groupe Germain Hospitality, said he was happy to be a part of the rejuvenation in the Manitoba capital.
"We have met people in Winnipeg whose drive and enthusiasm are contagious. The project we're participating in will definitely make this part of the city a lively neighbourhood," he said.
The second announcement came from the province's biggest hotel chain, Canad Inns, which plans to build a 17-storey, 200-room hotel adjacent to the McPhillips Street Station Casino.
Construction of the hotel, which is being built on the former site of a Days Inn and is expected to cost $50 million, will begin by next spring and is expected to finish in early 2013.
Canad Inns already owns and operates a 146-room hotel adjacent to Winnipeg's other gambling hot spot, Club Regent Casino.
This hotel will be Canad Inns' 14th property and one of its largest. It recently broke ground on a $40 million, 18-storey hotel adjacent to the Health Science Centre, Winnipeg's busiest hospital.
The province's hotel industry is enjoying a boom not seen in many years. More than a dozen new properties and hundreds of rooms are currently under construction or are about to be, despite a city-wide hotel occupacy rate of only 65 per cent.
from Western Investor August 2011
