LAKEVIEW Management has dusted off plans for a pair of hotels in downtown Winnipeg and could put a shovel in the ground as early as next winter.
Jack Levit, CEO of the Winnipeg-based hotel manager and developer, said he is awaiting construction-cost estimates for a seven-storey, 80-room hotel to be built on the southwest corner of Edmonton Street and St. Mary Avenue across from the Convention Centre. He said he's hoping to be able to build the 3.5-star property for $8 million -- excluding the price of the land, which it has owned for two years -- or about $100,000 per room.
"We used to be building hotels for $70,000 a room just three years ago," Levit said.
Levit is also touching up plans for a larger, four-star hotel on the same piece of land but fronting on St. Mary. He said he won't green light the project -- which could range from seven to 16 storeys with a minimum of 150 rooms -- until the Convention Centre reveals its possible expansion plans.
"I'd love for it to be more (than 150 rooms)," he said, noting plans call for both hotels to be connected to the Convention Centre by a skywalk system.
A spokesman for the Convention Centre said its board continues to examine ways in which the facility could be expanded to be able to hold bigger and more conventions. A decision has yet to be finalized, the spokesman said.
Jim Baker, president and CEO of the Manitoba Hotel Association, said a new downtown hotel would be a welcome addition particularly after York The Hotel -- formerly the Sheraton -- was shuttered to the general public late last year and is being converted into apartments. That move reduced the city's downtown hotel stock by 271 rooms.
He said while other downtown properties currently have the capacity to handle the demand, he believes additional rooms in close proximity to the Convention Centre are needed. The biggest hotel downtown is the Delta with 400 rooms. The Fairmont has 350 while the Inn at the Forks has 114.
"There are times when rooms are scarce because of larger conventions. When we get city-wide events, like the Grey Cup or the Junos, every room is spoken for. If it's a matter of losing that (event) because there weren't enough rooms, I'm sure the competing hotels would welcome the capacity," Baker said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
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