A new hotel development in the International Quarter, on the edge of Old Montreal and right next to the World Commerce centre and the Montreal Congress Hall. Its one of more than a dozen highrises built in this former decrepit area. It rises at about 20-22 floors (it isn't quite clear) and it also recycles the old 8 storey Montreal gazette building, adding 5 floors on top of the original structure. Its also Montreal's first Westin brand hotel.
Renderings:
http://www.westinmontreal.com/
The $ 90 million investment will have a total of 432 rooms, a large ball room and from what I understand a large lobby area.
Quote:
The 400-room hotel complex in Old Montréal proposed by ATLIFIC Hotels and Resorts will generate $90 million in investment, create upwards of 300 permanent jobs, and produce more than $30 million in tax benefits for Montréal over ten years.
Montréal, Tuesday, March 15, 2005 – The Board of Directors of the Société de développement de Montréal has chosen the proposal submitted by Atlific, a major hotel developer, builder and manager, following a public call for tenders for redeveloping the Gazette buildings in Old Montréal.
Atlific Hotels and Resorts will acquire the buildings for $10 million net. The SDM had originally bought them for $7.5 million in November 2003, before conducting various studies to ensure the optimal development of the site and dismantling and cleaning up the industrial facilities.
The proposal calls for the three vacant heritage buildings to be converted and a new building to be erected on a former adjacent parking lot. The hotel complex will be linked directly to the Palais des congrès de Montréal via an underground corridor built during work on the Quartier international de Montréal (QIM).
Paul Saint-Jacques, President and CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal, welcomed the City of Montréal’s initiative and the SDM’s efforts to attract a new hotel complex to the Gazette site. As he noted, “This link will give conference organizers a new hotel near their meeting and exhibition facilities – a key selling point for the Palais des congrès in attracting national and international conventions. The new hotel will increase the number of rooms already directly linked to the Palais des congrès.”
For Clément Demers, Director General of the Quartier international de Montréal, “This new property development project, strategically located facing Place Jean-Paul Riopelle, will fit in perfectly with the specific vocation of the area, in terms of the hotel and office space and the quality of the investment. It confirms the vision of the partners in the Quartier international de Montréal. The high-quality structural facilities provided by the QIM and its neighbours have already generated over $770 million in real-estate projects. Over the next two years, further investment of at least $200 million will be added, including the Atlific project.”
The best proposal for the site, the district and Montréal as a whole
The SDM Board of Directors chose the Atlific hotel complex proposal for a number of reasons: it increases hotel capacity in the immediate area of the Palais des congrès; it fits in with the specific vocation of the Quartier international de Montréal; it is sure to help consolidate development in Old Montréal by rehabilitating three vacant heritage buildings
and a former parking lot; and the forecast spin-off in terms of investment, permanent jobs and tax revenue for Montréal are the most attractive of the eight proposals examined by the selection committee.
Atlific Hotels and Resorts, a hotel developer, builder and manager founded in 1959, manages 30 multi-brand hotels in Canada. The firm is headquartered in Montréal, with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. It was acquired in 1997 by Ocean Properties Ltd., a family business based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which manages over 100 hotels in the United States. Together Atlific and Ocean Properties form the fifth-largest privately held hotel-management company in North America, managing 19,000 rooms in independent hotels, resorts and such well-known brands as Marriott, Marriot Courtyard and Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and many others.
Professional Atlific staff have begun the due diligence process. Once that step is completed, in at most 60 days, the transaction will be submitted for approval by the City of Montréal Executive Committee. Atlific expects the complex to be ready about 24 months after the sale is approved.
The Société de développement de Montréal is a paramunicipal property management corporation that contributes to the city's development by managing its property holdings and also oversees the promotion and development of Old Montréal.
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This was the site last november (photo by cprail), an other ugly parking gone.
At about 15 floors already, photographs by francely
Photo by atze, working on the 17th floor
pictures by cataclaw
here's a neat one, the Westin sticking out of the urban chaos that is Montreal. On the left is Moshe Safdie's famous Habitat 67. photograph by monctezuma himself.
Its almost topped out now, one thing's for sure, St-Antoine street on which the building is situated now has a veritable "wall" of high rises when 5 years ago it was a vritual no man's land.
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