Post by Jari on Jun 25, 2005 13:36:41 GMT -5
Construction on hold for downtown hotel
Developer reconfiguring plans to include condominiums
Sat Jun 25 2005
By Aldo Santin
CONSTRUCTION of a new downtown hotel has been delayed while the developer reconfigures the plan to include condominiums.
Jack Levitt, president of the Lakeview Group of Companies, said he's proceeding with plans to build an all-suites hotel on St. Mary Avenue, immediately west of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, but added the project will now include 25 one- and two-bedroom condominium units.
"It'll be a 10-storey building with 97 hotel suites and, on the top two floors, 25 condominium suites," Levitt said.
Levitt said the new building will be connected to the convention centre with an elevated walkway, adding there will also be a connection to the office building at 400 St. Mary Ave. to the west, which had been a terminus on the walkway system.
Levitt said he decided to alter the project plans after becoming convinced that downtown Winnipeg would be ideal for a model that's taking root all over the world.
"Highrise buildings going up now often have different components to them -- hotel space, office space, commercial space, and residential. Successful buildings are able to combine these in a variety of elements." The hotel will be an all-suite development marketed to the business community. It will include a small banquet room and three smaller meeting rooms. There will be no restaurant, but Levitt said there will be leased space available on the main floor that could accommodate one.
The condominium units will be about 900 square feet, and each will have a balcony. There will be nine two-bedroom units and 16 one-bedroom units.
Levitt said that while the condominium suites will be marketed to young professionals and empty-nesters, they'll prove a bonus to the hotel operation.
"I'll be providing for additional hotel rooms without investing any more money to get them," Levitt said, adding that owners of the condo suites will be invited to let the hotel rent them out when they're not being occupied.
He said he thought the condominiums would be attractive alternatives to corporations that have been renting homes or all-suite rooms for executives they bring to Winnipeg.
Lakeview had originally announced plans for a 115-unit hotel on St. Mary Avenue back in early November, with construction to start in the spring of this year and to be completed before the end of the year. Levitt said construction will now begin in the fall.
Klaus Lahr, general manager of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, said Levitt met with the centre's board yesterday to present his project plans, adding they were well received.
"Jack is known for thinking outside the box and I have to applaud him for that," Lahr said. "I'm very pleased that Jack is taking the initiative to bring an interesting component to the market.
"I think it's an incredibly creative way to build a downtown multi-use facility. It will have a residential component, a commercial hotel component and a street-level component to it. It will be interesting."
The hotel/condo project will be built on a lot that now contains 106 parking stalls.
The new hotel will be named Lakeview Suites. Levitt said there will be enough space remaining on the site for the construction of a second hotel. If the new hotel is a success, Levitt said a second hotel with 100 rooms would be built, possibly under a different name, but physically connected to the first hotel. Levitt said that if the Winnipeg Convention Centre proceeds with a proposal for a major expansion, the second hotel could have 200 to 300 rooms.
Lakeview has constructed $2 billion worth of projects since 1964, including 5,000 residential units, more than two million square feet of office buildings, two million square feet of office showroom and warehouse space, and 300,000 square feet of shopping centre space.
The St. Mary Avenue hotel project marks a return to downtown Winnipeg for Lakeview, where it built the twin Holiday Towers Apartments, Colony Square, Lakeview Square, the hotel now known as Delta Winnipeg, the Royal Trust building, the Centra Gas building and the downtown Sheraton hotel.
Lakeview has also developed the Courts of St. James, the Hilton Winnipeg Suite Hotel (formally the Airport Radisson Suite Hotel), the Country Inn and Resorts, the Lakeview Resort in Gimli, and the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Winnipeg International Airport, which an industry spokesman said has the highest average occupancy of any hotel in the city. Once the hotel links to the convention centre and the nearby office building at 400 St. Mary Ave., the downtown elevated walkway -- known as the W -- will be complete, save the corner at Hargrave Street and St. Mary Avenue. A person could walk from the Delta Winnipeg hotel through the convention centre, the new Lakeview hotel and on into the Bay, through Portage Place to the MTS Centre. From there, one could wind his or her way to Winnipeg Square, or go through the arena to the adjoining Cityplace mall, across the street from the Delta Winnipeg.
City officials have been working on a funding formula that will encourage owners of the Royal Trust Tower at 330 St. Mary Ave., and the Delta Winnipeg to complete the link with a connection to Cityplace.
Lahr said he was pleased that Levitt took the time to keep the convention centre up to date on his plans, adding that both sides will soon begin negotiating an agreement for construction of the bridge walkway linking the two facilities.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Developer reconfiguring plans to include condominiums
Sat Jun 25 2005
By Aldo Santin
CONSTRUCTION of a new downtown hotel has been delayed while the developer reconfigures the plan to include condominiums.
Jack Levitt, president of the Lakeview Group of Companies, said he's proceeding with plans to build an all-suites hotel on St. Mary Avenue, immediately west of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, but added the project will now include 25 one- and two-bedroom condominium units.
"It'll be a 10-storey building with 97 hotel suites and, on the top two floors, 25 condominium suites," Levitt said.
Levitt said the new building will be connected to the convention centre with an elevated walkway, adding there will also be a connection to the office building at 400 St. Mary Ave. to the west, which had been a terminus on the walkway system.
Levitt said he decided to alter the project plans after becoming convinced that downtown Winnipeg would be ideal for a model that's taking root all over the world.
"Highrise buildings going up now often have different components to them -- hotel space, office space, commercial space, and residential. Successful buildings are able to combine these in a variety of elements." The hotel will be an all-suite development marketed to the business community. It will include a small banquet room and three smaller meeting rooms. There will be no restaurant, but Levitt said there will be leased space available on the main floor that could accommodate one.
The condominium units will be about 900 square feet, and each will have a balcony. There will be nine two-bedroom units and 16 one-bedroom units.
Levitt said that while the condominium suites will be marketed to young professionals and empty-nesters, they'll prove a bonus to the hotel operation.
"I'll be providing for additional hotel rooms without investing any more money to get them," Levitt said, adding that owners of the condo suites will be invited to let the hotel rent them out when they're not being occupied.
He said he thought the condominiums would be attractive alternatives to corporations that have been renting homes or all-suite rooms for executives they bring to Winnipeg.
Lakeview had originally announced plans for a 115-unit hotel on St. Mary Avenue back in early November, with construction to start in the spring of this year and to be completed before the end of the year. Levitt said construction will now begin in the fall.
Klaus Lahr, general manager of the Winnipeg Convention Centre, said Levitt met with the centre's board yesterday to present his project plans, adding they were well received.
"Jack is known for thinking outside the box and I have to applaud him for that," Lahr said. "I'm very pleased that Jack is taking the initiative to bring an interesting component to the market.
"I think it's an incredibly creative way to build a downtown multi-use facility. It will have a residential component, a commercial hotel component and a street-level component to it. It will be interesting."
The hotel/condo project will be built on a lot that now contains 106 parking stalls.
The new hotel will be named Lakeview Suites. Levitt said there will be enough space remaining on the site for the construction of a second hotel. If the new hotel is a success, Levitt said a second hotel with 100 rooms would be built, possibly under a different name, but physically connected to the first hotel. Levitt said that if the Winnipeg Convention Centre proceeds with a proposal for a major expansion, the second hotel could have 200 to 300 rooms.
Lakeview has constructed $2 billion worth of projects since 1964, including 5,000 residential units, more than two million square feet of office buildings, two million square feet of office showroom and warehouse space, and 300,000 square feet of shopping centre space.
The St. Mary Avenue hotel project marks a return to downtown Winnipeg for Lakeview, where it built the twin Holiday Towers Apartments, Colony Square, Lakeview Square, the hotel now known as Delta Winnipeg, the Royal Trust building, the Centra Gas building and the downtown Sheraton hotel.
Lakeview has also developed the Courts of St. James, the Hilton Winnipeg Suite Hotel (formally the Airport Radisson Suite Hotel), the Country Inn and Resorts, the Lakeview Resort in Gimli, and the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Winnipeg International Airport, which an industry spokesman said has the highest average occupancy of any hotel in the city. Once the hotel links to the convention centre and the nearby office building at 400 St. Mary Ave., the downtown elevated walkway -- known as the W -- will be complete, save the corner at Hargrave Street and St. Mary Avenue. A person could walk from the Delta Winnipeg hotel through the convention centre, the new Lakeview hotel and on into the Bay, through Portage Place to the MTS Centre. From there, one could wind his or her way to Winnipeg Square, or go through the arena to the adjoining Cityplace mall, across the street from the Delta Winnipeg.
City officials have been working on a funding formula that will encourage owners of the Royal Trust Tower at 330 St. Mary Ave., and the Delta Winnipeg to complete the link with a connection to Cityplace.
Lahr said he was pleased that Levitt took the time to keep the convention centre up to date on his plans, adding that both sides will soon begin negotiating an agreement for construction of the bridge walkway linking the two facilities.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca