New luxury hotel for airport

July 29, 2008
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Murray McNeill

Winnipeg's first five-star stay would add room capacity

The Winnipeg Airports Authority has added another key piece to its campus puzzle after finalizing a deal for the construction of a new $20-million luxury hotel at Richardson International Airport.

Lakeview Management Inc. announced Monday it has landed the rights to build a new 100-room, seven-storey hotel across from the new airport terminal building, which is under construction to the north of the existing terminal.

Jack Levit and his son, Keith, show off a scale model of the $20-million project. (Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press )

Lakeview CEO Jack Levit said the Grand Winnipeg Airport Hotel will be built to five-star specifications. If it's awarded a five-star designation, it will be the city's first such hotel, he added.

The new hotel is part of a larger development plan that could also see Lakeview build a $13-million, seven-storey, hotel/office complex next to the Grand Winnipeg. That building would link the new hotel to Lakeview's existing Four Points by Sheraton Winnipeg hotel, which is located across from the existing terminal.

Levit said only the first two floors of the hotel/office complex will be built for now. They will include space for a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar, a 150-person banquet room, and 34 hotel rooms. Five storeys of office space will be built above that once the company determines there is sufficient demand for it, Levit added.

WAA president and CEO Barry Rempel said Monday's announcement was great news because a luxury hotel and an office development were both on the WAA's wish list.

"These are all things we had identified as being critical to the development of an airport campus," he said in an interview.

An artist’s rendering of the Grand Winnipeg Airport Hotel, a 100-room, seven-storey luxury hotel slated for the Richardson International Airport. (Handout Photo )

Next on the wish list are an auto service centre that would include things like a gas bar and car wash, more warehouse space for freight forwarders and handlers, and maybe a second parkade. However, Rempel said there's no rush for the latter.

Some of the other campus elements that have already been announced are Canada's Post's new $50-million mail-sorting plant (under construction), Greyhound Canada's new $6.3-million bus terminal (under construction), the new 549,000-square-foot airport terminal (also under construction) and a new home for the Winnipeg Aviation Museum.

Rempel said the museum's new home will likely be built on the site of the existing terminal once it's been demolished. There will also be room on that site for another building, but WAA officials haven't decided what that will be.

He said it could be another office building, especially if Lakeview doesn't proceed with its office development. But Levit said he's determined that it will proceed.

Ken Jones, chairman of the Winnipeg REALTORS Association's commercial division, said this might be a good time to add some new office space at the airport.

Jones said the office vacancy rate in the city is tightening and there hasn't been a lot of new space built in recent years. The new airport terminal will also be a "key destination" in the city, he said, and the proposed Canadian Human Rights Museum also will be a big boost to the city.

Map provides an overhead glimpse of the airport area.

"It's too early... to say it (a new office development) would be a slam dunk," he said. "But the opportunity may be there because of all these factors that are coming together."

Manitoba Hotel Association president Jim Baker said a new luxury hotel could also be good for Winnipeg because last year's closure of the downtown York Hotel left room in the market for another hotel.

Baker said hotel room rates in Winnipeg also haven't kept pace with rates in other Canadian cities, so maybe the addition of a new higher-priced hotel will help bring rates up to where they should be at the other existing properties.

Lakeview Management president Keith Levit said there is definitely room for another hotel at the airport because the Four Points boasts the highest hotel occupancy rate in the city -- 90 per cent.

"We are virtually sold out five nights a week, and unfortunately have to turn many guests away," he said. "We need more rooms."

Jack Levit said the Grand Winnipeg will charge about $200 a night, while the Four Points charges about $140.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

High-class accommodations

Here are the details of the new luxury hotel that will be built at Winnipeg's Richardson International Airport:

• Developer: Winnipeg-based Lakeview Management Inc., which owns or manages 33 other hotels in Canada, including the Four Points by Sheraton Winnipeg at the airport.
• Architect: Winnipeg-based 5468796 Architecture
• Name: The Grand Winnipeg Airport Hotel
• Classification: Luxury hotel. Will be built to five-star standards
• Size: Seven storeys, 100 rooms
• Cost: $20 million
• Construction start-up: December 2008
• Opening date: Spring 2010
• Features: The exterior will be clad in brushed zinc that will "glow" in the sunlight. The lobby will feature seven-metre-high ceilings and a grand staircase to the second floor. Other features will include two restaurants, two bars, an observation lounge, a 2,500-square-foot spa, an exercise room, a 150-person banquet room and meeting rooms. Hotel rooms will feature 44-inch plasma TVs, DVD players, free movies, and an espresso maker.

-- Source: Lakeview Management Inc.

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