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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Windsor not facing wrecking ball, owner says

By: Morley Walker

Posted: 01/7/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

AN owner of the Windsor Hotel came forward on Wednesday to say the establishment has not been sold, nor is it about to be demolished.

Winnipeg businesswoman Sukhi Gill phoned the Free Press to complain about a Tuesday story reporting that a group of blues music fans have slated a rally for Saturday to help save the downtown Garry Street facility.

Gill said she had no idea where the organizers had got their information but that it was false. She admitted that the hotel was up for sale but she had not heard of any offers to purchase it.

Winnipeg hotelier Rick Penner and three partners have gone on record saying they wrote a letter of intent to a commercial realtor, offering "in excess of $1 million" for the 107-year-old facility, which once provided a bed to then-vaudevillian Charlie Chaplin.

On Wednesday Penner said that he and his partners might make another offer on the property now that they know it is still available.

Penner, who owned and operated the hotel and bar for more than 25 years until 2004, built it into a respected blues club.

Gill said she plans to continue booking live bands. Currently, she says, she employs 12 people in the 44-room hotel, beverage room and beer vendor.

Winnipeg blues singer Kathy Kennedy, who is spearheading Saturday's rally, insists she has information that the hotel has been sold, subject to conditions, and plans are to demolish the downtown music icon.

"We're going to be there," on Saturday, she said. "We want to keep this as a blues and roots venue that contributes to the cultural history of Winnipeg.

Kennedy said she is working with Heritage Winnipeg to have the hotel listed as a heritage building.

Gill said that the Windsor's manager, Russell Kozak, quit in October, but as a family friend, he has still been helping her out on the premises.

Winnipeg musician Eli Herscovitch, part of a band that played there on New Year's Eve, was pleased to hear that the hotel's fate was not sealed.

"The mood was wonderful all night long," he said. "It made a deep impression on me that in these troubled times it was so easy to shake hands, sit and talk with all kinds of folks."

morley.walker@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 7, 2010 D3

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