‘Steeped in history’: Fort Garry Hotel up for sale

Downtown Winnipeg’s landmark Fort Garry Hotel is up for sale.

The real estate firms Avison Young and Cushman & Wakefield Winnipeg, who announced Monday the hotel at 222 Broadway is back on the market, anticipate a sale between $60 million and $70 million.

“This is a beautiful property steeped in history, with more than 100 years as a respected hospitality institution in Winnipeg — celebrating such a storied past among only a handful of other hotels across the country,” Curtis Gallagher, principal and Canadian hospitality lead with Avison Young, said in a news release.

“The perfect investor will see the Fort Garry Hotel as the diamond it is, operating within healthy market fundamentals and attracting competitive lending terms.”

The Fort Garry Hotel’s current ownership group, which has operated the facility for three decades, deferred comment to Gallagher.

Local entrepreneurs Ida Albo and Richard Bel, along with the Quebec-based Laberge Group, took over the independently owned hotel — a national historic site — in 1993.

“The perfect investor will see the Fort Garry Hotel as the diamond it is.”

The hotel — one of the oldest in Winnipeg — was previously floated for sale in 2019, when agents thought it could fetch about $40 million, the Free Press reported at the time. The hotel, however, remained under its current ownership.

Set across 1.5 acres, the Fort Garry Hotel boasts 236 guest rooms and suites, a spa, the Oval Room Brasserie and Vida Cucina Italia restaurants, Yuk Yuk’s comedy club, and conference and banquet rooms for business gatherings and weddings.

The first floor, dubbed the “vice regal floor,” reopened in April after a $1-million renovation. It includes 12 guest rooms, three suites and an executive lounge only accessible to customers staying on the floor.

In March, Albo told the Free Press she and her business partners have invested about $5 million in the four-star hotel since the COVID-19 pandemic as part of an effort to make it more than just a place where visitors from out-of-town can stay.

About 80,000 guests stay at the Fort Garry annually. The hotel has nearly 400 full- and part-time employees.

Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, and Michael Juce, president and CEO of the Manitoba Hotel Association, noted the investments and upgrades that the hotel has undergone in recent years.

“The fact that it’s going for sale and that its valuation is as high as it is is a testament to the current ownership’s attention and care for that property,” Remillard said.

“It went through some challenging economic times, but they continued to invest in that property, so kudos to them. I think we all owe that ownership group our deep thanks for maintaining and investing in truly a gem within our hospitality community.”

Remillard said the hotel has become a destination not just for visitors to the city, but for locals as well.

“Having quality establishments like the Fort Garry Hotel, with the offerings it has, brings Winnipeggers to our downtown,” he said.

The Fort Garry was the tallest building in Winnipeg when it opened in 1913, serving well-to-do railway passengers arriving at nearby Union Station.

The hotel was built in Château style by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which later merged into the Canadian National Railway.

“It’s a unique hotel, it kind of goes without saying, not just in the province, but nationally, and I think you could argue broader than that just given the history and the significance of those railway hotels that were built a century-plus ago,” Juce said.

The hotel, later renamed to reflect the original Upper Fort Garry site nearby, changed hands multiple times over the years. It earned national historic site status in 1981.

Past guests include King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their 1939 visit to Canada, prime ministers, Hollywood actors and some of the biggest names in music.

The Fort Garry was built at a time when Winnipeg was considered a gateway to the West.

“While it’s an old hotel age-wise, it’s certainly seen investments and upgrades and improvements over the past few years.”

“What its construction really signified, when you look at it from a historical perspective, it was really a massive vote of confidence in Winnipeg’s economic situation and the future of Winnipeg and Manitoba’s economy,” Remillard said.

Located just west of Main Street, the hotel is in a prime location near tourism, leisure and business destinations, including The Forks, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Canada Life Centre and RBC Convention Centre.

“While it’s an old hotel age-wise, it’s certainly seen investments and upgrades and improvements over the past few years,” Juce said. “It’s a special place for many who’ve been to events or stayed there.”

Room 202, which folklore claims is haunted, has drawn paranormal enthusiasts from all over.

Barry Gorlick, who was leaving the Fort Garry Monday from a speaking event featuring former Canadian politician and diplomat Bob Rae, said he hopes the hotel will thrive under new owners so future generations — like his grandkids — can enjoy it.

“I wouldn’t want it to fall in the footsteps of the Royal Alexandra Hotel, which I remember from my youth, and which in many ways, I still think about,” he said, referencing the former Higgins Avenue hotel built and run by Canadian Pacific Railway that was demolished in 1971.

Another Winnipeg resident, who was picking up a guest at the hotel, said he hopes the allure remains after the sale.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” said Premal Patel, noting he stayed at the Fort Garry after his wedding. “Maybe this is going to lead to the further expansion of further businesses downtown. It’s one of those things, it could be bittersweet or sad, but maybe it’s time for a change.”

Last month, Heritage Winnipeg gave its commercial conservation award to the Fort Garry Hotel’s owners at its annual preservation awards ceremony.

Heritage Winnipeg executive director Cindy Tugwell said the iconic hotel went through significant challenges, including decline in the 1980s, to become an example of successful heritage conservation under the current owners.

“They’ve done a lot of work over the years, and I think that’s a testament to their commitment to seeing that hotel preserved properly to make it a gem in the city,” she said.

“I would hope that those high standards that have been met in recent years are continued with the new owners.”

It was announced last month that the Fairmont Winnipeg hotel, at Portage Avenue and Main Street, will be closed from July 1 to spring 2027 for a full renovation.

— with files from Morgan Modjeski

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca