Former Maryland Hotel sold: building to be renovated but beer vendor, bar permanently closed

New owners took over Winnipeg’s former Maryland Hotel on Thursday, with a multimillion-dollar renovation and a new restaurant planned to capitalize on its close proximity to Health Sciences Centre.

TriCan Advisory Inc., a new entry in the hospitality sector, bought the once-notorious inner-city hotel, bar and beer vendor from businessman Amarjeet Warraich, who recently operated it as the New Lodge.

“The vision for the owners is they want to turn the New Lodge into another hotel, but really offer an affordable, safe place for whether it’s medical patients or locals or out-of-towners to utilize when they’re visiting Winnipeg or if they’re trying to access the hospital services,” said Richard Tu, a spokesman for the ownership group.

The 60-room hotel, across from HSC’s campus, is closed for now. Tu said the owners are hoping to put at least $3 million to $4 million into renovations and upgrades, which are expected to take about three to four months to complete.

The bar and beer vendor — located in a separate building on the other side of the hotel’s parking lot at Maryland Street and Notre Dame Avenue — are closed and will not reopen. Once renovated, the space will have a restaurant that doesn’t serve alcohol, Tu said.

The goal is to create something like a gathering place for local residents, hotel guests and people who work nearby.

“We want to be a solution to the community. We don’t want to put up barriers,” Tu said.

The hotel building will also have a restaurant that doesn’t serve alcohol, he said.

The West End property is in an area with higher rates of poverty and crime. Police investigated several violent incidents, including shootings, stabbings and robberies, outside the bar and beer vendor alone over the years.

The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba confirmed the property’s retail beer vendor and age-restricted liquor service licences were no longer active.

Warraich, who plans to retire, bought the hotel in 2003. It was known as the Maryland Motor Hotel and Maryland Hotel for decades before it was rebranded around 2012, first under the Econo Lodge brand.

“I’ve been there long enough. I’m not getting young,” Warraich, who is in his 70s, said of his decision to sell. “My kids have been telling me, ‘Come on, dad.’ It’s a good time for a change over there.”

The drug addiction crisis also influenced Warraich’s decision. He noticed the situation start to worsen around 2018, he said, and regularly found needles on the outside ground. Warraich said people used the bar’s bathroom as a place to get high.

He witnessed Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members revive people — some on more than one occasion — during suspected overdoses outside the hotel.

“It was kind of a little bit too much for me. I don’t want to see somebody losing their life,” Warraich said. “For the last few years, with all these drugs that have come out, people are getting fed up. The drugs are ruining lives.”

The hotel’s sale price was not disclosed.

Tu said the new owners have not yet chosen a name for the hotel. They are open to it becoming a branded hotel.

The owners are also open to partnering with northern communities or agencies on long-term leases of rooms for people who visit Winnipeg for medical appointments or other reasons, Tu added.

Joe Kornelsen, executive director of the West End Business Improvement Zone, welcomed the plans for the site.

“We want to see more folks in the neighbourhood,” he said.

A man who lives in the area said the vendor was the nearest place he could buy a case of beer, but it attracted trouble and people who loitered outside.

“It will probably be good for the neighbourhood,” the man said of the closure of the bar and vendor.

A few Winnipeg hotels were recently converted after being sold to new owners.

Warraich previously owned the Balmoral Hotel and beer vendor, which was transformed into the Pimicikamak Wellness Centre.

The centre has a medical clinic, a child care centre and community outreach services. Guest rooms are used by residents of northern First Nations while they are in Winnipeg for medical reasons.

A former Travelodge hotel on Notre Dame is now home to the Mamawi WSFN Wellness Centre. The former Clarion Hotel in the Polo Park area is now the Uquutaq Medical Boarding Home for Nunavut residents.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca