Western Canada’s first Hyatt Centric hotel to open on Broadway

So long, office cubicles. Hello Hyatt hotel.

Western Canada’s first Hyatt Centric boutique hotel will open in the vacant six-storey building at 325 Broadway.

The site on the northeast corner at Broadway and Hargrave Street, which once housed Canada Revenue Agency offices, is undergoing a $38.6 million transformation into a 140-room hotel.

The Kothari Group — it owns a Hyatt House near the south Winnipeg outlet mall — is behind the venture. Company president Anupam Kothari could not be reached for comment.

A provincial government news release states the hotel will have a full-service restaurant and spa. Hyatt Centric models are branded as “modern boutiques.” The company website states such hotels are found “in the heart of the action,” near city hot spots and “hidden gems.”

Montreal is the only other Canadian city with a Hyatt Centric.

The provincial government announced Thursday it was providing $5.2 million in tax-increment financing to the project.

“It’s exciting to see (Kothari Group’s) investment in Winnipeg,” said Michael Juce, president of the Manitoba Hotel Association. “We compete with cities all over the world for these types of investments.”

Manitoba’s hotel industry has “rebounded strongly” since the pandemic, Juce said. Many sites have reported visitor levels higher than pre-pandemic, he added.

“During the pandemic, it was a fair question to ask, ‘Would there ever be another hotel built?’” Juce said. “To see a new hotel and to see that investment is exciting.”

Labour shortages have eased in Winnipeg, he added. Several hotels have hired Ukrainian refugees, which helped. Shortages persist outside the city he said.

Hyatt Centric will create 70 hotel jobs and 200 short-term jobs during the construction season, a provincial government news release said.

Kate Fenske, CEO of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, considers the new hotel another draw for major events in Winnipeg.

“When you can show that you’ve got the hotel-room supply, and it’s at a level that these conferences or events are looking for, it gives us more of a competitive advantage,” Fenske said.

“Events like that, they can bring thousands of people to our downtown, and that’s really critical.”

She labelled Broadway a “key corridor” in Winnipeg.

“We’ve got some challenges on Broadway, in terms of the empty offices,” she said. “Broadway is definitely a street where we see a lot of potential and opportunity.”

The Hyatt Centric will be a roughly 15-minute walk from The Forks and a five-minute drive from the Manitoba Legislative Building.

The provincial government also announced $2.73 million in tax-increment financing for a new, 21-storey apartment at 308 Colony St. The city is providing up to $5 million of tax-increment financing over 25 years and grants worth more than $270,000.

More than one-third of the Colony Street building’s units — 86 of 214 — will be priced for affordable housing.

Fenske called such units “critical.”

“Growing our residential population through a mixed-income approach is absolutely the key to a more vibrant and inclusive downtown,” she said, adding projects focused on attracting visitors, such as the Hyatt Centric, and others on residential tenants, are necessary.

The University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. is spearheading the new apartment block, which sits atop a now-demolished former warehouse space and parking lot.

Should plans unfurl as scheduled, tenants will be moving in near the end of 2025, said CEO Jeremy Read.

The non-profit has created two apartment buildings — The Downtown Commons and Muse Flats — in less than a decade. Approximately 150 of the 331 units it has opened on Colony Street are labelled affordable housing.

Those are booked, and there’s a wait list of 700 households, Read said.

“(The new apartment) will fit another spectrum of affordability within our units,” he added.

The $70.5 million project will neighbour The Downtown Commons and Muse Flats; Read’s organization has had its eyes on the plot for years.

“Do I see demand remaining in the downtown? Yes. Do I think it will pick up and be restored to what it was? Absolutely,” Read said.

As of Thursday, both Downtown Commons and Muse Flats were almost fully rented, Read added.

He expects demand to grow as international students return in larger numbers. The new apartment will be a four-minute walk from the U of W.

“The systems that we’re building (in this facility), we’ve had an eye toward their replicability so that the lessons learned… can be used elsewhere,” Read said.

The non-profit is aiming for a net zero carbon building. It will be equipped with solar photovoltaic panels — for energy performance — and solar panels to heat the building’s water.

“It kind of gets the water from cold to lukewarm,” Read explained, adding energy kicks in for steaming hot water.

Studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments will fill the apartment block. Sixty-one units will be leased at 69 per cent of the CMHC median market rent for the area; another 25 will cost 59 per cent of the median market rent.

Commercial spaces are also set for the building.

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