The Mount Stephen Club in Montreal - Date unknown Dario Ayala.

26 September 2012

Conversion to High-End Hotel Will Breath New Life into Mount Stephen Club Owner Says

Montreal Quebec - Montreal's historic Mount Stephen Club, closed in December as a social club for the elite, is to be reinvented as part of a high-end boutique hotel project, owner Tidan Hospitality and Real Estate Group said this week.
 
The lavish former residence of Canadian Pacific Railway founding president George Stephen is to serve as the front entrance of a new 80-room hotel to be built on the rear parking lot of the downtown site.
 
The stone facade of the club, first opened to men in 1926, won't change as the building would be attached at the ground level to the back of the new 11-storey hotel, Tidan general counsel Ian Copnick explained.
 
"It will be integrated into the club. If you don't cast your eyes upward you won't see anything different,"
 
Copnick told The Gazette in an interview. "That parking lot will be the floor plate."
 
Since the company is still trying to obtain project permits from the city of Montreal, Copnick could not say when the hotel and its underground parking lot would be built, or how much the development would cost.
 
Mount Stephen is being redeveloped at a time when private clubs across North America are trying to retain members, along with their relevance amid other social venues like high-end gyms. In 2009, Montreal's 135-year-old Club Saint Denis closed its doors, leaving 75 employees out of work.
 
But by reinventing Mount Stephen as a hotel, Tidan would be facing a new set of challenges in Montreal's hospitality market where fierce competition has eroded margins. That's especially the case with the Mount Stephen Club, industry experts say, because as a boutique hotel, Tidan's construction costs would be spread over just 80 rooms.
 
According to hospitality research firm PKF Consulting, average Montreal hotel room occupancy is expected to remain flat at 66 percent in 2012. Average daily rates are forecast to be $136 in 2012, down from $137 in 2011, PKF data show.
 
Copnick said the privately held Tidan, which operates eight hotels in Quebec, including the Nouvel Hotel and Chateau Versailles in downtown Montreal, wouldn't divulge any of its financial plans for "competitive reasons." He said the Mount Stephen Club, an example of late Victorian architecture with 24-karat gold doorknobs, would charge rates in line with top city hotels like the St. James in Old Montreal, where fall weekend prices searched by a reporter ran upward of $390 a night.
 
"We're not talking about a cheap hotel, it's going to be higher end," Copnick said. "We definitely bring a competitive site and a beautiful historic building."
 
Privately held Tidan, which has 60 properties in the United States and Canada, acquired the Mount Stephen Club in 2006 for $4 million. Despite investing an additional $1 million in renovations, Tidan said in October 2011 that the club was losing money, even as negotiations soured with its 70 unionized employees.
 
Copnick could not say whether the 70 workers would be invited back to apply for jobs at the hotel.
 
Allison Lampert.