June 22, 2006

Expansion

Marriott eyes more hotels in Canada

IRWIN RAPOPORT

correspondent

MONTREAL

Marriott Hotels of Canada plans to expand its presence in Canada to 100 hotels from 50 by the year 2010.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony on June 15 for the new Marriott Hotel to be built at Montreal-Trudeau Airport, Michael Beckley, vice president, lodging development for Marriott Hotels of Canada, said that his firm and its partners have issued about $400 million in construction contracts.

“The majority is in new construction,” he said. “In the city centres, the cost of building new hotels is prohibitive unless it’s a mixed use development, so we tend to look for hotels we can convert.”

He pointed to the renovation of Montreal’s Chateau Champlain hotel as an example.

MONTREAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Marriott Hotel to be built at the Montreal-Trudeau Airport.

“But the majority of our development over the last five years has been new construction,” said Beckley.

“We focused on getting the right product in major cities and airports. We started to focus on Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Now we have Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax and Ottawa.”

The next stage in Marriott’s development will be secondary and tertiary markets across Quebec, he said.

“We have plans to build a Residence Inn in Quebec City, and we’ll look at everything from Laval to Trois-Rivieres,” he added. “There is a lot of opportunity here for us.”

Half of Marriott’s Canadian holdings are located in Ontario, with nine hotels at the Pearson International Airport.

The Montreal Airport Hotel, with a delivery date of August 2008, is part of a 10-storey building that will house the head office of the Aeroports de Montreal (top floor), site of the future transborder area infrastructure (first and second floors) and a train station (underground) for the proposed airport-downtown Montreal dedicated train line.

The full-service hotel, with 275 rooms (20 per cent to be suites) is being developed by the Societe en commandite ADAMAX Immobilier, a consortium made up of Marriott, Axor and an institutional investor.

The hotel, located within the airport terminal near the transborder jetty, will have its own access ramp.

“This major project will give us an opportunity to showcase the expertise and ingenuity of our multidisciplinary team,” said Axor president Yvan Dupont, “as we deliver the results on time and within budget.”

MONTREAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

Yvan Dupont, president, Axor; Michael Beckley, vice president, Marriott International; Pierre Martin, president of Conseil d’administration d’Aéroports de Montréal; and James Cherry, president, Aéroports de Montréal, at the June 15 groundbreaking.

The architectural consortium for the project is Provencher Roy et associes. With excavation just beginning, construction is expected to start in August.

The complex will cost $120 million, with ADM contributing $60 million for the transborder departures area and train station.

“It’s a fairly quick construction program,” said Beckley, who does not expect any challenges with the construction. “It’s quite unusual to inherit a site that is this good, that has already been advanced. It’s really from the ground up — we don’t have to dig big holes and worry about environmental issues.”

“The architectural design blends in well with the style of the new airport infrastructures,” said James Cherry, the ADM’s president and CEO.

The new structure plays a pivotal role in the development of Montreal’s airport.

“It is at the very heart of some major customer service improvements,” said Cherry, “namely our objective to link this airport to downtown Montreal with an express train service, the relocation of the entire transborder departures facilities and centralization of our offices.”

While the train station is being constructed, negotiations are still ongoing for financing of the rail link.

“We have an agreement in principle with the provincial government, City of Montreal and the Agence Metroplitain de Montreal,” said Christiane Beaulieu, vice president of public affairs for the ADM.

“Now, we have to finalize the project and get the investment from the different parties involved.”

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