Winnipeg | 300 Main St.- Phase II 360 Main St. | 465 Ft | 42F | Completed

[CoryB]

Albo doesn't exactly have the best record on that stretch of Fort St. They originally bought the Carlton Club with a plan to make it an off site banquet expansion to the Fort Garry Hotel. It took some time for them to put those plans into action and while waiting the Fort Gary Place banquet rooms became available at a price they could not refuse and they moved those plans to the adjoining property. They still owned the Carlton Club building though and came up with a new plan, turning it into a yoga studio. Walking by on the street level though it looks like most of the street facing area is being used as storage or pending some future renovation. As part of the yoga studio plan, then derelict building to the north of the then small surface lot was demolished to enlarge the surface lot.

Albo also seems to have a reputation of slowly renovating the Hotel Fort Gary as funds permitted. An example would be on the main banquet floor of the hotel that was once home to Crystal Casino still has traces of those elements more than 20 years after it closed down. It is one thing to present your property as historic but the Fort Gary is starting to hit some of those notes in the wrong way.

It is nice these properties are being put together under a single developer. Hopefully they can also gain control of the three other properties on the street and do something with the entire west side of that block. Until I see the plans though I think the city should hold off on delisting anything.