The official opening of the Hyatt Place hotel Monday marks the first new major hotel in downtown Edmonton in nearly four decades.
Monday also marked the official opening of the Armature, which runs along 96 Street from 103A Avenue to Jasper Avenue.
“The Armature is the crown jewel of the Quarters Downtown, and is a significant milestone for Edmonton,” Iveson said in a media release. “Hyatt Place Edmonton/Downtown is the first new development along the Armature, the first downtown hotel in a generation, and is a stunning cornerstone for this area.”
The Hyatt is located on Jasper Avenue and 96 Street. It was designed by Edmonton architect Gene Dub at a cost of $60 million. The 13-storey hotel has 258 rooms and 11,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The rooms vary in size between 400 square feet to 1,000 square feet.
The hotel’s opening marks a significant milestone in the redevelopment of the Quarters – a four-block stretch of 96 Street from Jasper Avenue to 103A Avenue.
READ MORE: Edmonton report indicates downtown growth creating desperate need for new hotels
The street has had $27 million of work done on it, plus more than $12 million for an upgraded sewer pipe to make way for new high-density development.
A 2015 Downtown Business Association report indicated growth in the downtown has created a desperate need for more hotels in the area. The report stated there’s room for 15 to 20 downtown hotels.
“We wanted to create something very beautiful,” Prem Singhmar, owner of Hyatt Place Edmonton/Downtown, said. “We wanted it to reflect the vision for the future of downtown and the Quarters.”
He suggested the area’s colourful past may mean it will take time for Edmontonians to acknowledge the area is changing.
“We think we are downtown – we are not a couple blocks from downtown,” Singhmar said. “It’s a perception, but it’s restricted to Edmontonians more than anybody else.
“People who come from outside – they don’t know what Edmonton was three years back or was there a peep show here… they come, they see the Hyatt.”
In May, Coun. Scott McKeen said a developer is looking into plans for another hotel and condominium tower in The Quarters.
READ MORE: Luxury hotel chain coming to downtown Edmonton
A four-star JW Mariott Edmonton is scheduled to open in late 2018 in the heart of the city’s entertainment district, near Rogers Place. It will house 356 rooms and suites, a spa and more than 25,000-square feet of meeting and conference space.
Singhmar acknowledged because it was a new hotel opening during an economic downturn, it may take some time for the hotel to build its clientele.
“Business is totally corporate based, so it’ll take some time until the hotel is exposed to the people,” he said.
The Hyatt Place becomes the first new hotel to open in the city’s core since 1978.
Despite Monday being the hotel’s official grand opening, it has been operating since late October.
-With files from Sarah Kraus.
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