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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4219732_web1_260511-Fort-Garry-00056.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
The Fort Garry Hotel was first listed for sale April 27.<\/p>\n
Hotels such as the Fort Garry, at 222 Broadway, just west of Main Street, don\u2019t go on the market very often.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s irreplaceable. You couldn\u2019t and wouldn\u2019t build this anymore, so there\u2019s a scarcity to something like this as a true trophy style of investment,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of really good opportunities on the market to acquire. There\u2019s a little bit of scarcity to quality hotel investments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avison Young, headquartered in Toronto, and brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Winnipeg represent the current owners.<\/p>\n
A deal is expected this year. The four-star, 113-year-old hotel does not have a list price.<\/p>\n
Gallagher said it is difficult to put a potential sale price on the Fort Garry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith something as iconic and irreplaceable as this, we sort of engage with qualified investors once they sign a (non-disclosure agreement), let them dig into all of the detail of the data room and have conversations about what they are thinking and sort of take it from there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s irreplaceable. You couldn\u2019t and wouldn\u2019t build this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a 1.5-acre footprint, the hotel has 236 guest rooms and suites, a spa, restaurants, conference and banquet space, Yuk Yuk\u2019s comedy club and a seasonal patio.<\/p>\n
Managing partners and local entrepreneurs Ida Albo and Richard Bel, along with the Quebec-based Laberge Group, acquired the Fort Garry in 1993. By then, it had already been deemed a national historic site.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve owned it for over three decades, and this is really sort of the retirement plan and time to hand it over to a new owner for the next chapter of its story,\u201d Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
The current owners, who received praise this week for spending millions on improvements and preserving the building\u2019s heritage, have hopes for the Fort Garry\u2019s future once a sale is completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn any transaction, it\u2019s not always just about price. It\u2019s really about the whole package,\u201d Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have something that is so meaningful to the city of Winnipeg, but also to them \u2014 they poured their whole lives into this \u2014 they absolutely want to see it elevated, rather than diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Landmark hotels such as the Fort Garry don\u2019t go on the market very often.<\/p>\n Albo told the Free Press in March she and her business partners had invested about $5 million in the hotel since the COVID-19 pandemic, including a new, exclusive \u201cvice regal floor.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fort Garry welcomes about 80,000 guests per year, and employs nearly 400 full- and part-time staff.<\/p>\n The hotel was constructed in Ch\u00e2teau style by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. It has welcomed everyone from British royals and A-list actors to newlyweds and staycationing families over the years.<\/p>\n In a news release, Avison Young likened the Fort Garry to six Canadian hotels \u2014 the Ch\u00e2teau Laurier in Ottawa; Hotel Madonald in Edmonton; Banff Springs and Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta; Hotel Vancouver; and the Queen Elizabeth in Montreal \u2014 \u201cwith comparable recognition and rich histories.\u201d<\/p>\n All six are owned by large \u2014 multinational, in some cases \u2014 real estate investment or hospitality firms. The Fort Garry\u2019s current ownership is local and independent.<\/p>\n The odds of the Fort Garry remaining locally owned after the sale should not be considered slim, according to Gallagher.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not always just about price. It\u2019s really about the whole package.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWinnipeg is a very important city and there\u2019s a lot of wealth in that city,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause somebody may not have invested in a hotel before, that doesn\u2019t matter. There are third-party professional companies that can operate the day-to-day for these potential owners that can treat this as a passive investment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fort Garry was previously put on the market in 2019. A potential sale was scuttled by the pandemic, which caused a temporary downturn in the hospitality sector amid lockdowns and travel restrictions.<\/p>\n The current owners and a prospective buyer mutually and amicably agreed to terminate a deal, Gallagher said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it was painful at the time, (the owners) continued to put and invest money into it, and then the performance improved,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing in disguise in the sense that the market is stronger, the asset is stronger and the asset is performing better.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent Avison Young analysis said Winnipeg\u2019s hospitality sector experienced growth in 2025, with one of the highest year-over-year increases (6.9 per cent) in revenue per available room among major Canadian markets.<\/p>\n Gallagher said the hotel industry is seeing a lot of new interest from non-traditional owners.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n The hotel was constructed in Ch\u00e2teau style by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.<\/p>\n Chris Macsymic, executive vice-president and principal of Cushman & Wakefield Winnipeg, said more than $1 billion is now being spent on various hotel projects in the downtown area over the next three to five years.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are really starting to see the benefits of downtown, and are quite excited about what\u2019s happening and what\u2019s to come,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve used the word \u2018iconic\u2019 a few times, but that\u2019s the perfect word to describe (the Fort Garry).\u201d<\/p>\n The locally owned Fairmont Winnipeg hotel, at Portage Avenue and Main Street, is scheduled to close from July 1 to spring 2027 for a full renovation.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Shiu-Yik Au, an associate professor of finance at the University of Manitoba\u2019s Asper School of Business, said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if a national or international firm purchases the Fort Garry Hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt may be that we lose local ownership, but it will still physically be here and the heart will still be here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The hotel was listed for sale at a time when there is a huge demand for travel post-pandemic, and many Canadians are choosing to vacation within Canada or seek luxury experiences, Au said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n There is a possibility the hotel will remain locally owned after the sale.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaces like the Fort Garry, this is not a low-end (hotel). This is one of our premier spots in Winnipeg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Chris Kitching Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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