Loto-Québec will build a hotel at the Montreal Casino

Loto-Québec announces the construction of a hotel with approximately 200 rooms on the site of the Montreal Casino, an investment estimated at $150 million.

The state-owned company will be the sole owner and its opening is planned within “two to three years,” said its president and CEO, Jean-François Bergeron, at a press conference Monday morning.

Read also: Luxury hotel at the casino: no to the privatization of Parc Jean-Drapeau by Loto-Québec

The name of the hotel brand chosen by Loto-Québec has not yet been revealed. Discussions with different companies are currently underway on this subject.

The state company is currently talking about a “high-end” establishment, whose architecture – which remains to be defined – will blend well with the environment of Parc Jean-Drapeau.

The CEO said he imagines a four-story building to be built in place of the current multi-storey parking lot, adjacent to the former France pavilion, today entirely dedicated to gambling.

Calls for tenders will follow in the coming months for construction work, which will extend over a period which should not exceed three years, its CEO suggested.

Construction permitted?

On site, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, welcomed the project, believing that it fits perfectly into the development vision contained in the new master plan for Parc Jean-Drapeau, adopted in 2021. The latter brings together the islands Notre-Dame and Saint Helena.

The general director of the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau, Véronique Doucet, specifies that the land in question belongs to the government of Quebec and currently has an “entertainment” zoning which would allow the construction and commercial operation of a hotel adjoining the Casino.

All the rest of the territory of the two islands, including that devoted to the activities of La Ronde on its eastern tip, is zoned “park” and could not, without modification, accommodate the construction of other hotel establishments or residential complexes, a- she indicated.

The Casino du Lac-Leamy, in Gatineau, and the Casino du Manoir Richelieu, in La Malbaie, are already benefiting from the presence of their own hotel from the Hilton and Fairmont brands. With 330 to 400 rooms each, these hotels have average occupancy rates of 80%, said Mr. Bergeron, adding that the time had come for the one in Montreal to also have its own.

Good for health

The CEO of Loto-Québec said he did not fear an uproar from citizens opposed to the development of gambling activities in Jean-Drapeau Park, an area of ​​the Ville-Marie borough. “Absolutely not (…). We’re at the park. (…) We are on our ground. (…) There is room; We’re going to do this well.”

We will recall that in the face of citizen opposition, Loto-Québec was forced to abandon a few months ago its project to build a gaming hall adjoining the Bell Center in downtown Montreal. In response to a question from an English-speaking journalist, Mr. Bergeron even indicated in English that the construction of this hotel constituted an advantage.

“I believe,” he said, “that from a public health perspective, it is good to have a hotel to take a break, if that is an issue. I don’t think we’re going to increase the risk associated with gambling. On the contrary, we are only going to add an additional health offer in this niche.”

For its part, the Greater Montreal Hotel Association welcomes this announcement with openness, to the extent that this project from the Quebec government constitutes a different proposition from what the private sector currently offers in Montreal.

“A hotel with 200 rooms represents 1% of the current hotel offering on the island of Montreal (20,000 rooms), notes its CEO Jean-Sébastien Boudreault. If someone had told me about an establishment with 2000 rooms, I might have had a different reaction. But there, with 200 rooms in Parc Jean-Drapeau, I believe that it could well complement the current offer.