A historic building in downtown Charlottetown is being turned into a 15-room five-star heritage inn.
Greg Lipton, a realtor with Blue Ocean Real Estate, represents the buyer who is in the process of purchasing the property at 91 Water St. from the Murphy Hospitality Group.
Lipton won’t identify the prospective buyer other than to say it’s a Chinese immigrant who is not a PNP nominee.
“This gentleman came from China and has a couple of hotels in China, a hotel and a real estate development in Vancouver and he came (to P.E.I.) for a little break,’’ Lipton said. “He came here and he fell in love with the place. He (found) it so small, so quaint (with) beaches . . . trails . . . he’s a very active person.’’
The unnamed buyer ended up buying a house in the Brighton neighbourhood of Charlottetown that will serve as his permanent residence.
“One of my Chinese contacts introduced me and (the buyer) said ‘I’ve got some money to spend and I’d like to buy a brick or a concrete building in the downtown core. I want to do a hotel’.’’
The buyer first had Lipton approach established hotels, but none were willing to sell. Lipton then started looking at other buildings before choosing the building at 91 Water St., a 130-year-old building that was being used as office space. Most of the businesses have since moved out.
“It’s going to be turned into a five-star heritage inn, that is the plan. It’s going to be very high end. There will be an elevator in here with large rooms with full on suites.’’
Charlottetown city council has given its approval and the Delta Prince Edward Hotel has agreed to enter into a 10-year arrangement to lease out 18 parking spaces.
Lipton said since the deal hasn’t officially closed, he isn’t sure exactly when renovations will begin.
“The façade is going to stay exactly the same. It’s a heritage building, it has to stay that way. There are windows along the (east) side that have been bricked in. He’ll probably open those up or the majority of them but that’s all the stuff that’s going to happen on the outside. It’s all going to be on the inside (that the work happens) and it’s going to be fantastic.’’
Lipton has spent time in China looking for people interested in purchasing property in P.E.I. and staying here permanently. He said there is lots of interest.
“I was invited over there by a consulting company called GP Consulting and they had me in front of a panel of 167 families that were all in the process of moving to P.E.I. The second day I had 20 families come through that wanted more information (about) P.E.I.
“We need to find more listings, things that we can offer to these people that are willing to spend the money and not to come here, do a little thing and move on. This gentleman (who is buying 91 Water St.) is here to stay; he loves P.E.I.’’
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