A Hilton Hotel is coming to River Street sometime in the future, according to the company and the project proponents, with the proposal unlikely to be affected by a recent land sale.
During its Nov. 27 executive committee meeting, city council recommended that city administration purchase the most westerly 150 feet of the zero block of River Street West from holding company 102071770 Saskatchewan Ltd. for $290,000.
Council then re-voted on the motion during its Dec. 4 regular meeting and officially approved it.
102071770 Saskatchewan Ltd.
Only some information about 102071770 Saskatchewan Ltd. exists online.
According to Information Services Corporation, the numbered company was incorporated on March 1, 2019. Its physical address was listed as 1500-1881 Scarth Street in Regina under Ryan J. Laidlaw. However, its mailing address was listed as P.O. Box 40 Station Main in Moose Jaw under W. Shea Jameson.
An annual return from April 18, 2023, listed Jameson as a director/officer and treasurer, Mark Hetherington as director/officer and president, and E. Grant Kosior and Philip Lynn as directors. The physical and mailing addresses remain the same.
During the internet search, the Moose Jaw Express also came across a report from Hilton Worldwide Franchising LP about its 2022 activities.
Among other things, the document has a page entitled “Exhibit E” that features a sub-headline called “Signed but not yet Open.” Under that category for Saskatchewan, it lists the following: “102071770 SASKATCHEWAN LTD., The Brunswick Hotel Moose Jaw, Canada, 76 River Street/67 High Street Moose Jaw, SK Canada S6H 3L9.”
Historic demolition
A group calling itself Little Chicago Development Company (LCDC) purchased three hotels — including the Brunswick Hotel — on River Street in 2008 and closed the venues, with the goal of building a historically themed hotel modelled after the Lexington Hotel in Chicago, with a pedway connecting to the Multiplex, according to previous news articles.
The two lots where the hotel was planned are 67 and 76 River Street West.
The group also bought the actual street from the City of Moose Jaw for $1, but when construction stalled, an agreement change saw the developer buy the land for full value to avoid the requirement that construction move ahead, the article continued.
When the initial hotel project was cancelled, city hall allegedly attempted to re-purchase the roadway for the initial purchasing price. However, it declined when the Little Chicago group allegedly wanted a hefty sum.
The last hotel bricks fell in 2010, and after seven years of sitting vacant or used as paid parking for events at Mosaic Place, the group listed the land for $2.3 million, the article added.
Land purchase
After 102071770 Saskatchewan Ltd. formed in 2019, it purchased the parcel — totalling 0.464 hectares (1.15 acres) — from LCDC for an unknown amount. It then began working on bringing a hotel there and contacted Hilton Hotels and Resorts.
“There is a franchise agreement with Hilton and (we) are moving to raise the capital to bring the project to life,” Jameson told the Express, adding more details will come next year.
The holding company and city had several positive conversations this year about the hotel, he continued. Meanwhile, the municipality expressed interest in reacquiring the River Street road, which the group agreed to since they didn’t need it.
Jameson added his group has no plans to build a standalone parkade and is currently giving all WHL game-day parking revenues to KidSport Moose Jaw.
Developing this property came up during the final media scrum with former city manager Jim Puffalt in late April. In his farewell speech, he mentioned that there was a major new project coming soon, but never mentioned the initiative by name.
The Express asked Puffalt whether the project was a new hotel and development on River Street. He declined to comment, only saying city hall had worked on a project for five years and an announcement would happen by May — but never did.
When asked for comment, a city hall spokesman said the city doesn’t “speak on behalf of developers and their plans,” while River Street was not the project that city administration referred to during a December meeting about a big project that failed to happen in 2023.
A statement from a Hilton spokesman said, “A Tapestry Collection by Hilton property in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan has been signed. Construction has not yet begun.”
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