Skyline Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality division of Skyline International Development, will assume management of The King Edward Hotel on July 17, 2012. The management agreement builds on Skyline’s existing role as asset manager for the 109-year-old luxury hotel on behalf of Canadian ownership group King Edward Realty Inc., in which it also has a stake.
“We have been closely engaged with The King Edward Hotel and its operations team since it was purchased in March of 2010,” said Skyline Hotels & Resorts president and COO Kevin Toth. “While in some ways this is a natural progression for Skyline, our new role here also speaks to how we are expanding as a hotel and resort collection and our company’s expertise in real estate and historic assets.”
With Skyline’s involvement, the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building, which had been closed for two decades, are already being transformed into 145 new private residences slated for completion in early 2013. The revitalization of The King Edward Hotel with a mixed use condo-hotel model was the brainchild of Skyline International Development founder and president Gil Blutrich.
“There was this unusual situation of a renowned, heritage-listed hotel that is consistently recognized for outstanding service but beyond that about 30 per cent of the structure’s useable space was actually shut away, empty,” said Blutrich. “By developing the King Edward Private Residences within the existing footprint and encouraging people to buy into a unique piece of Toronto history at great value, two years later we are already in a position to return even more of this hotel’s forgotten grandeur.”
The next step in the 298-room King Edward Hotel’s overall re-fit plan is the renovation of all accommodations and public spaces including the re-opening of the penthouse level Crystal Ballroom, abandoned since the 1950s. The Crystal Ballroom restoration is expected to be complete in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations.