The other hotel-turned-residence, bought in 2003, operates at 99 per cent capacity
The Montreal Gazette and The McGill Tribune are reporting that McGill University is in the process of trying to buy the swanky Four Points Sheraton hotel on Sherbrooke St. W., just two blocks east of the school’s downtown campus.
In 2003, the university bought the Renaissance Hotel on Park Ave., right around the corner from the school, and turned it into a 700-bed dormitory.
Science student Billi Wun, vice-president of the First Year Council, told The McGill Tribune that the council’s president Sean Husband confirmed that negotiations to buy the hotel were taking place.
McGill University declined to comment on the issue, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., parent company of the hotel, didn’t return calls placed by the Gazette.
However, Michael Porritt, McGill’s executive director of residences and student housing did say the university’s residences operate at a 97.5 per cent occupancy rate. He says the former Renaissance Hotel is also regularly at 99 per cent occupancy.