Sandman Hotel Addition

It seems like more than a year has gone for the Sandman Hotel addition on Sargent has been under construction. I'm not sure if there were delays but it is starting to look like something now. The site used to be a works yard as well as CDC Computers and for a while a a heating a cooling place.

It attests to the fact that so much of the airport area was industrial. Warehouses, manufacturing and other industry. It used to be that there really was only one hotel by the airport: The International Inn (Victoria Inn now).

Hotels started being built down Wellington. On the corner by Route 90 a Hilton Hotel went. At Sargent and Route 90 a Journey's End (Comfort Inn). Eventually other hotels were built in quick succession the last 20 years. Greenwood Inn (Best Western Plus) and a rapid success of hotels at airport and up and down Route 90: Hampton Inn by Hilton Winnipeg, Days Inn and Suites by Wyndam Winnipeg and Mainstay Suites. Almost all these hotels were built on former industrial land.

Three hotels were also built right on airport grounds. The Courtyard by Marriot, The Lakeview Signature Collection and The Grand Hotel.

For years Winnipeg was out of step with a lot of cities with so few hotels by the airport. Now there are many including the only 5 star hotel in The Grand at the airport.

The Sandman Hotel was built in 2007 and brought with it the return of Denny's which has been in the city but had failed in the past. The Chop Steakhouse and Bar was also added to the hotel. 

The Sandman is a Canadian chain starting to also build in the states. Their expansion will see the hotel occupy a full city block.

Across it is Don Vito who did a massive expansion on the collision center on Route 90 in recent years.

Winnipeggers often don't think of our city as a tourist place but people all over Manitoba and northwest Ontario come to the city for shopping and services. In recent years pre-pandemic, the city had a pretty good occupancy rate for hotels.

The Sandman looks like it is months away from completion. The timing might be perfect for a return to more normal in the fall and a Christmas rush.

Look for completion sometime late in the year.