The local ownership group that included Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer has lost its bid to purchase the historic Château Montebello.
Jean-Pierre Poulin, CEO of Devcore Group confirmed Monday that the group had been informed it was not the successful bidder in the court-supervised sales process .
“We gave it our best,” Poulin said. “We beefed up our bid, but it didn’t turn favourably for us, so it’s disappointing.”
The consortium which included Andlauer, Nordik Spa founder Martin Paquette and developers Charles-Antoine Hallé and Edouard Wakim of Elevate Real Estate Properties had pledged to invest between $100 million and $150 million in the property over four years if its bid had succeeded.
Poulin said the group was notified with what he described as a brief, two-line letter.
“It was saying, unfortunately, you haven’t chosen as a winning proponent. Send us your folio so we can return your deposit. That was it,” he said.
“They could’ve called us or just given us a little bit more detail, but of course they don’t need to give details.”
The nearly century-old resort was put up for sale after its former owner, Hong Kong-based China Evergrande Group, was ordered into liquidation. The court-appointed receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) , has not yet announced the successful bidder.
PwC said Monday it wouldn’t give a sale update because the legal process is still ongoing.
Despite the disappointment, Poulin said he believes the resort will be well managed under its new ownership.
“We believe the winner is a very respected hotel operator,” he said. “They have hundreds of hotels across the world, so I think on the hotel side it’s going to be in good hands for sure.”
He said the biggest difference between the competing visions was his group’s focus on redevelopment.
“Our plan was to redevelop the entire site,” Poulin said.
His group’s proposal called for expanding the marina, redeveloping the golf course and making greater use of the property’s roughly 925 acres, much of which Poulin said remains undeveloped.
Poulin said a large international hotel operator may instead focus on improving the existing resort and guest experience rather than expanding the property.
“That might be the difference between both bids,” he said. “They’re going to focus on making the rooms better and the service better. We would have focused more on redevelopment.”
Still, Poulin said he remains optimistic about the future of the landmark resort.
“It’s going to be better than what it was before,” he said. “So that’s positive for the Château no matter what.”
