Roughly five years ago, four siblings reopened the historic Grant Hall Hotel in downtown Moose Jaw after years of extensive renovations.
“It’s very gratifying to see something come out of what it was. It’s like a flower blooming,” hotel owner Verna Alford told CTV News in September 2013, shortly before the reopening.
The hotel first opened in the 1920s but fell into disrepair after its closure in the late 1980s.
About a decade after the closure, the building was purchased by Alford and her family, and the restoration work began.
“Once it finally opened, I think it just blew everyone away,” said Jacki L’Heureux-Mason, the executive director of Tourism Moose Jaw. “It was almost more than we could imagine because it brought back the opulence of the 1920s.”
Now, the restored Grant Hall Hotel is for sale. It’s listed at an asking price just under $11 million.
Garry Oledzki is the person in charge of selling the property, says he wants to find the right person to continue the hotel’s legacy.
“I want it to land, and to be in good hands when we have completed our process,” Oledzki said.
Oledzki, part of Avison Young, grew up in Moose Jaw, and says he has fond memories at the Grant Hall.
“In its day, it was the premiere hotel in the city of Moose Jaw.”
Oledzki says the overhaul has brought the hotel back to its former glory, but the restorations didn’t come cheap. He says getting the hotel back up and running was a ‘labour of love’ for the owners, comparing it to a caring homeowner investing in their home.
“You don’t always get back necessarily what you have put in, invested in your home, the improvements, the renovations, and that’s a similar case here.”
Hundreds of possible buyers, partners, and investors have already been contacted to gauge interest in the hotel.
Several have inquired, but at this early point in the sale process, nothing has been solidified yet.
