News   Mar 28, 2024
 63     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 545     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 353     0 

Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport (Regal Constellation site)

unimaginative2

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
4,554
Reaction score
10
Location
New York
I don't think I've seen it mentioned here, but there's apparently a plan to redevelop the Regal Constellation Hotel by the Hospitality Investors Group.

HIG, as a co-owner and developer, purchased the Constellation Hotel at Toronto Airport and will carry forward renovation and re-branding to Crowne Plaza and Red Lion. Hotel has 837 rooms and 100,000 square feet of retail and public space. Retail outlets included on the premises will be Wolfgang Puck, Tu Tu Tango, Gordon Biersch and Gold's Gym. Construction will start in 2005.
 
I've wondered about this building. I like the 1960s wing with the trapezoid windows and the giant red sign. But construction to begin in 2005?

Anyway, the parking lot is currently used to store newly-finished cars.
 
I was wondering if anybody knew what happened to these plans. It would be a shame to lose the Regal Constellation, both owing to its large number of hotel rooms and good location, and to its extraordinary political history.
 
I know they must be doing SOMETHING right now, but they certainly weren't as 2005.

Around Christmas of 2005 I managed to sneak in and look around a bit, and a few months later returned (though security got me that time.) Neither of these time was any work actually going on in the place.

Recently though, stuff has been happening. I've seen people on the roof, and there is SOMETHING going on, I just can't really say what...
 
Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport to Debut in 2010

...wondered what was happening with the old Constellation Hotel (now closed)...

Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport to Debut in 2010

Fri Dec 7, 2007

TORONTO--(Business Wire)--Affiliates of Global Hyatt Corporation have signed an agreement to
manage Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport being developed by New York-based
Merchant Equity Group. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2010, the
12-story hotel will be part of a 15-acre, mixed-use complex with
500-rooms and overlooking the fairways of the championship Royal
Woodbine Golf Course. Award-winning, Toronto-based Zeidler Partnership
Architects, whose work includes Toronto's National Trade Center and
Eaton Centre, will design the hotel.

Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport will be an environmentally
sustainable project, designed to LEED silver standards. It will be
energy efficient using state-of-the-art occupancy sensors to
automatically turn off lights and guestroom televisions, and will
feature green roofs and recycled building materials.

The $300 million hotel complex will include office, retail space
and convention facilities. The Hyatt Regency will replace the Regal
Constellation Hotel, which closed over four years ago. Construction of
the new property will start in 2008.

"We are thrilled to enhance Hyatt's visibility in Toronto, and
this new property will complement our luxury Park Hyatt Toronto
downtown," said Chuck Floyd, Chief Operating Officer North America,
Global Hyatt Corporation. "The new eco-friendly hotel will be a
distinctive addition to the Toronto airport area, creating jobs and
boosting the local economy. We look forward to welcoming additional
visitors from around the world to Toronto."

"Construction of the Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport hotel will
create as many as 500 construction jobs and approximately 500
permanent jobs when it opens in 2010," said Jeff Gwin, Managing
Partner of Merchant Equity Group. "The new hotel will revitalize the
airport strip, generating millions of dollars in property taxes for
the City of Toronto."

Hyatt Regency Toronto Airport will complement Toronto's Pearson
International Airport which has undergone a $4.4 billion redevelopment
as the fourth largest international airport in North America.

About Global Hyatt Corporation

Global Hyatt Corporation, one of the world's premier hotel
companies, offers today's travelers over 735 hotels and resorts (over
136,000 rooms) in more than 55 countries. The company's affiliates
own, operate, manage and franchise Hyatt branded hotels and resorts
under the Park Hyatt(TM), Grand Hyatt(TM), Hyatt Regency(TM), Hyatt
Resorts(TM), Hyatt(TM), Hyatt Place(TM) and Hyatt Summerfield
Suites(TM) brands. In April 2007, Hyatt launched its newest global
brand, Andaz(TM). Global Hyatt Corporation is also the owner of Hyatt
Vacation Ownership, Inc. operator of the Hyatt Vacation Club and
fractional residential properties and U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc,
which franchises Hawthorn Suites and Microtel Inns and Suites. From
the U.S. and Canada, reservations for any Hyatt hotel worldwide may be
obtained by calling 1-800-233-1234 or logging onto www.hyatt.com.

About Merchant Equity Group

The Merchant Equity Group is a private equity investment and asset
management company with interests in a diverse portfolio of commercial
real estate, including major urban office buildings, shopping centres
and undeveloped land.
 
Lots going on in the area around the airport. A new hotel opened up about a year ago and the Constellation has shut down for renovations. Now this! It would be sweet if the people mover was able to run along Dixon to connect people to the hotels along the strip.
 
yep, that would actually be a logical and easily doable next step. Then maybe we can get a direct link with downtown by 2020...
 
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sorry, but the abandoned west tower is one of my favourite towers in the city and the only highrise of any architecture merit in Etobicoke. The plan calls for its demolition which has already been approved.
 
^ WHAT?!?! I've always loved the west tower - the windows have a crazy shape that I've never seen anywhere else. The whole tower is a fantastic snapshot of 60's style that's impossible to miss when you drive by. I guess it's too much to ask that a lovely building less than 100 years old would have any chance at receiving heritage designation, as Doug Holyday would say. Oh well, Toronto continues its fine tradition of destroying the past to make way for what will no doubt be a bland piece of trash. Cheers to "progress!"
 
what?? They are not going to get rid of that building are they? That truly is a fantastic piece of architecture..Why not turn it into a boutique style airport hotel...people would love it..have a night club in it and a lounge on the roof overlooking the airport..awesome. Fuck, sometimes I wish I had a lot more money.

!sigh!

p5

ps..merry christmas everyone!
 
I'd love to see the West tower stay up... but honestly, I'm not sure it's all that feasible.

I was in there today shooting photos (They're not off my memory card yet, otherwise I'd post them) and although a lot of the damage done to the West tower is from police training explosives and such, there's a good deal of water damage too. It's not a pretty sight.
 
^^So in other words its abandoned, or at least it has been left to fall apart by the owners. And I am sure even if it were in better shape, they would still insist on building a new building.

p5
 
Correct me if I'm wrong. But I thought the West Tower was abandoned due to its close proximity to the new runway flightpaths into Pearson.
 
Naw, the new runway flight path is further to the south. The hotel that had to be closed for the new runway was the Novotel on Carlingview.
 

Back
Top