East meets West as Hotel Godin becomes Trilogy's Opus
B.C. property developer to bring 'lifestyle changes,' including 5-star dining, to troubled boutique hotel

MIKE KING,  The Gazette

Goodbye Godin, hello Opus.

The luxurious yet troubled Hotel Godin, which has been without a restaurant or bar since it opened in November 2004, is now known as Opus Montreal after being bought Monday by B.C. property developer Trilogy Properties Corp. for an undisclosed amount. John Evans, company president and chief executive officer, told The Gazette from his head office in Vancouver yesterday that one of Trilogy's priorities is to develop the five-star restaurant and lounge the previous owners planned but never completed.

"We will make a multimillion-dollar investment over the next nine months," Evans said of what it will cost to build the 465-square-metre restaurant as well as finish the 370-square-metre terrace and 140-square-metre bar.

He noted there will also be "lifestyle changes to the guest rooms to bring some of our (West Coast) personality while respecting the city and culture of Montreal."

The downtown four-star establishment becomes the Montreal sister to the award-winning Opus Vancouver, also owned and managed by Trilogy.

"Opus Montreal is the ideal launching pad for our national chain of world-class boutique hotels under the Opus banner," Evans said. "Opus Vancouver and Opus Montreal are similar in size, stand out for their design and architecture and are conveniently located in the heart of the action of two of Canada's most exciting and dynamic cities."

Classified as a heritage structure in 1990, the building was an early North American experiment in the use of reinforced concrete. The 1916 apartment block was designed by architect J.A. Godin, who also owned the building.

"We are very anxious to get the bar up with the restaurant," Daniel Craig, general manager of Opus Vancouver and temporarily assuming that title here, said yesterday in the Opus Montreal lobby.

Katrina Carroll-Foster, director of sales and marketing, also on loan to Montreal from Vancouver, said it will be her job to "roll out the Opus brand across this city."
She intends to become involved on both the community and business levels during her stint here.

John's daughter Katherine Evans, who will have an office in Opus Montreal where she'll assume responsibilities relating to the hotel's promotion in addition to food and beverage marketing functions, said she's "excited to be in this new community."

Her father said Montreal, Toronto and Calgary are at the top of Trilogy's list of places to expand the Opus brand across the country.

"If we would have had to build (a boutique hotel in Montreal), it would have been beyond our capability, but a great opportunity was waiting to happen (when the Godin was put up for sale)," the senior Evans said.

Craig and Carroll-Foster were part of an Opus executive team that did a retreat in Montreal last September. They spent one night at the Godin.

"It was serendipitous it went on sale the next month," Craig recalled.

The Godin, which cost approximately $30.2 million to develop and has been evaluated at nearly $23.5 million by the city, was put on the seller's block in October by the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Hotels Incognita Inc.

The Caisse's affiliate Cadim Inc. was 92-per-cent majority stakeholder while Incognita owed the small balance.

Cadim and Incognita reached a buyout settlement in February with a third group, 3879607 Canada Inc., that previously held a 40-per-cent share in the Godin.

The numbered company belongs to former Godin manager Massimo Lecas and associates Roberto Pesut and Angelo Leone - the trio that runs the trendy Buona Notte, Globe and Rosalie restaurants.

Their operating contract at the Godin was terminated by Cadim in May 2006 because a history of those popular supper clubs running afoul of Regie des alcools regulations was keeping the hotel from obtaining liquor licences.

Booze permits for the 136 guest-room minibars, restaurant and lounge were issued by the provincial liquor board the following month.

Despite finally getting the licences, neither the restaurant nor the bar were ever opened.
Caisse spokesman Gilles des Roberts and Trilogy CEO Evans declined to discuss the amount of the sale, noting it was a private transaction.

"I believe (Opus Montreal) will quickly become one of the top performing hotels in the city," Evans predicted.