Downtown Montreal hotel to become student residence

The 711 rooms at Montreal's Delta Centre-Ville Hotel will be transformed into a student residence by 2014, the hotel chain announced Tuesday.

Delta said earlier this month that it would close the hotel on October 31.

Campus Crest Communities and Beaumont Partners have joined forces to buy the 33-storey tower located near Old Montreal for $60 million. The new owners will begin reserving the units in September for rental in the fall of 2014.

"We have been evaluating the Canadian market for several years, and we believe that this is a good opportunity with the right partner," said the chief executive officer of Campus Crest, Ted Rollins.

This project not only allows the company to expand its operations, he said, but it gives it access to what he called "one of Canada's most prestigious university towns," which has nearly 200,000 post-secondary students.

Once the renovations are completed, the former Delta Centre-Ville will offer students a gym, library and technology centre. Major universities near the proposed student residence are McGill, Concordia and l'École de technologie supérieure, part of the Université du Québec à Montreal.

Campus Crest is a U.S. real estate investment fund that owns 84 student residences in the United States, and Beaumont Partners is an international real estate investor based in Geneva and London. Campus Crest owns 20 per cent of the hotel and Beaumont Partners 80 per cent.