The historic hotel Château Laurier is framed through an arch of a bridge as skaters brave the cold weather to enjoy a day on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
The landmark Fairmont Château Laurier in downtown Ottawa is up for sale as part of its owner's plans to sell most of its hotel properties to focus on other types of real estate.
A spokesman for Ivanhoe Cambridge says the Montreal-based company, an arm of Quebec's Caisse de dépôt pension management system, has already sold hotels this year in several Canadian cities, Paris and the United States.
"We're a long-term institutional real estate investor and our objective is to generate attractive returns for our shareholders," Ivanhoe Cambridge spokesman Sebastian Theberge said on Friday in an e-mail.
Mr. Theberge said the company has already sold two Fairmont-branded hotels (in Winnipeg and Vancouver); a Delta hotel in eastern Toronto and a Hilton in central Toronto; and Westin hotels in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
It has also sold four hotel properties in Paris and 14 in the United States, Mr. Theberge said.
The company's decision to sell most of its hotels – with the exception of Château Frontenac in Quebec City and the Queen Elizabeth in Montreal – was announced last year, but sale prices have not been disclosed by Ivanhoe Cambridge.
The Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported on Friday that Ivanhoe Cambridge is seeking a buyer for the 429-room Fairmont Château Laurier, which is a short walk from Parliament Hill and near some of the city's main tourist and shopping areas.