The Westin Harbour Castle Toronto is a large hotel opened in 1975 on the waterfront of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is part of the

Westin Hotels Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wester ...

chain within

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging including hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The company was founded by ...

History

The hotel was built by the

Campeau Corporation Campeau Corporation was a Canadian real estate development and investment company founded by entrepreneur Robert Campeau. It was infamous from its ultimately unsuccessful acquisitions of American department store holding companies Allied Sto ...

, after Canadian real estate tycoon

Robert Campeau Robert Joseph Antoine Campeau (August 3, 1923 June 12, 2017) was a Canadian financier and real estate developer. Starting from a single house constructed in 1940 in the Alta Vista neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Campeau built a large land dev ...

was given permission by the city of Toronto in 1972 to turn industrial land on the city's waterfront into a 30-acre residential and commercial development. The 38-story twin-towered 963-room hotel opened in April 1975 as the Harbour Castle Hotel. Cut off from the city by the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...

, the hotel was at first unsuccessful, with an occupancy rate of only 46.2% in its first year and an even lower rate in its second. Hilton International assumed management in 1977, and the hotel was renamed the Toronto Hilton Harbour Castle. Hong Kong business magnate

Li Ka-Shing Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...

purchased the hotel from Campeau in 1981. In a complicated management swap in 1987,

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

traded operation of the property for the Westin Hotel on

University Avenue A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. The Harbour Castle became the Harbour Castle Westin, while the former Westin became the Toronto Hilton. Li sold the property to Westin Hotels in 1990. Westin sold the hotel to the

Public Sector Pension Investment Board The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) is a Canadian Crown corporation established by an act of Parliament in September 1999. PSP Investments is one of Canada's largest pension investment managers, with CAD $204.5 billion of ...

in 2005, as part of a portfolio of five Canadian Westin hotels in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. PSP resold the five hotels to

Starwood Capital Group Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partne ...

in 2013 for , at which point the Harbour Castle was valued in land registry documents at . Starwood Capital put the Harbour Castle up for sale in January 2016. When they sold their remaining Canadian Westin properties in 2018, it was reported that the Harbour Castle had sold for nearly .

Facilities

The twin-towered 34-storey building sits along

Toronto Harbour Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational b ...

and now offers 977 rooms after a renovation in 2007. The hotel features three restaurants, including The Mizzen, Toula and The Chartroom. The hotel also features the Harbour coffee bar, and Savoury, a private chef's table. Toula, a rooftop restaurant located on the southeast tower, once revolved, but this ceased in 2001. The restaurant offers a view of the lake; and, on a clear day, one can see

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. A convention centre building is attached to the hotel on the north side of Queens Quay and is accessible via an elevated glass walkway. The convention centre offers 31 rooms, including the Grand Metro Ballroom. The hotel is also connected to Harbour Square condos with a glass walkway. The hotel is located along the Yonge Street slip and shares space with the semi-retired island ferry ''

Trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

'' and is adjacent to the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel has been used for several ceremonies, including the presenting of the 32nd Genie Awards.

References

External links

{{commons category, Westin Harbour Castle Hotel
The Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto official website
Hotels in Toronto Buildings and structures with revolving restaurants Harbour Castle Hotel buildings completed in 1975 Hotels established in 1975 Harbourfront, Toronto Brutalist architecture in Canada 1975 establishments in Ontario