The owner of Sooke Harbour House has announced the once-renowned destination will reopen this year after it was closed and then sold three years ago.
Renovations are nearing completion at the 28-room waterfront hotel and restaurant on Whiffin Spit Road, with the goal of opening in late fall or early winter this year, Alex Watson, chief operating officer for owner IAG Enterprises of North Vancouver, said Thursday.
For many years, Sooke Harbour House was considered one of Canada’s best hotels.
“I think our job is to pay respect to that and to get it back where it should be,” Watson said.
IAG, a real estate investment company, bought the Sooke Harbour House Resort Hotel in the of summer 2020, shortly after the pandemic was declared, for $5.6 million in a court-ordered sale prompted by a foreclosure action.
The company offered the property for $13.3 million in September of last year but it did not sell. At the time, Watson said a large portion of planned renovations had been carried out and the company had received inquiries about selling.
The hotel and restaurant have undergone significant interior and exterior upgrades under IAG’s ownership.
Each of the 28 hotel rooms has been redone and each is unique — for example, tiles, fireplaces and art in each room are different, Watson said, and a lot of attention has gone into refinishing the wood and floors.
Improvements include adding a “massive” patio for outdoor dining, he said.
The facility will include two restaurant areas — a dining room and a lounge.
Watson said Andre Saint-Jacques, who opened Whistler’s Bearfoot Bistro in 1995, will be managing partner, while longtime Bistro chef Melissa Craig will be executive chef or chef de cuisine.
Watson noted that Craig began her career at Sooke Harbour House at the age of 18, adding: “It’s a nice full-circle story.”
“The award-winning chef leaves Whistler’s iconic Bearfoot Bistro after two decades to bring her innovative and elevated modern Canadian cuisine to the historic inn on the ocean,” Watson said on the facility’s website.
In 2008, Craig won gold at the Canadian Culinary Championships.
Sooke Harbour House has gone through tumultuous times in recent years.
Frederique and Sinclair Philip purchased the picturesque waterfront site in the 1970s and it became known for its emphasis on locally grown food, using produce from its garden, and the quality of the wine cellar.
But the Philips later faced financial challenges and became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with Tim Durkin, representing SHH Management Ltd. and SHH Holdings Ltd., who had agreed to buy the hotel but did not complete the agreement.
Durkin was ultimately ordered to pay $4 million to the couple and has been ordered deported from Canada.
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