NCC looking to lease O’Brien House, again

Less than two years after opening as a boutique hotel in Gatineau Park, the O’Brien House is back on the market.

What was once the getaway of the industrialist owner of the Montreal Canadiens became an intimate 11-room boutique hotel after Wakefield Mill Developments Inc. took over the property in March 2018.

Wakefield Mill general manager Robert Milling said his organization will continue leasing the property from the National Capital Commission until Oct. 31.

The NCC’s board of directors approved the use as a hotel in September 2016 and gave its staff the authority to approve the design of a $3.9-million rehabilitation. The lease was for five years with the option of a 20-year renewal. Milling said he couldn’t comment on why the lease ended early.

In July, a post to the O’Brien House Facebook page said the facility would focus on events, as hotel bookings weren’t “financially sustainable.”

An NCC spokesperson said in an email that rent for the O’Brien House continues to be paid by the current operator and all bookings until Oct. 31 will be honoured.

One of the first homes in Gatineau Park, the O’Brien House sits imposingly atop a winding road, but the materials — granite, log siding and cedar — link it to the Canadian wilderness, according to the NCC, which acquired the property in 1964.

The O’Brien House is now in need of a new tenant, and has already garnered some interest from the hospitality industry, the NCC said.

A lease fact sheet said the annual rent is $150,000 along with eight per cent of revenues over $1 million.

With files from Megan Gillis