Derelict Meech Lake landmark O'Brien House to get new life as boutique hotel

Its windows are broken and its doors boarded up, but a once-grand stone and timber home perched on the rocks overlooking Meech Lake in Gatineau Park is about to get another life as a boutique hotel.

The owners of theWakefieldMill Hotel and Spa have signed a five-year lease, with 20-year option to renew,to reopen O'Brien House under a new name, the National Capital Commission confirmed Monday.

The NCC had hopedto keep the name of the future tenant under wraps, but it was revealed afterOttawa Mayor Jim Watson, who participates inNCC board meetings as an observer,asked about the status ofthe WakefieldMill Inn's lease.

The board approved the $3.9-million restoration of the three-storey, 8,200-square-foothome into theKincora Lodge Boutique Hotel. The NCC will pay for that restoration.

Goal to reopen by Canada Day 2017

The plan wouldsee 11 suites created in themain house, which was built in 1930 for Renfrew, Ont., businessman Ambrose O'Brien, and was originally known as KincoraLodge. O'Brien founded the National Hockey Association, the predecessor to the NHL, and was a founding owner of the Montreal Canadiens.

The home was purchased by the federal government in 1964 and used as a conference centre, but has sat vacant since the late 1980s.

The new tenant's plan calls for the existing garageto be torn down and replaced with a new coach house that would contain conference facilities and three additional suites.

The goal is to see the hotel open by Canada's 150th birthday on July 1, 2017.