Former Waterloo Inn hotel to reopen in June

The Waterloo Inn Conference Hotel is pictured on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. (David Pettitt / CTV Kitchener)

Hotel operations are returning to the former Waterloo Inn on King Street North.

The hotel closed in December, following its sale to Drewlo Holdings, a real estate development and property management firm based in London.

ABB Hotel Management Group announced Friday that it will be reopening the hotel, renamed The Inn of Waterloo, in June.

“It’s a gem in north Waterloo that everyone was sad to see go,” says ABB president Sharon Hales. “We’re happy to bring it back to life.”

Before it reopens on June 17, the lobby and 155 rooms will be modernized.

The hotel’s conference space, fitness centre and pool will also reopen on that day, but its restaurant and lounge won’t resume operations until the fall.

Approximately 120 people worked at the hotel at the time of its closure.

Hales wants them to come back.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get some of the people who worked here before, who have the experience and know the building," she said.

Economic reasons were cited as the reason behind last year’s closure.

Hales says The Inn of Waterloo can be profitable.

“We wouldn’t have fought so hard over the last few months to get this if we didn’t think that it was," she said.

When the property was sold, a Drewlo spokesperson said that the company planned to build high-rise residential buildings on the 19-acre site, while maintaining other parts of it for commercial uses.