Landmark family-run Grand Bend hotel sold
A longtime familyrun restaurant and hotel that sits at the top of Grand Bend’s main strip has been sold, and there’s no word on what it will become. The Colonial Hotel, owned by the same family since 1943, is changing hands, according to realtor Mike Sloan.
Sloan said he helped the new buyers secure the property, but will not identify them at their request.
“I have not been informed by the investors as to what they’re going to be doing,” Sloan said. Sloan relayed a statement that came from the buyer saying that a deal was negotiated with a “financial firm that’s looking at Grand Bend as a development site and there are both Canadian and American people involved in the company.”
At this point, Sloan said they have no comment to make on plans they have for the property because they are waiting for municipal approval of them.
“I’m really excited about the positive change in the community,” Sloan said. “It’s a generational shift.”
Sloan said that as family-run businesses close due to retirements, buyers such as the ones who purchased the hotel are moving into the town.
The Colonial Hotel is “one of the oldest landmarks in Grand Bend still standing,” according to a website set up by the Lambton Heritage Museum called Community Memories.
The hotel, on the corner of Main Street West and Highway 21, was called the Brenner House at one point and was owned first by Joseph Brenner Sr. in 1868, the website says.
After changing hands a few times, Harold Klopp bought it in 1943 for about $25,000. The building was named the Colonial Hotel in 1959. The hotel now has a restaurant, sports lounge and shares an outdoor patio with the bar next door — Gables Tavern. It is operated by Klopp’s four daughters and their husbands.
The current owners declined to comment on the sale, saying details are still being finalized.