To spot Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, just look up-the building towering over you with two light grey walls filled with rows of windows and bright red ‘Sheraton’ signs near the very top is definitely hard to miss.
Now take a deep breath and imagine it’s 1982-the streets are abuzz with excitement, a fresh skyscraper has just joined Montreal’s skyline, and its shimmering windows seem to promise something grand inside. But here’s the twist: this hotel, now a 38-floor giant with 825 rooms, wasn’t always destined to be a Sheraton! Once upon a time, it was planned to open as the world’s largest Holiday Inn for the 1976 Summer Olympics. But like a movie with too many plot twists, things got wild-costs soared by a staggering $81 million, and as the Olympic torch burned, the project crawled along. Eight years later, after Holiday Inn bowed out, Sheraton swooped in to save the day and the building finally opened its doors with a big ribbon-cutting by Mayor Jean Drapeau.
Through the years, drama hasn’t stayed away. In 1993, baseball legend Don Drysdale checked into room 2518 and, to everyone’s heartbreak, never checked out. And if these walls could talk, they’d tell tales of world leaders and G-20 finance ministers plotting economic moves in elegant conference rooms, and even Wikimania 2017, where over 900 knowledge lovers gathered to imagine the future together. So as you stand here, picture all those stories drifting around you-while secretly hoping you won’t get lost trying to find your own room among all 38 floors!
