Ex-pat upgrades Sydney hotel

Ex-pat Cape Breton businessman upgrades Sydney’s Cambridge Suites hotel

SYDNEY — Glace Bay native Irwin Simon made his fortune after leaving Cape Breton, but his belief in the island's vast potential has never wavered.

Simon, who has been based in New York City for the better part of 40 years, flew into Sydney on Thursday to take part in a series of meetings with some of his Cape Breton business partners.

Simon is the founder and former longtime CEO of Hain Celestial, a natural organic food company that he grew into a vast organization that includes about 10,000 employees and 40 operating plants. He built the empire, which he stepped away from in 2018, in the Big Apple, but he wanted to talk about what's happening in Cape Breton.

“I want to be the ambassador for Cape Breton, and when this COVID is over I plan to bring a lot of New Yorkers to Cape Breton,” said the 63-year-old entrepreneur with longish, salt and pepper hair.

His base for this visit was a well-appointed room on the eighth floor of the Cambridge Suites Hotel in downtown Sydney. That makes sense, as Simon finalized the purchase of the 143-room hotel in July 2020.

“The decision to purchase the hotel wasn't just about the business, it was about Cape Breton,” he proclaimed during an interview in the spacious and sunlit suite overlooking Sydney harbour.

“This hotel is in the centre of the town, city hall is on one side and the new college is going up on the other. It also has one of the best restaurants in the city and is a focal point of the area. Cape Breton is absolutely one of the wonders of the world. My big thing is to bring people here. Cape Breton has so much potential.”

DIVERSE INTERESTS

Simon doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk. Over the past few years, he became the majority owner of the Cape Breton Eagles hockey franchise and is a partner in the Ben Eoin Development Group that owns and operates the Lakes Golf Club and Resort.

Off island, his interests include a cannabis company called Tilray, a hotel in the New York area and some restaurants in upscale Hamptons communities on the east end of Long Island.

His decision to invest in the 32-year-old Sydney hotel is welcome news to longtime general manager Michelle Bianchini, who has worked at the Cambridge since it opened in 1989.

“It's amazing. We redid everything in the rooms. They look fantastic and we're sure our guests, new and old, will really like it.”

Simon said one of the hotel's biggest assets is its prime location.

“The guts of the hotel, the infrastructure, is tremendous and to replace this today would cost a fortune and the location probably wouldn't be available. The downside is that this place has not been touched since it was built. This hotel needed a renovation. It was beat pretty bad. Think about all the overnight stays in the hotel's 140 rooms over a 32-year period.”

So far, 80 of the guest rooms have been overhauled. The other 60 or so will be completed over the winter. The improvements include new beds, furniture, decorations and carpets.

“We've also done over the Trio restaurant, the hotel lobby and some of the meeting rooms,” said Simon.

“And we're doing an outside deck and a gym up top. By the end of next summer, this hotel will be completely renovated. The only old thing that will still be here once the renovations are completed is our good old Cape Breton hospitality.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Simon said he's in for the long haul and will continue to look at Cape Breton as a place for investment. He suggested that the spacious parking lot that sits between the Cambridge and the NSCC construction site might be a good location for future development.

“I have always maintained my connections with home; I always saw the opportunities here,” he said.

“When the Eagles deal happened, it opened up many more connections. Look, when this came along, they weren't going to sell it to me. But when I want something, I go after it. And I've even told my family that they can never sell this hotel or the hockey team.”

This week, Simon will go back to New York. However, he's more than confident in the abilities of general manager Bianchini and her staff to operate the Cambridge as a top-class hotel in terms of service and its rooms and amenities.

“I believe in empowering people,” said Simon.

“Michelle runs the hotel and at the end of the day, I take her advice and input. That's how we get things done.”