The Banff mansion has finally sold and the new owners of the 10,000-square-foot riverfront house are planning to turn it into a luxury bed and breakfast home.
The six-bedroom, six-bathroom, three-car garage home at 301 Buffalo St. was initially listed for $10 million when first put on the market in 2007, but later dropped to $3 million.
Local realtors estimate the home on the banks of the Bow River is worth $1.5 million to $1.6 million, but the sale price is not yet publicly available because the sale has not closed.
Former beauty queen LuAn Mitchell has conditionally sold her home to national child advocate Carrie Kohan, whose daughter Nakita Kohan is Miss Teen Canada 2012 and a student at Banff Community High School.
“This is such great news,” said Mitchell, who describes herself as an “entrepreneur, corporate executive, author, motivational speaker, motivational movie star, philanthropist and mother.”
“The new owners are such a great asset to Banff, and they love the home and will care for it as much as I did, proudly raising my children in the world’s finest town.”
Banff’s Municipal Planning Commission approved a proposed bed and breakfast application for the property at a meeting on Wednesday (Sept. 12). Committee member David Bayne made the motion, which was approved unanimously.
“It’s raising the bar of bed and breakfasts in town,” Bayne said after the motion. “It’s nice to see the building is being made use of.”
The new owners plan to use two bedrooms on the second floor as commercial accommodation units. The first suite is to contain multiple beds and a private ensuite bathroom for family-style accommodation, while the second suite will have one bed.
According to the new owners, guests will have access to a bright kitchen, with a large welcoming family room.
They will also have access to all outdoor amenities such as hot tub, propane fire pit and eating area, as well as full access to the lower level, which includes a golf simulator room, pool table, gym and dance hall.
“We expect visitors from across the globe, and I have no doubt our B&B will be considered a premium experience,” Kohan said.
“We look forward to making the Banff mansion the pride and joy of our community.”
Town planner Keith Batstone said the proposed types, numbers and sizes of the commercial accommodation units meet the requirements of the Land Use Bylaw.
He said it also falls within the B&B cap for the Residential River Front (RRF) land use district. There’s a maximum of three in that district, and currently, only one other exists at 220 Bow Avenue.
“There are no other approved bed and breakfast operations located in the immediate vicinity of the subject property,” Batstone said in a report to MPC.
When Mitchell initially tried to sell the home, she tried to sweeten the deal with a $1.5-million art collection, a 1968 GTO muscle car and a vintage Rolls Royce once used to chauffeur a young Queen Elizabeth on her 1957 Royal Tour.
The 10,000-square-foot home was designed in 1946 by architect John Carl Warneke, best known for his design of the President John F. Kennedy memorial gravesite and the Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C.
Legendary mountain guide Tom Wilson, credited as being the first white person to see Lake Louise, had his homestead on this site on Buffalo Street.
