franchise rights in Canada for the Country Inn
& Suites brand, which developed a large pres-
ence in the Maritimes.
“I thought, ‘why can’t we have our own
brand?’ and that’s exactly what we did. In 1999
we developed three new properties, converted
the Country Inn & Suites and got a jump start
on the brand,” says Keith. To grow the Lakev-
iew Brand, Keith raised the equity required in
Lakeview Management Inc. Today, Lakeview
Management Inc. stands as a fully diversified
organization equipped in all major sectors of
real estate development activity and houses
23 hotels under its trademark name.
Accommodating an array of projects within
the commercial, office, retail, residential, ho-
tel, restaurant, industrial and mixed use devel-
opment sectors, the company wishes to take
advantage of the developing economy in West-
ern Canada as well as leaving an international
mark. “Everyone is hopping on to the oil and
gas bandwagon. We were one of the first to
jump in and did well, but the recession hit that
market hard. It’s starting to rebound and we
want to move further west to explore it.” The
company’s capability includes property acqui-
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