The Birks building downtown has been sold.
The Montreal Gazette is reporting that the building on Ste. Catherine Street will be turned into a boutique hotel by the spring of 2018.
Birks will maintain its jewelry store on the ground floor.
The owner of the Hotel Le St. Martin, Jean Salette, says he's been eyeing the flagship Birks building for the last 15 years, but says the timing was never right.
When the new hotel opens it will be called the Birks Hotel.
Salette says they plan to keep the architectural features of the four storey building built in 1894.
The price tag for the project is estimated at 70 million dollars.