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Montreal’s iconic Birks building, famed for its jewelry that is sold in pretty blue boxes, will be transformed into a boutique hotel by the spring of 2018.

This transformation was announced Wednesday by the Birks Group and Le St-Martin hotels.

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Jean Salette, owner of the Hotel Le St-Martin, said he had been eyeing the flagship Birks building for 15 years as a potential site for a downtown hotel on busy Ste-Catherine St.

“Eight years ago I approached Birks, but the timing was not good for them,” he said.

“They called me back at the beginning of the summer and we sat down together and finally I made the purchase. ”

Birks will maintain its jewelry store on the ground floor.

“Birks is keeping half the ground floor,” Salette said. “They will lease it from me. We have a long-term lease.”

Salette said the Birks corporate offices will move out of the building, as of May 1, 2017.

A year later, a new hotel is slated to open. It will be called the Birks Hotel, said Salette, who plans to retain the architectural features of the four-storey building, built in 1894 and designed by Montreal architect Edward Maxwell.