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YOW Alt Hotel [1085 Airport Pkwy] | ?m | 7f | Completed
A proposal has been received for the construction of an Alt Hotel at 1085 Airport Parkway.
The hotel is proposed to be eight (8) storeys in height, and will contain 180 guest rooms. An enclosed pedestrian walkway is proposed to connect the hotel with the interior of the multi-storey parking garage. The ground floor is intended to accommodate the hotel lobby, as well as access to the pedestrian walkway. The top floor is reserved for meeting rooms and related uses for groups and conferences. The remaining floors will contain the guest rooms, with 30 rooms per floor. A vehicle drop-off area is proposed along Airport Parkway Private for hotel guests arriving by private vehicle. The drop-off area is delineated by means of a curb boulevard on the north side of the private way. Five lay-by spaces are proposed in the drop-off area, as well as one oversized stall for buses. Parking for hotel guests will be reserved in the short-term parking garage, at a rate of one space per guest unit. Development application: http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__AD1CAD |
Group Germain Hotels and Ottawa International Airport Authority announce the construction of the Alt Hotel Ottawa Airport
Release date: Monday, January 28, 2019 The Canadian hotelier Group Germain Hotels and the Ottawa International Airport Authority announced today the construction of the Alt Hotel Ottawa Airport, an investment of $40 million. The hotel will have 180 comfortable and modern rooms on eight floors. The meeting rooms (about 3,000 square feet) and a restaurant will be located on the top floor of the new building, providing an incomparable 360˚ view of the airport’s operations. An indoor skywalk will connect the hotel to the airport terminal for ease of use of travelers. The hotel is scheduled to open late 2020. “This announcement marks an important milestone for Group Germain Hotels. It means that we have reached our goal of 20 hotels by 2020, and we are extremely proud of this achievement,” says Jean-Yves Germain co-president Group Germain Hotels. “Since we set out this ambitious goal, our teams have been working relentlessly to find the best locations to establish our three hotel brands across Canada, this was a tremendous collaborative effort,” adds Christiane Germain co-president Group Germain Hotels. “We are well on our way to reaching our ultimate goal which is to become the first Canadian independent hotelier group to be present all across Canada,” they both concluded. The Alt Hotel Ottawa Airport will be Group Germain Hotels’ third property in Canada’s Capital Region. The first Alt Hotel, located in the business district, opened in 2016 and in the spring of 2018, Le Germain Hotel welcomed its first guests. YOW will be the third Alt Hotel to open in a terminal airport location confirming the growing demand for airport stays. “After more than a year of due diligence, we found the ideal site and partner to develop a YOW terminal-connected hotel,” said Mark Laroche, President and CEO of the Ottawa International Airport Authority. “This development, plus LRT connectivity, plus our pre-board screening and concession revitalization plans underline YOW’s commitment to serving the growing demands of Canada’s Capital Region’s residents and visitors. We invite our passengers and partners to follow our development projects at www.yow.ca/yow+.” Once again, Group Germain Hotels will be relying on Montreal-based LemayMichaud Architecture Design to bring to life the vibrant and unconventional Alt style to life in this new hotel. Comfortable and well-thought-out rooms with ergonomic workstations, sleek urban design with an eco-friendly environment, lobbies designed so that guests can socialize, relax or have impromptu meetings, as well as fitness rooms accessible 24/7, are all Alt Hotel signature elements. Other Alt Hotels amenities include ultra-fast free Wi-Fi, and Chromecast streaming media players allowing our guests to watch their favorite content as though they were at home! Also, dogs are welcome and there is no set check out time when guests book directly with us, giving them plenty of time to relax before their next flight! https://i.imgur.com/I0Ud8Lp.png About the Ottawa International Airport Authority OMCIAA manages, operates and develops airport facilities and lands in support of the economic growth of the National Capital Region, generating more than $2.2 billion annually in total economic activity in Ottawa and Gatineau. About Alt Hotels by Le Germain At Alt Hotels, we march to a different beat by giving guests the best of what they want without any extra fluff. Located in Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Brossard, Quebec City, Halifax, St. John’s, Calgary and soon Saskatoon, all of our properties are carefully crafted to combine eco-friendly comfort within sleek urban spaces – all designed with guests in mind. Alt Hotels. Stay unconventional. About Group Germain Hotels Group Germain Hotels is a Canadian family-run business that owns and operates Le Germain Hotels, Alt and Alt+ Hotels across Canada. Ranked as one of Canada’s best-managed companies, the business is known for its exceptional hospitality philosophy and the unique style that characterizes its hotels. Having celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018, Group Germain Hotels has achieved its ambitious goal of having 20 hotels by 2020, the 1250-employee company’s ultimate goal is now to become the first independent, truly pan-Canadian hotel group. Visit Group Germain Hotels. - 30 - For more information: Krista Kealey Vice-President, Communications and Public Affairs Ottawa International Airport Authority 613-248-2050 [email protected] France Savard Senior coordinator Public Relations, Group Germain Hotels 514-954-0702 [email protected] https://yow.ca/en/corporate/media-ce...tion-alt-hotel |
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Answering my own post... buried in the floor plans PDF of the development application is the following for the 8th floor:
https://i.imgur.com/GEnxw3H.jpg?1 If this is really true... Oooo... wonderful new spotting options :) :) :) |
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Deals of the Year – Tourism: Alt Hotel’s next Ottawa location spot-on for travellers
By: David Sali, OBJ Published: Dec 13, 2019 3:24pm EST https://obj.ca/sites/default/files/s...rt%20hotel.jpg It’s a mid-winter vacationer’s dream scenario: ditching the parka and strolling into the airport in shorts and flip-flops without ever having to face the elements. Soon enough, it will be a reality, thanks to Canadian hotel chain Group Germain’s $40-million plan to construct a 180-room hotel under its Alt banner that will offer entry to Ottawa’s airport terminal via a covered walkway. It gives a whole new meaning to “direct connection,” and it was one of the airport’s key requirements when it put bids for a new hotel out to tender in the summer of 2017. “We know, based on our research and even probably many of your readers have personal experience of staying at a quote-unquote ‘airport’ hotel, that is really nowhere near the airport,” says Joel Tkach, vice-president of business development and marketing at the Ottawa International Airport Authority. “When you can say that you’re directly connected, it certainly is appealing to those customers looking for that.” Group Germain is expected to break ground on the project in January, with completion targeted for late spring 2021. It will be the chain’s third hotel in the capital, following the Alt Hotel on Slater Street and the Le Germain Hotel on Daly Avenue. For Group Germain director of development Hugo Germain, the chance to add to the rapidly growing Quebec-based company’s stable of airport properties was too good to pass up. “They’re pretty rare, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re so excited about this one,” he says of airport proposals. “When those opportunities come by, they don’t come twice.” In this case, that’s not quite accurate. The Ottawa airport authority initially started looking for potential partners to construct a new airport hotel back in 2015. Three sites were considered, and plenty of developers were keen on the proposal, Tkach says. But bidders clearly favoured a site that would allow them to link a hotel directly to the airport terminal, and the option best suited for that, located just south of the terminal, posed a number of construction challenges, he concedes. The airport authority went back to the drawing board and did another land study to find a more suitable space for a hotel, eventually rebooting the RFP process in 2017. The new location next to the parking garage “was a lot less speculative and it was a lot more exact in terms of what the land could bear,” Tkach says. Group Germain’s previous experience in building airport hotels – it already operates Alt-branded properties at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and Halifax Stanfield International Airport – gave the Canadian chain a clear edge, he says. A number of complications can arise when building a hotel so close to an airport, Tkach says, including the need to make sure the structure doesn’t interfere with a pilot’s sight lines. “It’s good to have an operator that knows most of those,” he adds. The new property will feature a restaurant and meeting rooms on the top floor offering 360-degree views of the terminal and runways. Guests will also be allowed to check out whenever they wish, meaning they can relax in their rooms until just before they need to head over to catch their flights. There will also be informal meeting space on the ground floor just steps away from the terminal, Germain adds. “We become an extension of the airport,” he says. https://obj.ca/article/deals-year-to...pot-travellers |
Will it be a climate controlled link to the airport? I imagine they won't close off the parking garage section.
I feel like the Stanfield and Pearson hotels are more striking architecturally (though nearly identical to each other and other ALT branded hotels). |
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...13743bae_b.jpgALTR by harley613, on Flickr |
Yeah you can see that's where it's going here:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3dee33f3_b.jpgScreenshot_2019-12-14 2018_ottawa_airport_master_plan_-_executive_summary_-_eng pdf by harley613, on Flickr |
It'd be nice to live to see Ottawa get a third runway.
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I'm really surprised this hasn't been revived yet based on recent travel trends.
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this is a cool project hope it happens and on the YOW website it says this project is under review at this time
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The Alt Hotel proposal is coming before the Finance and Economic Development Committee for consideration of an application under the recently passed Ottawa International Airport CIP. This is the first application under the Airport's CIP going forward for consideration by FEDCO.
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Hmmm. A hotel at the airport, a prime location, can't be built without a tax subsidy from my property taxes?
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Granted, the designation of a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) is a pretty wide open thing. It allows the city to provide grants (through reduced taxes, I believe) to help a designated area to undergo a revitalization. For example, I think that Bells Corners was (supposedly) 'revitalized' with the addition of a hotel or two. However, I'm not convinced that subsidizing a hotel near the airport - that is not even beside the LRT - is the best approach. The Ottawa International Airport needs international flights. With Pearson limiting the number of flights, why have the big airlines not shifted flights to Ottawa? If they are shuttling people in to YYZ to fill those planes, how much different would it be to shuttle them to Ottawa? I think that doing things that increase the use of Ottawa International Airport would be a better use of the city's money than to subsidize a hotel. |
I have been wondering when this one would be back on our radar!
http://https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/city-considers-13-million-grant-for-new-hotel-at-ottawa-airport-1.6328579 |
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Yes especially as there already is a hotel. If there wasn't we could see the logic as it attracts some travelers. How about eliminating the passenger tax on new routes for 6 months for example. |
As a recovering (just getting back at it post pandemic) frequent business traveller, I can understand the desire for a hotel at the airport that is directly connected to the terminal. This hotel would be a major step above the two existing ones - which are far enough from the airport that you'd need a shuttle or Uber/taxi to get to the terminal.
The fact that most routes out of Ottawa involve a connection at another airport means that 6am flights tend to be packed with people making such connections in YYZ/YUL/EWR/etc. Ottawa's airport serves a wide radius up the Ottawa Valley, south to Kingston and well into Quebec, and for people making an hour or more drive, it would make sense to overnight at such a hotel, and this one will be much more desirable. Should tax payer money be used to subsidize it? You could reasonably argue that this would be a major upgrade for Ottawa's airport that may help encourage additional traffic and economic activity... particularly more US routes. I'm not sure how you'd quantify it though. I think this would be a better investment than the airport parkway updates which I don't understand (never encountered much traffic on that road). |
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If the Dev meets the requirements of the program (Which I would guess it does) then yes it should receive the grant. If council doesn't like that then may I suggest they stop approving CIP programs without considering just exactly what they would fund. Its this whole CIP program argument all over again from the money the city gave to Collonade bridgeport to the new dealership. In the end if it gets built the city has 4,359,228 in "new property tax revenue" over the 25-year period.(Actually just a larger base to spread property tax over). https://obj.ca/colonnade-bridgeport-...bells-corners/ |
When I travel, I always book an airport hotel right next to my terminal so that all I have to do is walk into the airport via an overpass and check in. It's incredibly practical especially for early morning flights. So I feel that such a hotel ought to be welcomed here. Nearly every other city has one!
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If the program isn’t doing what it was intended to do, then cancel the program. Don’t pick and choose recipients based on politics or worse, the personal feelings of politicians. That is unfair and a recipe for a lawsuit. This city has seen enough litigation recently, and that is definitely a waste of taxpayer money. |
Absolutely. If a CIP is in place, and an application satisfies the criteria, then the city is obligated to provide the money – regardless of whether it is what the city intended in the first place. If the offer is there, the city can not ‘cherry-pick’ which applications it approves.
My beef, I guess, is that these CIPs are so acceptant of any application, they are open to potential abuse. It would be better to not have CIPs. They have become subsidies for projects which likely would have gone ahead anyway. Like the ‘Charities Support’ the city could, instead, have a pool of tax deferrals that could be applied for and then each application could be evaluated as to whether the city felt that it provided a real, and tangible, benefit to the city, in an area where the city wanted to further development. There would be a component of the evaluation which determined whether there was a ‘need’ for the city to subsidize the project, or whether it was likely to go ahead without the grant. The Ottawa airport should have a terminal-connected (even if the door is at the hotel end and the bridge is open at the parkade end) hotel. And one has been planned for several years. I would have preferred for the hotel to be on the other side of the parkade, with the LRT station between the hotel and the parkade. I think that the station’s visibility might further encourage those at the hotel to venture into town. (And, of course, if that LRT went seamlessly directly to the core; well, that would be even better.) |
The time to debate these issues is when the policies and programs are being developed, not after staff and applicants have spent significant time and money preparing proposals and negotiating agreements to ensure all program requirements are met. The same applies to many planning applications. Don't pass policies and incentives saying you want a certain type of development and they turn down people investing in what you said you wanted.
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I agree with many of you; if the CIP exists and the proposal qualifies, there's nothing to debate. I'd go as far as saying that if this is the case, it shouldn't even go to Council. In any case, this grant will certainly be easier to accept for many that the Porsche dealership on Montreal Road.
With that put of the way, should the CIP even exist? In this particular case, we're supporting an airport hotel that by extension reduces the number of people who might invest in the local economy, and will do little to grow the ridership of the airport O-Train spur. Maybe the CIP should only be for new destinations near Uplands Station to grow ridership beyond occasional events at the EY Centre, maybe it should be for projects that will grow the number of destinations at YOW. The other question is, why did Sutcliffe and Council pause (or kill) many CIPs and brownfields grants, but not the airport CIP? Why is the airport more deserving? At the end of the day, this is a good project. YOW will benefit form its first attached hotel project. |
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I don't agree with Alt getting this grant, but those questioning why this hotel is planned as part of YOW+ is because there is zero hotels directly attached to the hotel through the terminal, so for those who can't leave the airport, there is no where to go. So it makes sense why this is planned, just ridiculous they're holding the project hostage unless they get municipal funding (they said they would put the project on hold indefinitely last year). Ridiculous.
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I’m not sure of the parallels, but I do know that the City of Kitchener has done some excellent things with grants targeting downtown. They definitely spurred development that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. |
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Why would ALT be obliged to build a hotel at YOW? Seems to me that they are fully within their rights to decide not to proceed, particularly in the current environment. |
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if the grant is available, a developer will want it. They will claim that the project is only possible with the grant, even if they don't need to say that because the grant exists and they qualify for it anyway. |
I see both of your points too, I mean if they are eligible and it's something available then it is what it is. Not much to really combat except stalling a project that helps the airport, which we all think is important.
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'It's a dilemma': Council to consider $13M tax break for new hotel at Ottawa airport
"People just don't buy their city tax dollars being used to prop up certain corporate business interests." Taylor Blewett, Ottawa Citizen Published Mar 27, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read Voting doesn’t come until next week, but debate at city hall has already taken off, as council members contemplate a $13-million tax break for a sleek new airport hotel, enabled by a program set up in the dying days of the last council term. “It’s a dilemma,” said River ward Coun. Riley Brockington, who reported that he’d already heard from 10 or so residents, all united in their opposition to the tax offset that city staff are recommending giving Germain Hotels. The company is proposing to build a 180-room Alt Hotel connected to the airport, and Brockington is aware that the last council — he among them — laid out a welcome mat for airport-adjacent developments like this one to get municipal tax breaks. At the same time, he said, “People just don’t buy their city tax dollars being used to prop up certain corporate business interests,” especially when “they don’t see immediate benefit in immediate communities.” Last July, council voted to establish a “community improvement plan” for underused federal lands surrounding YOW. The pitch at the time was that the city could encourage economic development in the area, and potentially, bolster service at the national capital’s pandemic-battered airport, by offering tax relief for development on land leased from the airport authority. The 10-year plan was described as self-financing, as it’s a portion of the property tax increase resulting from the development that gets forgiven. Council was assured at that time that it would be up to them to approve individual applications for tax relief. Now, that first ask is here — heading to finance and corporate services committee next week, and from there to council. To Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, this hotel fits squarely in the type of development contemplated when the CIP was approved. “They’re going to be paying rent to the airport and the airport can use that money to enhance passenger services, to try to attract new flights, new routes and new services to Ottawa, which is all a benefit to our local economy.” The hotel itself, with its planned restaurant and meeting rooms, would produce 50 full-time jobs when it opens, according to city staff. Their report states that the total estimated increase to municipal property tax, generated from the development, would be $17.4 million over the 25-year life of the CIP grant. The city would keep some $4.4 million of that increase and forgive up to $13.1 million. The airport-area CIP provides for a maximum grant to applicants of $25 million, unless the project hits 100 per cent of eligible costs at a lower total. To Brockington, it could be worth getting more specific about the projects that qualify for tax relief through the CIP program. And certainly, if council rejects this one, he says that becomes a necessity. Other councillors, including the airport area’s Coun. Jessica Bradley (Gloucester-Southgate), have shared objections to the proposed grant and the CIP program that’s enabled it, citing competing priorities such as affordable housing for the money available to the city. Capital ward’s Shawn Menard was one of several who voted against establishing the airport CIP last summer, noting at that the time that nothing in the plan required YOW to prove that development wouldn’t have happened anyway in order for tenants to receive tax breaks. “The city needs to stop spending resident funds in this way,” he wrote in a message to this newspaper Monday, pointing to another controversial CIP development in recent years: a new Porsche dealership on Vanier’s Montreal Road. While Brockington said he’s heard resident skepticism about the necessity of the tax break for this hotel to get built, city staff suggest in their report that without it, the development wouldn’t be moving forward. Contemplated pre-pandemic, staff write that the project was shelved after it got another second look in fall 2021, due to the pace of pandemic recovery and rising construction costs. It was the Ottawa airport that came to Germain Hotels after the CIP was passed by council, offering information about the program to “try and resuscitate” the project. “A YOW CIP grant would represent a material change to the project’s financial forecast and feasibility and was a deciding factor, in addition to positive trends in the Ottawa visitor economy and air travel generally, to move the project forward,” staff write. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ottawa-airport |
What's the dilemma? They approved the CIP last summer. Was the community opposing the CIP proposal last year? You can't just start opposing it now. This is getting pretty common that people only start complaining when it starts to effect them. Few people complained about the new Civic Hospital site until 5 years later when the hospital submitted an application. No one complained about the Montreal Road CIP until a grant was requested for a Porsche dealership.
And having some clause that requests "proof" something wouldn't be built without it is non-sensicle. You can't prove that. Either have CIPs, don't or make them ultra specific (residential only, x% affordable housing, must include grocery store). |
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In other words, the (roughly) $4M in property taxes is not new taxes, but the status quo. i.e., this $4M is the property tax revenue that the city would be getting over the next 25 years from the un-improved property. If the hotel were NOT built (therefore NOT increasing the property's value, and, thus, the property taxes to $17M over 25 years), then this $4M would continue to be the money received by the city during that time - assuming that nothing gets built for the entire 25 years. That last bit is important. If the hotel is built now, then the city knows that it is forgoing about $13M over the next 25 years. But if the hotel is not built now, then staff is assuming that nothing will get built for the next 25 years. Let's say that the passenger count of the airport continues to increase and a hotel does get built 3 years from now - without the city's 'help'. That would mean a property tax uplift, resulting in the $4M of 'base taxes PLUS the tax on the uplift for 22 years. This could mean an extra $11.5M of taxes over those 22 years. A hotel has been planned for the past few years. Yes it was put on 'HOLD' while passenger numbers are low, but it is still in the plan. When passenger numbers increase, it will get built. That is my take. Of course, the previous City Council has already put the grant program in place, so it is fair for the hotel to take advantage of it. |
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If one building isn't built because they didn't get a tax break, well that space will probably be built elsewhere, at least when we're talking about common residential, commercial, industrial projects. The City raises everyone's taxes by 2.5%-3% every year and then proceeds to giving tax breaks to millionaire business owners. It doesn't sit well with me. Again, approve this one because the program exists, but all CIPs should be killed afterwards. |
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The mayor will not be supporting the CIP grant for the hotel. Also interesting that staff are working on a review of the CIP program.
https://twitter.com/_MarkSutcliffe/s...30159975120908 |
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It always bothers me when elected officials say things like, "I have heard repeatedly from residents, during the election campaign and recently, that they don't want ..." Maybe it is true that many people said that, but it comes across as disingenuous.
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I'm just gonna plug my ears and sing loudly and be happy we are getting an Airport Terminal Hotel. We can finally aspire to be more like Winnipeg with their three terminal hotels :haha:
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They’re often simply people reacting with ‘not with muh tax money’ and have no comprehension of what investment may reap. Brownfield grants for instance… |
Mayor Sutcliffe opposes $13M tax break for new airport hotel
"I was elected to represent the interests of the taxpayers and residents of Ottawa and I stand with them in opposing this tax break." Liam Fox, Ottawa Citizen Published Apr 03, 2023 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 2 minute read Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is challenging an application for a $13-million tax break for a new hotel connected to the Ottawa International Airport ahead of a vote by city council members at the finance and corporate services committee. “I support the airport authority and its plan to turn Ottawa into a travel hub. But the city is facing significant financial pressures and there is the prospect of economic uncertainty in the months ahead,” Sutcliffe wrote on Twitter. “Using taxpayers’ dollars to pay for this hotel is not reasonable at this time and doesn’t respect the wishes of residents. “These decisions are difficult and I respect the work of the airport and others in preparing the application. I was elected to represent the interests of the taxpayers and residents of Ottawa and I stand with them in opposing this tax break.” The 180-room hotel proposed by Germain Hotels, supported by a community improvement plan (CIP) introduced in the final period of the previous council term to encourage economic development in underused federal lands surrounding the airport, has faced contemplation from council and scrutiny from residents. In a city staff report to committee, it was estimated $17.4 million in increases to the municipal property tax would be generated over 25 years, with the city receiving about $4.4 million and forgiving up to $13.1 million in the proposed grant. The planned eight-storey hotel, including a restaurant, meeting spaces, lobby workstation and fitness room, would produce 50 full-time jobs, as stated in the report. Sutcliffe is not the only committee member opposing the proposed tax break. Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard was one of several members voting against the CIP program last term. “The city needs to stop spending resident funds in this way,” Menard wrote in a message to this newspaper March 27, citing a recently developed Porsche dealership on Montreal Road that received $2.9 million in tax breaks. “Had we not provided $2.9 million to the Porsche dealership in tax breaks, and they located elsewhere in the city, we would have received that $2.9 million,” he said in a Twitter reply to Sutcliffe’s statement today. The finance and corporate services committee, chaired by Sutcliffe, will vote on the motion to grant the tax break in Tuesday’s meeting at city hall. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-airport-hotel |
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