I thought we could make this into an Airport thread. So here's today article about the new hotel.
New Sheraton hotel to open at Halifax Stanfield airport
176-room facility will have parking garage, pedway linked to terminal
By TOM PETERS Business Reporter
Wed. May 14 - 6:37 AM
Construction is underway in front of the terminal building at Stanfield International Airport on Tuesday. (Ted Pritchard / Staff)
There will be a Sheraton hotel at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in early 2010.
Jerry Staples, the Halifax International Airport Authority’s vice-president of marketing and business development, said Tuesday a letter of intent has been signed with New Castle Hotels of Shelton, Conn., and Southwest Properties Ltd. of Halifax, for a 176-room full-service hotel.
The hotel will be built next to the parking garage that is now under construction. It will be connected to the terminal and the garage by pedways.
The new hotel, which will cost in the vicinity of $30 million, will include a fitness centre, swimming pool, restaurants, lounge, conference centre and other amenities.
"For us, this is bringing another dimension of customer service that we have been building at the airport," Mr. Staples said. "We are very excited about that, and it is also making us that more marketable to build the air service business here."
The New Castle / Southwest proposal was one of three.
Mr. Staples said the selection of New Castle / Southwest was based on established criteria, which included a major brand recognized internationally with a worldwide reservation system. Also considered was the design and how it would fit in with the look of the parking garage and terminal building.
"Financial capability, financial offer and their marketing and operation plan were other elements we played careful attention to," Mr. Staples said.
These two companies are already partners on two projects already underway, a 133-room Marriott Residence Inn, which will open June 26 in Moncton, and a 163-room Hampton Inn & Suites, under construction at Dartmouth Crossing. Southwest will design and build the new hotel, and New Castle will manage it.
Mr. Staples said the authority is completing an agreement to lease nearly 10 hectares of land to the developers.
Gordon Laing, president and chief operating officer of Southwest Properties, said Tuesday submitting a proposal for the airport hotel follows the company’s path of the past few years to expand into the hotel industry.
"When the request for proposals for the airport hotel came out, we thought it was an interesting opportunity," he said.
The hotel will cater to all travellers but with the introduction of U.S. customs preclearance at the airport and a dramatic increase in corporate traffic, will likely attract a significant number of business clients.
David Buffam, CEO of New Castle Hotels, says the company believes in the future of Halifax "and we believe the airport will play a very significant role in the growth of this region for a long time to come."
The growing passenger traffic, the growth of existing businesses and the development of new businesses in the area and the connection of the airport arrivals area to the hotel via a pedway were all factors "that let us participate" in the bidding, Mr. Buffam said.
New Castle manages the province’s three resorts — Keltic Lodge, Liscombe Lodge and the Pines Resort — plus the Westin in Halifax. The company is also involved in preliminary work with Southwest for a hotel in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
When the new Sheraton is completed, there will be four hotels within the immediate area of the airport. A new Holiday Inn Express next to the Hilton Garden Inn, both operated by Manga Hotels, is nearing completion. There is also the recently refurbished Quality Inn, formerly the Airport Hotel.
This will be the second attempt to build a hotel on airport property. The late Don Keddy of Halifax started a hotel in 1990, but the $25-million project ran into financial problems. Transport Canada had the shell of a hotel demolished in 1996.
(
tpeters@herald.ca)