Quote:
Originally Posted by Country
At least this hotel should stomp out Atch's desperate dream of a hotel/spa at river landing.
|
one would have thought so, yet...
Mayor won't give up on hotel
South downtowndevelopment will proceed as planned, Atchison says
Lana Haight, The StarPhoenix
Published: Wednesday, April 11, 2007
"It might be a boutique hotel. It could be a lot of different things. It may not be a traditional hotel," Mayor Don Atchison said at a news conference Tuesday morning after The StarPhoenix reported construction on a new full-service hotel will begin within a year, kitty-corner from TCU Place.
A numbered company controlled by Lawrence and Patricia Rychjohn has purchased the franchise to build a Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites on the Pacific Cinemas site. It will have a minimum of 140 rooms, a restaurant, banquet and meeting space, and above and below-ground parking. Demolition of the movie theatre could be complete as early as this weekend.
The Saskatoon couple was not asked to consider building the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites in the south downtown River Landing development, says Atchison. Last month, Remai Ventures Inc. backed out of building a $40-million hotel and spa complex at River Landing. The company cited rising construction costs and a shortage of skilled labour for not developing the complex, which was considered the crown jewel in the city's River Landing project.
The development of the south downtown will proceed apart from the new hotel near TCU Place, says Atchison. He and city administrators have received inquiries from at least 16 people from all over Canada and as far away as Asia.
"If you went out and said we'd like to have it all as condominiums, it could be all condominiums tomorrow. It could be all office space tomorrow. It could be a lot of things tomorrow," he said.
Atchison's vision for River Landing includes restaurants, retail outlets, condominiums and hotel rooms.
He doesn't buy the argument that the Saskatoon market for hotel rooms is saturated. With the expansions at TCU Place and Prairieland Park, Saskatoon has the facilities to host up to 98 per cent of all conventions in Canada, says Atchison.
"It seems like every group that comes through says there aren't enough downtown hotel rooms for them."
Gary Hamilton, executive director of the Western Retail Lumber Assn. Ltd., would like to see more downtown hotel rooms. His organization has held its annual convention in Saskatoon for the past 12 years and has had blocks of rooms set aside in 14 hotels throughout the city.
"It does get a little tight, because we like to use the main (downtown) hotels. Those fill up a lot faster than the rest so people then have to go to the more remote hotels," Hamilton said from his Winnepeg office.
During the Juno celebration last month, the local host committee kept an updated inventory of available hotel rooms, says Todd Brandt, co-chair of the committee.
"We were close to sold out, but there was some available in all tiers of hotels for that weekend," he said.
On Monday at its regular meeting, city council will receive a report from its administration recommending ways to proceed with the development of the River Landing property designated for a hotel. Atchison hopes council calls for expressions of interest from potential investors who are ready to develop the land.
"I don't think council is prepared to put any money into it," said Atchison.
Remai Investments had secured from city council $3.1 million in tax abatements during construction and for the hotel and spa's first four years of operation.
"The tax incentive was for drilling down for a geothermal spa. It was not for the hotel portion, because the spa was supposed to be a fully public-access venue," said Atchison.
The only tax incentives he sees being available are if condominiums are part of the River Landing development. The city has a policy for waiving property taxes for five years on condominiums built in downtown.
SP
Prev
. 
Watch the provincial government get behind this one for sure
Linear Mode
