When Harry met Hamilton: the sequel
January 30, 2009
Andrew Dreschel
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/504473
Harry Stinson's Hamilton Grand project has suddenly grown a heck of a lot grander.
The hotel/condo venture in the downtown core will be almost double the size and cost that Stinson originally unveiled last month.
Instead of a $10-million, six-storey, 80-suite boutique hotel on John Street, Stinson is now planning to build an 11-storey, 160-suite hotel worth about $20 million.
Stinson, once dubbed the "condo king" of Toronto, says he was encouraged to expand the project by Sunil Tulsiani, the founder of a Toronto-based private investment club, whom Stinson is now working with.
In an interview yesterday, Tulsiani said he may have influenced the ramp-up, but the idea was already in Stinson's head and heart.
"I kind of gave him the motivation."
Tulsiani, a former OPP officer and self-described self-made millionaire, has also given Stinson access to hundreds of potential investors through his club.
And Stinson is making the most of it.
On Wednesday, after a sales pitch to members of the club's Mississauga chapter, he pulled in purchasing commitments and deposits on 47 suites, which go for $199,999 apiece.
According to Tulsiani, under the non-profit club's rules, members have up to 15 days to review the deal with their lawyers and back off if they choose.
"I anticipate that maybe four or five will come back and say I don't want it," he said.
"But I anticipate that more than 40 will be firmed up and, by the end of February, I anticipate 100 units (being sold to members)."
Tulsiani says he and most of the leaders who head up the club's six chapters, five of which are based in the GTA, will also buy suites.
Meanwhile, this weekend Stinson is going to be busy pitching to the Kitchener-Waterloo and Burlington-Hamilton-Oakville chapters.
The two men seem a perfect fit: Stinson needs investors; Tulsiani needs investment opportunities to present to the 1,300 members in his club; and both men believe Hamilton's downtown is ripe for a money-making rejuvenation.
Stinson's scheme to turn the former Liaison College and Crazy Horse Saloon -- next to the Royal Connaught -- into a hotel is predicated on finding investors willing to buy a suite as a rental property and then participate in the costs and profits of running a full- service hotel.
Stinson is counting on pre- selling the suites to finance the construction.
Tulsiani, on the other hand, basically leads a private network of individual small entrepreneurs who buy real estate as an investment.
After conducting his own due diligence on projects, he presents select opportunities to members for consideration.
Tulsiani says he views every project he brings forward as both a test of his credibility and, since he invests in them personally, his money.
"If I have a gut feeling or suspicion that there is something wrong with the area, with the projections, with the people ... then I simply do not proceed."
Tulsiani sees Hamilton's downtown core as a market with "huge potential," given ongoing government investments in rail, road and properties.
Despite his legal wrangles with David Mirvish, Stinson clearly made a big splash when he moved to this community last year.
Offbeat and outspoken, he was seen by many as a breath of fresh air, an upstream swimmer in a downstream town.
The sheen faded somewhat after he failed to deliver on his plan to buy and restore the Connaught, but he remains a figure of some fascination.
His new hotel/condo plan won instant credibility through the participation of former mayor Larry Di Ianni and realtor Judy Marsales.
The question now is: Can Stinson land the Hamilton Grand or will he be written off as just another dream salesman?
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