The announcement of the 61-room Red Roof Inn construction plans came back in the spring. And while the deal was slowed somewhat by some factors, developer Glen Squires is still hopeful “if the ducks line up,” construction will get started “before the snow falls.”
Squires, CEO with Pacrim Hospitality, said the final touches to the tender are expected in the next week or so.
“As soon as we get the tender completed, we’ll be putting up signs and that will be the first indication of the location,” he said in an interview with the Advertiser Thursday.
“We have an agreement in principle with the landowners,” he added.
At the time of the announcement, Squires said the company was considering two sites that meet top criteria of easy access and high visibility from the Trans Canada Highway.
The Grand Falls-Windsor hotel will also include some meeting space, an indoor pool and waterslide, and there is a possibility of a free-standing restaurant on the site, as well, Squires said in the initial announcement.
The initial plan was to have construction start this summer, but delays (including a change in development partner) moved the schedule back.
Squires said they “always had a party interested in joining the Grand Falls-Windsor project” and eventually had to go back to that initial partner once a deal with a more local group didn’t materialize.
“We’re still committed to the project,” he said.
As to the schedule, Squires said should talks with a group to provide modular rooms work out, the construction period could be as little as five or six months and the hotel open in late June or early July 2016. However, if the decision is to proceed with more traditional methods, construction would be expected to take 11-12 months.
“If that’s the way we decide to go, the opening likely won’t be until the first quarter of 2017,” Squires said. “We would have to delay because you wouldn’t open a hotel in December.”
He explained November, December and January period is generally slow in most hotel markets, but even more so in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Because there’s such a strong sense of family … people end up staying with them instead of renting a room,” he said.
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