A highly-anticipated development project for the downtown core could be shovel-ready by early summer.
Last week, the city’s Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) approved the proposal for a six-storey, 100-suite hotel complex at 495 Oak Street West and is recommending that City Council do the same.
On Monday, council referred the PAC report and recommendation to the Community Services Committee, where chairman Coun. Mark King expects it to go through for a final public meeting before council.
The proposal for Homewood Suites by Hilton is also anticipated to include stand-alone one-storey buildings for a 200-seat Keg Steakhouse restaurant and a Starbucks with a drive-through.
Hospitality property management and development company Vrancor Group of Hamilton, Ont, is heading up the project, adding to their 15 hotels and 20 managed properties, including the Hampton Inn by Hilton on McKeown Avenue.
Developer Darko Vranich, the president of the Vrancor Group, was named the 2013 Developer of the Year by the Hilton hotel chain for his Homewood Suites by Hilton projects in Hamilton, Timmins and North Bay.
“I know they’re anxious to get started,” said King. “We could see this, hopefully, in the ground at the end of June. Unless there’s some unforeseen circumstance […] that’s the way I see it proceeding."
By amending the zoning bylaw, City Council would be permitting the development to include hotels and restaurants and increase the maximum height of the building from three stories to six stories.
The 1.27-hectare vacant lot, which has frontage on Memorial Drive and road access on Oak Street, is designated as central business district under the city’s Official Plan, which encourages creating demand generators and increasing the number of people and economic activity in the downtown core.
King said the most prominent opposition through the PAC process came from other hotels in the area, who argued the new facility would reduce their occupancy rates and mitigate the considerable investments they have made in refurbishing their properties.
See: New hotel making existing hotels nervous.
“In my mind, we can’t control the market place to suit whatever transpires in the city," said King. "We have to try and grow the assessment, so I don’t think there’s any real method to answer that concern."
Other concerns arising from the committee meetings included the demands of increased traffic flow, particularly queuing on Memorial Drive from left-turners on Oak Street, parking area and the drive-through feature.
However, the city’s engineering department adequately addressed those concerns before it was given ultimate approval by the PAC.
“The Planning Advisory Committee was unanimous in its decision to support it, so from PAC it’s not an issue - there were no real concerns addressed at the end of the discussion,” said King. “There has been a traffic study done that was presented […] to the public works department, so the engineering department was satisfied that the proposal met the requirements of the development.”
The Official Plan also encourages increased building heights in the Central Business District for the ongoing vitality of the downtown core, so long as the views of Lake Nipissing and the waterfront are conserved.
The particulars of the plan limits the increased height of the subject property to just one storey. However, city staff say the placement of the Homewood Suites will help maintain the view of the lake.
“Although the proposal does not meet the strict policies of this section of the Official Plan,” reads the report, “it is staff's opinion that on the balance of reviewing all Official Plan policies the proposed height increase is appropriate for the use of the land and meets the general intent of the plan.”
The proposal does include an encroachment onto a small parcel of municipally-owned land, but the report indicates that the land is vacant and generally unused. The developer has suggested entering into an encroachment agreement with the city, but that agreement has not been finalized yet.
Eight years ago, the former Northmar Distributors site was rezoned to accommodate an office development, but that never came to fruition.
See: Convention Centre coming to the waterfront.
This time around though, all parties seem more optimistic.
