By Joni MacFarlane
Editor, Crowsnest Pass Promoter
A 50-75-room hotel, located at the former site of the Crowsnest Centre, was announced last week.
Medican, a Medicine Hat-based construction company and Group Vachon, a Calgary-based hotel management company, signed an agreement with the municipality to build a development that is to include a pool, hot tub, breakfast area and meeting spaces. The project will be accompanied by a complementing restaurant and sports bar as well as a green space with amenities such as a dog run and playground area.
The development group said their vision for the project is to “create a signature hotel and commercial area that will allow tourists to enjoy the numerous outdoor activities available within the Crowsnest Pass and also to create the primary rest area location between Lethbridge and Fernie.”
Chief Administrative Officer Myron Thompson said the purchase price was $1.1M that includes $300,000 cash and total responsibility for the demolition and clearing of the site.
The municipality had looked at doing the demolition themselves, he explained, but it was included in the proposal from the construction company.
“We said, well fine, because that takes that risk and liability from us,” he said. “If we had to spend that $800,000 on the demolition and then get $1.1M, it’s all the same.”
Thompson said they discussed the offer with an appraisal company who said it was “very close to being at market value”. The value had decreased slightly from July 2010 when it had been appraised at $1.4M, he said.
“There was talk about giving the land away for nothing so I think it’s a good deal,” he added. “Because what it does, it develops an entire parcel of land.”