A hotel developer poised to begin construction in Terrace has had to modify his plans in order to qualify for regulatory paperwork but says it has caused him no worries and he is ready to start building once the snow leaves the ground.
Kim Tran’s 93-room Sunshine Inn, to be located beside the Terrace Bowling Alley on Lazelle Ave. and fronting Hwy16 beside Kalum Tire, was the first of a flurry of four hotel proposals to surface in 2013 and 2014.
But a complication in getting a federal homeowner warranty for his 13 planned condos on the top floor slowed things down.
The condo units are to be sold to their occupants and are separate from the hotel.
“We have received a homeowner warranty, but there are some changes … now we only have 11 condos registered,” Tran said, adding that he wasn’t entirely sure why he wasn’t registered for the full 13. The remaining two condos in the design he said will be family hotel suites instead.
“But it doesn’t matter. Our crew will be back there in the middle of March,” Tran said last week.
A construction crew will be housed in the white house on the property fronting Lazelle that will be ripped down at a later point in the process to make room for the hotel.
Tran says he hopes his hotel will be in service in time for summer 2016.
The only hurdle now is waiting for a Terrace building inspector to approve the change on the design from 13 to 11 condos, said Tran.
“It doesn’t matter, a little bit of paper work and I am pretty sure it will go ahead,” he said.
Tran, based in Smithers, operates a chain of Sunshine Inns located in Smithers, Houston and Burns Lake.
While Tran’s initial building schedule was halted pending getting the federal home warranty paperwork in order, ground has broken and construction is underway by a Vancouver developer for a Comfort Inn development west on Hwy16 beside Canadian Tire.
And as far as feeling the heat from the new hotel, Tran is playing it cool. “I mean, if there is no other investor, sometimes there is a little bit of concern, and then when somebody else shows up, it tells you there is business,” he said.
“On the other hand, you think maybe it will cut into your business a bit, but overall I think my location is probably the best location in town and I’m going to provide probably the best customer service. I am not too worried about that, because there are two more [proposed hotels] on top of that too.”
A third hotel is being planned for a Thornhill location and a Calgary company has a land purchase option with the city for a hotel on the former Co-op site on Greig Ave.
