After more than two years in the works, plans are now moving into high gear to construct ann 80-room Best Western Mountain View Inn and Suites hotel on Main Avenue in east Sundre, say officials.
In an interview, Ryan Thorogood, president of Totem Golf Ltd., which will own the facility, explained the hotel would likely cost between $8 million to $10 million to build. It will include three conference rooms, gym and workout area, swimming pool, whirlpool and other amenities, he said.
“It certainly looks like it is now going to go, which is great,” he said. “We did a feasibility study and it looked like the town did need it. We've been working on it for more than two years. If it can get built over the next 18 months that would be fantastic.”
The actual street address of the hotel will be 706 - Main Ave. East, which is directly east of the A&W.
The hotel will have 80 rooms, including 24 suites.
Although a date for construction to begin has not been set, once the necessary approvals are in place, it should take about 18 months to construct, he said.
“The timeline is kind of up to the town and up to our designers,” he said. “Our hope is to build as soon as we can. However, the water and sewer has to be in place for our building in order for it to work. There will be water and sewer to the building and we are paying for it.”
The construction for the project will be tendered out, hopefully by September, he said.
“We don't build it ourselves, but whoever builds it will likely be using some local contractors but I can't say that for sure,” he said.
The hotel will have a LEED designation, meaning it will meet certain high environmental standards.
Totem Golf owns the Sundre Golf Course. Thorogood said although golfers will be among the users of the hotel, others will be staying there too.
“Since we've gone into the golf club there has been an increase in traffic into the town pretty dramatically,” he said. “Looking at the amount of rounds (of golf) we are having now compared with five years ago we have almost doubled it.
“We quite often get people asking where they can stay. There are some local places obviously but we looked at it and felt there was a market.”
The Town of Sundre's development authority has authorized the issuance of the development permits for the hotel project.
