SUMMERSIDE — A multi-million dollar hotel may soon rise in the place of Cahill Stadium.
At least that’s the hope of city officials, who are looking for developers interested in constructing and operating a hotel on the Wellness Centre site.
The city has put together a development plan and conceptual drawing for an 11-storey hotel complex for the Cahill site. But, said chief administrative officer Terry Murphy, it’s not the city’s intent to construct or operate a hotel.
“If we can find a partner that wants to work with us to do this and build on those amenities (part of the Wellness Centre) it will be good for the economy in the area.”
Driving the project is a need to increase economic development and growth in the city.
“We went into this whole concept of comparing communities and why there was a difference in growth between Queens County and Prince County,” said Murphy.
The answer, he added, may lie with the construction of the CP Hotel. According to numbers compiled by Murphy since 1982, when the CP was erected, Queens County, particularly the Charlottetown area, has experienced steady growth.
That hotel, said Murphy, has been the central driving force in attracting events to the capital.
“We can’t continue to have all the growth going to the centre of the province,” he added. “There has to be a bit of an aggressive action taken.”
A similar hotel coupled with what’s already being offered as part of the Wellness Centre could be the catalyst in attracting major events to Summerside, said Murphy.
“Council has invested a lot of money in refocusing that area of the city to be the prime area.” And a hotel could be just the beginning. “There are a number of major developments that are being looked at. If we bring some of these to fruition they’ll all build on each other,” said Murphy. “This is certainly one we think can happen.”
The city’s conceptual drawing is just that — a concept aimed at sparking interest from developers. No cost is associated with the project but it would likely be millions of dollars.
“The private sector people will look at this in their own way and come up with ideas that will suit their business plan,” said Murphy. “Obviously they will be building something practical to making it pay and making it viable. We think there’s a business case there for it.”
Deadline for expressions of interest is April 10.
“We’ve had, and I think we will have interest from various groups,” said Murphy. “We have a tremendous venue that is here that, if it is marketed in the right way, will lead to tremendous opportunities for the private sector and public sector.”
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