Thunder Bay waterfront hotel construction to start in July

The developer of Thunder Bay's proposed waterfront hotel says the project should move ahead this July.

The original waterfront agreement stated the hotel would need to be completed by April of 2017, or the city would get the land back, along with any work completed on it, for two dollars.

Superior Morning2:56Marina Hotel Update

The developer of a proposed waterfront hotel in Thunder Bay says work on the structure will start in July.The hotel was originally announced in 2012. Gisele MacDonald is the developer

The city of Thunder Bay told CBC News on Tuesday the deadline to complete the project has been extended, after a request from the developer. There will be no penalty levied for the change in completion date.

Gisele MacDonald, president of the ReSolve Group, said the takeover of Delta Hotels by Marriott Hotels caused the latest delay in the four year project.

MacDonald said work on the building will start in July. The foundation and parkade portion of the building is already complete.

"The hotel, building wise will probably be done by the end of October, and then of course there's thefixturesand setups. So, we still plan on being open in 2017."

MacDonald said the project is still moving forward, despite the fact the hotel was originally supposed to open in spring 2016.

"We've got an 18 month window if, depending on weather and everything else in construction, you know what, I want to use the 18 months as the outset, so anything that happens earlier than that would be great."

Liens on property nowgone

The city originally stated the main floor of the hotel would be completed by October 31, 2014. The hotel currently has the foundation completed, along with the parkade. The value of the foundation, at this point, is just over $1,000,000.

MacDonald said she is still working on removing liens that were registered against the hotel property. She said all liens on the two condominium buildings have now been removed.

She said once the hotel construction is going, then she will be able to focus on development at the CN Station.

Earlier this week, Thunder Bay city council approved a plan that would create 90 parking spaces near the Pearl Street entrance to Prince Arthur's Landing. The cost of that project is about $750,000. The city said it would fully recover the cost of the parking lot through a 25-year lease with the developer.