Today's Citizen features stories on not just one but two developments that have left many residents gossiping all year long.
Ever since construction came to a halt in the spring at the proposed Delta Hotel project next to the Bob Harkins branch of the Prince George Public Library, the rumours have been rampant that the developers ran out of money, that trades weren't paid, that the concrete foundation had major cracks in it and so on.
Developer Rod McLeod, the owner of Royal LePage in Prince George, has still been busy on the project and it's his money, not the tongue waggers, on the line, so forgive us if we're putting some stock in what the guy with skin in the game has to say. While there have been some hiccups along the way, the biggest reason for the delay has been more to do with a major change to the development. Initially proposed as one building, with a hotel on the bottom and condos on the top floors, there are now two buildings in the works, one for the hotel and one for the condos.
Naturally, a change that major requires all sorts of new hoops to jump through, from permits and trades, to engineering, site design and financing. McLeod stressed that this development was never going to be ready for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Even if construction had kept going through the summer, it takes months to finish the internal work, add furniture and then hire and train staff for the opening. Building and opening new hotels is not a quick and simple process, as anyone who watched the construction of the new Sandman hotel or the Treasure Cove casino and hotel can attest. It seems to take forever and then, one day, it's open.
This project will be the largest private development in the downtown core in years. It was bound to trip over a few obstacles but all residents should be cheering for its completion. Besides increasing the hotel room inventory in Prince George, the condos will increase the residential population downtown, a much-needed ingredient for a healthy city core.
Meanwhile, as the Wood Innovation and Design Centre nears completion on George Street, the legal disputes happening behind the scenes have moved into the courtroom. In November 2012, Northern Development Initiative Trust started foreclosure proceedings against Commonwealth Campus Corp. to get back the remainder of a loan provided to Commonwealth to buy up neighbouring properties to WIDC. Commonwealth president Dan McLaren fired back, saying NDIT was at fault for misleading him with assurances it would purchase the land or find another buyer. Commonwealth then sued the BID Group of Companies in May 2013, saying the company had agreed to buy those properties for $4.1 million but didn't follow through.
Naturally, the protagonists went quiet once the lawyers stepped in but that just created a vacuum for gossip to grow about who was really at fault, what was said to whom and how a $160-million project that was supposed to cover the entire block and be the tallest wood-construction building in the world became a $25-million five-story project on a fraction of the block.
Although the facility will be an outrageously expensive home for a couple of UNBC graduate programs in wood engineering, it will also increase business activity downtown and foster further growth. Meanwhile, the courts, not the bloggers or the coffee shop committees, will decide who is in the right among the players involved in the centre.
Earlier this week, the rumours flew fast and furious after Todd Doherty's sudden departure from the 2015 Canada Winter Games in the wake of his announcement in the Citizen that he was interested in seeking the Conservative nomination in Cariboo-Prince George for next year's federal election if longtime MP Dick Harris decides to retire. Doherty had told the Citizen that his primary focus was making the Games a financial success but clearly his involvement was turning into a distraction.
Nomination battles to represent parties at the federal and provincial level can be particularly nasty, especially in safe ridings like Cariboo-Prince George, and this one is shaping up to be no different. There is all sorts of talk about who is running, who is saying and doing what, but none of it will be important when Stephen Harper drops the writ and the chosen candidates hit the campaign trail.
Until then, the chatter continues.
