I am responding to your article on Dec. 15 about the partially completed hotel near the library and the possibility that taxpayers money from the Northern Development Initiative Trust and from city coffers could be included in this private development.
I believe the plans call for about 150 rooms and the price tag mentioned in your story was $35 million.
That works out to $233,000 per room.
I am a partner in a downtown hotel (Goldcap Motor Inn) and I can assure you that a business plan based on a per room cost of $233,000 is doomed to failure.
If this project goes ahead to completion, it will not be long before city council is asked for more funds to keep it afloat.
I resent that taxpayers are being asked to subsidize a business that will be in direct competition with all the existing hotels, most of which are owned by other taxpayers in town.
The hotel business is a tough business at the best of times and to start out with such a large debt load is a recipe for failure.
The original group could not complete for a reason.
Why does the city feel this time it will be different ?
Bill Fraser
Parksville
