A major development in the upper half of Centre Square Mall could move forward in the coming years after a development permit for a Holiday Inn Express and hotel expansion was approved by the city last month.
Felix Seiler, chief operating officer of Holloway Lodging, which owns Quality Inn and Suites and the upper half of the mall, said the company has plans to do a major revamp of the hotel and mall area but a finalized direction, including branding, won’t be known until later this year when the project is fully costed.
“The reason we had applied for a development permit was just to sort of get an idea and get input from the city on proposed renovations that we are planning to do,” he said. “Obviously there is no guarantee that this is going to go ahead.”
The city formally approved the permit on May 5 and it went ahead with no appeals as of May 19.
Seiler would not provide diagrams of the location but said the company plans “total renovations” in a much needed area.
Quality Inn and Suites currently has 129 hotel rooms plus conference and meeting rooms.
“The proposal will be interior and exterior total renovation of all the guest rooms and public spaces and then also refreshing the mall area and the eating space,” Seiler said. “So a complete renovation so that it would become a jewel in the downtown because the location is great.”
Eateries like Ja-pain Yellowknife, the Main Street Donair and Falafel and the A and W would remain but that the rest of the upper half will be converted into hotel rooms and conference rooms, according to Mayor Rebecca Alty.
However, Seiler said there are a number of major unknowns at the moment, including the overall pricing of the project, especially the costs of shipping materials into North – a common concern he has experienced with other properties the company owns in the North.
“It is an expensive market to do renovations for freight and labour and everything else,” he said. “You also have the (Centre Square Mall) building which is older and we want to renovate but there are a lot of things like mechanical systems that will need to change.”
Based on other projects the company has been working on, Seiler said there’s been about a 16 to 24 week backlog when trying to order materials like insulation, siding or furniture fixtures during the pandemic.
“As everyone knows lumber and plywood costs have exploded and the same goes, for example, with furniture if they are produced in New Brunswick or Quebec,” he said. “Everyone is so busy in manufacturing because of residential projects and people just doing stuff at home.
“We just don’t want to make any formal announcement before our ducks are in a row.”
Visitor information centre
The City of Yellowknife has made moves in recent months to attempt to rejuvenate the downtown and draw visitors to the central area by planning to open a visitor information centre in the lower half of Centre Square Mall.
That project isn’t expected to be completed until later this year, but that work has come with the assistance of lower-mall owners Slate Management and federal and territorial financial assistance.
Seiler said he’s aware of those efforts and sees the potential for common benefits despite some of the social challenges in the central core.
“I think it’s much the same with every downtown, and over the years we’ve also had some discussions about homelessness and related issues,” he said. “But I really still think that Yellowknife has a great marketing potential and that it is a great city to do business in. We just have to get through this pandemic.”
In some ways it isn’t too bad to be planning now because the international tourism market has collapsed since the pandemic, he noted. Ideally he hopes that tourism rebounds over the next year and that interprovincial tourists can also be served.
Alty believes the approval of the company’s development permit with no appeals is an important hurdle that has been crossed.
“I think it’s exciting from the plans that I’ve seen in that they’re looking to make that upper level into conference rooms and hotel rooms,” she said. “So any private investment in the downtown core as significant as what they’re looking to do, I think, is great news.
“Having the visitor center on the lower level, I think, would be a good little match in really being able to have more tourists right in the downtown core, and it will be great for local businesses.”
Former councillor and real estate businessman Adrian Bell has contended with the impacts of the mall’s declining condition on the surrounding downtown for much of the past decade. The future of the downtown cannot advance without the city, Slate and Holloway coming together, according to Bell.
He said the potential for private investment would be a “game changer” and one the city should not miss. Providing incentives like a five-year tax holiday or using downtown development or revitalization reserves for major streetscaping, angle parking or traffic circulation changes might be worth helping the project go forward, he suggested.
“If the hotel does this, it is the single biggest change that could happen in the area,” Bell said. “Without them doing this and getting rid of essentially that interior corridor, the other mall will always be a serious problem because it’s always more functional as a warm shortcut from Franklin (Avenue) to the liquor store than as a retail mall.
“The minute the hotel steps forward and does this everything else done around it is money well spent, in my opinion… the fact that it’s on (Holloway’s) radar now, I would imagine they’re tired of having this liability holding back their hotel asset. They could instantly go from the least desirable hotel location in town to one of the best.”