Conference centre headlined for North Bay brownfield.

A North Bay waterfront brownfield site could be the site of a resort hotel and conference facility once soil remediation issues are addressed.

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The Burlington-based Vrancor Group of Companies plans to build a facility with 135 hotel rooms and capacity for 600 to 1,100 conference-goers at the former Kenroc site on Memorial Drive.

The proposal was approved by city council in May and is conditional upon the sale being completed in 90 days.

The developers are no strangers to North Bay as operators of the new Holiday Inn Express built last year on Seymour Street, along with a nearby Staybridge Suites Hotel and the Hilton Hampton Inn on McKeown Avenue. The city had been promoting the four-acre property as a prime waterfront development opportunity for a hotel-conference centre or condominiums.

Officials went all out offering a bundle of incentives with rebates on planning applications, demolition and building permit fees, and exemptions from parking requirements and development charges.

Vrancor's proposal was one of five received by the city. Their hospitality and development divisions have a proven track record working with major hotel chains in operating and building such facilities in Oakville, Ajax, Hamilton, London and in the United States, says city chief administrative officer David Linkie

"The conference (centre) was key to the city and us because we know there's no big centre up that way," says Peter Tosh, Vrancor Hospitality's regional manager.

Hotel occupancy statistics indicated North Bay is a strong market for them to build. No franchise brand licence agreement has been signed, but the company is in negotiations with a hotel chain.

"We anticipate it's a Hilton Garden Inn," says Tosh.

Linkie says establishing a facility of that size allows the city to go after large-scale events that should produce a conference crowd spill-over for other hotels.

"We're very excited about the proposal. We think it'll meet a niche in the community that currently doesn't exist."

The city acquired the land in 1995. Drill bits were manufactured there by a succession of companies. A railway line also runs nearby.

The property was once set aside for residential development, but the soil clean-up costs were thought to be too prohibitive. The property has been largely vacant and used as a festival midway site or temporary parking.

Linkie says not much has been done aside from a preliminary inspection to identify potential hot-spots of contamination. But there will a full environmental assessment before construction starts. The clean-up could take a year to 18 months.

He says the city and Vrancor haven't yet agreed on a price for the North Bay property that would be reflective of the remediation costs. "Truthfully there's probably a negative value on the property."

In July, the company was negotiating a price with the City of Oshawa for a brownfield site to make the land suitable for a hotel and convention centre.

Tosh says Vrancor isn't overly concerned about the Kenroc property's soil conditions.

"The whole intention is to have something going within the next couple of years, otherwise we wouldn't be interested in that project at all," says Tosh.

The company also manages Sault Ste. Marie's Holiday Inn and are building two Hilton-branded hotels in the Sudbury's south end. There's a keen interest to invest in other Northern Ontario cities.

"We actually have quite a bit in our (project) pipeline," says Tosh, but nothing publicly announced yet.

"We've signed licensing agreements to definitely do more hotels.

www.vrancor.com

www.city.north-bay.on.ca

By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business