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New hotel proposed for Shoppers Row

Campbell River stands to benefit from another new development proposed for the downtown core

Campbell River stands to benefit from another new development proposed for the downtown core.

This time around, it’s a new hotel.

According to site plan drawings of the proposed four-storey, 55-unit hotel, the building is expected to be a Comfort Inn, located at the entrance to Shoppers Row just behind the former Super Valu in Tyee Plaza and across from what will be the new Berwick Seniors complex.

Kevin Brooks, the city’s senior planner, said the location will help brighten up the area which is a paved, vacant slab used by motorists as a back entrance to Tyee Plaza and an informal parking lot.

“This site is one of the last remaining open development sites that fronts onto Shoppers Row,”  Brooks said in a report to council.

“This, combined, with the fact of its prominent location at the entrance of the downtown, the design of the building and the site, will have a profound impact on the vibrancy and vitality of the north end of Shoppers Row.”

The proposed hotel is 59 metres long and 18.7 metres high, with the front entrance along the Island Highway and its service entrance and parking fronting onto Shoppers Row.

The building is expected to have hardi-plank like cladding on the outside walls with exterior balconies.

The colours are proposed to be light brown and olive green with natural stone and wood accents.

Landscaping is proposed around the grounds of the hotel to buffer the parking from Berwick on the north side, to create an entrance feature to the west along Shoppers Row, and to form a mini-plaza fronting onto the Island Highway to the east.

Brooks said it’s hoped the hotel will also help weed out known criminal activity in the area.

“The area behind Tyee Plaza is known for congregation and nefarious activity,” he said. “The applicant responded by locating lighting and landscaping to reduce the potential for illegal activity.”

City staff were recommending council approve the major development permit for the hotel at its Tuesday night council meeting which took place after the Mirror went to press.

This most recent development proposal adds to a growing list of new construction projects in the city which includes Berwick seniors home (across from McDonald’s and beside Banners Restaurant), Rose Harbour women’s shelter (bottom of Dogwood Street hill), the new Seymour Pacific headquarters (St.Ann’s block), the shopping mall at Hilchey and Dogwood, and an expansion to the complex across from Discovery Harbour which includes Boston Pizza, White Spot, Tim Horton’s and Wendy’s.

The addition will be built in the gravel pit in between Boston Pizza and Wendy’s and will include a Kentucky Fried Chicken.