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The $15 million Premier Best Western hotel in P.A. is facing delays, mainly due to the weather that has slowed work on the exterior according to the developer. (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff) 
check-in delayed

Construction of P.A.’s newest hotel faces delays

Aug 6, 2019 | 4:51 PM

Prince Albert’s newest, and purportedly most luxurious hotel, is still at least several weeks from completion.

Crews are working inside and outside the building site of the $15 million Premier Best Western hotel on the south edge of the city, but an initial timeline the developers had for guests to be checking in has now passed.

One of the owners of the property said while furnishings had started to go in, the weather had caused delays regarding the exterior.

“Everyone is doing their thing but all that rain and bad weather we’ve had over the last six, seven, eight weeks has made it really hard to get the exterior done, “ Faizan Hirani told paNOW. “If it’s raining and there are clouds up there, you know people need to be on scaffolding and stuff; you can’t do it.”

At the beginning of May, Hirani said they were into their 90-day finishing phase and he was confident they’d have guests being accommodated by the end of July, even though it appeared the hotel was a long way from completion. At that time, the mayor of Prince Albert said he planned a visit to the site to decide for himself how far the development had come along.

“I would say that we’re probably many weeks away not many months away,” Hirani said Tuesday regarding the new timeline. He figured he’d be able to offer a completion date within a few weeks. “It’s wrapping up, but with the exterior you can’t do anything, we’re tied. Once we get some good weather this month that will really finish off the exterior.”

Prince Albert taxpayers have an indirect financial interest in the hotel to the tune of $700,000. That’s how much city council gave the developers as a cash grant in what the mayor said was the cost of attracting large projects like this and the jobs that go with them.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow

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