What might the closed-down Quality Inn become if the city takes it over? (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

rooms for improvement

What’s the future for P.A. Quality Inn?

Nov 25, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The Prince Albert YWCA wants community groups to come together to discuss the best future use of the closed-down Quality Inn hotel in the downtown, if it becomes a city asset.

With the city set to take tax enforcement measures against the owners of the shuttered building, it’s possible the seven-storey site may end up as a public asset and the city could in turn sell it on for far less than the current $2 million asking price. It is understood there is a large mortgage on the property. The owners owe almost $700,000 to the city in back taxes and penalties.

“If it ends up as an asset of the city, absolutely I think we should sit down as a group and see what would be the best use for that facility,” YWCA Executive Director Donna Brooks told paNOW. “Bring all the players to the table and see what the best usage is.”

Brooks made it clear the operating costs and dollars needed to make substantial changes to the 93-room building were still unknown. She suggested it would be very challenging to make it work as sheltered accommodation if the existing owners couldn’t make it financially viable at around $100 a night per hotel room.

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While Prince Albert’s mayor is hopeful the site can continue as a hotel, he has also stated it’s future use should be what’s best for the downtown. Not surprisingly the community has various ideas.

“One thing I know that we do have a lack of in the city is affordable housing for single people: for students and young people,” Brooks said. “Most of the affordable housing that’s out there has been targeted towards families.”

Apartment living is needed in the downtown, according to Carolyn Carleton with the P.A. Downtown Business Improvement District. She noted if the city acquired the hotel through tax enforcement I would make it more attractive to a potential investor who could then spend more on renovations. She said there had been lots of interest in the site.

If the city gains ownership of the Quality Inn through tax enforcement will it remain a hotel or could it be converted into other accommodation options? (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

“I’ve heard some people say some floors could remain as a hotel with others becoming student accommodation,” she said. “I’m [also] getting a lot of phone calls from people wanting residential accommodation in the downtown …some people work here [in the downtown] or travel and want a lock and go apartment and I know there are some residential spaces in the city that have waiting lists.”

Carleton said adding a residential component to the downtown would follow a trend in walkability that is happening in other cities that are undergoing downtown revitalization. She also highlighted the popularity of AirBnB as a sign people wanted something different to the traditional hotel.

She also stressed it was important to get the building up and running again so taxes could once again start being paid to the city because ultimately it was a portion of the downtown tax levy that allowed her organization to function.

Big undertaking

Brain Howell with River Bank Development Corporation, which has now overseen the acquisition and renovation of over a hundred homes for people in need in the city, said it was possible several organizations could perhaps work in partnership on making something happen with the hotel. But he said there were still too many unknowns.

“Once we see what the taxes are going to be and the total [selling] cost, and what condition it’s in, you might see more interest, but right now there’s not a lot if information available,” Howell said.

He was skeptical the building could continue as a hotel, but figured making it into something else, such as student accommodation, would be a very big undertaking and would require “a realistic business plan.”

Government funding?

The conversion of a Quality Inn hotel into affordable living apartments could be possible. In Alberta, an old site near the airport was recently turned into 79 units for the homeless by the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre. Thirty-seven of those units were snapped up as market rentals while the rest are being released as supportive housing.

The old Quality Inn in Calgary was converted into affordable accommodation, but it needed $14 million in government funding. (CMHC)

However, the conversion didn’t come cheap. It needed $14 million from the federal and provincial governments and the organization will still need to come up with about $5 million of their own according to their executive director, Sandra Clarkson. But she said the operation will cover their costs.

“There’s commercial space as well; we have a leaseholder on site who is a daycare,” she told paNOW. “They’re our first tenant and we’re looking to lease out other commercial space on the storefront level …so all of that helps cover operating costs of the building, programming costs and helps with the capital reserve fund as well.”

Whether Prince Albert’s Quality Inn becomes a commercial-residential building or continues as a hotel is yet to be determined, even if the tax enforcement process is successful for the city. And $14 million in funding from upper levels of government would likely be a stretch. This is not Calgary. But Donna Brooks with the YWCA can always dream.

“If somebody gave me $14 million right now I would take a look at the Quality Inn.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow