The owners of the shuttered downtown Quality Inn owe the city around $700,000 and may lose title next month.(Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

Hotel on the line

P.A. Quality Inn could be in city hands next month

May 30, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The final countdown has started to the city of Prince Albert acquiring the shuttered downtown Quality Inn hotel under the Tax Enforcement Act. The site closed its doors in June 2019 and its owners have an outstanding debt of around $700,000.

The final 30-day process is now underway through the Provincial Mediation Board (PMB) process which gives the owners that period to come up with a back taxes repayment plan.

City Manager Jim Toye said the clock started running Wednesday May 27.

“They have 30 days to work out with the city a plan to repay all the taxes and any expenses the city has incurred over the last number of months, such as heat, power, things like that,” he told paNOW.

However, Toye confirmed there had been no contact with the hotel’s owners.

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“We have not spoken to them, they don’t return our emails,” he explained, noting the “door is open for that conversation.”

The 93-room site would end up in P.A. taxpayers’ hands late next month if there is no response from the owners. It was once regarded as one of the city’s top hotels.

Late last year paNOW obtained a tax certificate from the city which shows the numbered company that owns the hotel owed $669,016.28 in outstanding taxes and penalties. Most of that is for an accumulated levy that currently runs at $114,418.90 per year. The last time the owners were up to date with their taxes was in May 2015.

The building was listed for sale for $2 million as an ongoing hotel enterprise, student housing, low-cost rentals, or a form of health care accommodation.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow