The former hotel has 100 suites, a swimming pool and a restaurant.(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Quality Inn

Six offers received for defunct downtown hotel

Aug 28, 2020 | 5:52 PM

The offers are in and the City of Prince Albert is nearly ready to hand over the keys to the former Quality Inn to a new owner.

Following its acquisition of the downtown building through a lengthy tax enforcement process, the City put the shuttered hotel back on the market in July. After being extended by two weeks, the deadline for potential buyers to submit offers was Thursday afternoon. On Friday, city manager Jim Toye told paNOW six tenders from interested parties have been received.

Information on the bid prices and would-be buyers won’t be released until next week, in advance of a special city council meeting where the councillors are expected to give the deal final approval. However, Toye said he thinks the public will be pleased with the high-bidder’s plans for the building.

“The individuals who had the best tender have got a good vision for the facility,” he said. “It will fit very well in the downtown area.”

The shuttered hotel has sat vacant since June 2019 and the interior needs work. Toye said the individuals and organizations who submitted offers to buy it are aware of its condition and ready to invest more money on top of the sale price on renovations and repairs.

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“They are going to take some time to give it a face lift and get everything working,” he explained.

Prince Albert is owed nearly $700,000 in back taxes and penalties by the Quality Inn’s former owner. In the year since the hotel closed, the city has accrued additional costs on electricity and security for the building.

All things considered, Toye thinks the best tender price came in at “very close to what we were thinking would be fair.”

“The city’s not going to be out a lot of money here,” he continued. “And the key is that we’ve got an organization who sees the possibility of something very positive for downtown Prince Albert.”

Prince Albert city council is set to approve the sale of the Quality Inn at a special city council meeting on Sept. 8. Information on tenders will be released with the council agenda on Sept. 3.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom