A hotel could stand near a new community centre complex on town-owned land in East Fonthill.
At a special council meeting Monday, councillors reviewed a proposal from PFK Hospitality and Tourism Business Advisors to do a hotel feasibility study for $20,352.
It was one of three “requests for proposal” (RFPs) received by the town. They were to look into building a hotel on town-owned land at Rice Road and Regional Road 20.
Councillors deferred acceptance of the proposal to next Monday’s (March 2) regular town council meeting.
“We want to look at whether the cost could be covered by development cost charges and we wanted to give staff time to prepare a report,” said Mayor Dave Augustyn about a delay in accepting the proposal.
It was added to Monday’s special council meeting, which included the town’s economic development committee.
The town put out the RFP two weeks ago with a last week deadline.
Chief Administrative Officer Darren Ottaway told town council last week the RFP is not a tender involving on lowest cost. Staff follow a criteria based on factors such as experience and reputation of firms in selecting the proposal.
In the past, inquires by Pelham to hotel chains about the possibility of building a hotel in Pelham were met with requests for marketing and other information.
The RFP bid was to find someone to collect and evaluate such information.
“We are putting out the bait and hopefully we will catch a big one,” Ottaway said last week about attracting a major hotel chain.
“We do not know what sort of marketing data we would need,” such as costs involved, number of rooms to consider, and so forth, he said.
The RFP winner would provide it. Then town council could decide whether to go ahead with such a project.
The hotel could be placed near a future community centre, seniors’ residence, medical centre and Wellspring cancer treatment centre at Rice Road and Regional Road 20.
PFK Hospitality and Tourism Business Advisors is an international firm with its Canadian branch offices in Toronto and Vancouver.
