SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mike Mrdjenovich says he's shelving a plan to build housing at the base of Twin Pine Hill and says a separate plan for a hotel along Franklin remains up in the air.

Nova Builders' hotel development along Highway 4 is expected to be open in late July according to the company president. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

The housing development was planned for the side of the hill along School Draw Avenue, the former Bartram Court trailer park side. Mrdjenovich, president of Nova Builders, has a long history of clashing with the city. In 2009, he built a fence at that same site off School Draw deemed illegal by the city, which spurred a months-long battle between the two parties.

"We're not going to do anything this year," he said, referring to the site.

"They want us to go through studies ... and I'm not going to go through that - and the zoning and all that other garbage - it's almost impossible to work there. I'm just going to sit on it for a while," Mrdjenovich said.

He went on to use other colourful language in an interview Thursday to describe his feelings about the status of plans for a "boutique" hotel just north of the Arnica Inn on 50 Avenue.

"I'm not holding my breath, nothing firm yet," he said, referring to the development approval process for the hotel.

The city's director of planning and development Jeff Humble had confirmed in January the city was reviewing an application for a "small-scale" hotel on the property owned by Mrdjenovich.

While he initially said the plans would have to come to council, at the beginning of this month he said that won't necessarily happen.

Mrdjenovich's comments back up a March 7 post to the Friends of Twin Pine Hill Facebook page by Jamie Bastedo which said the only development moving ahead is the hotel.

Bastedo wrote the information had been provided to him by a city planning officer. A spokesperson for the city confirmed to Yellowknifer the overall information in the Facebook post is accurate.

Bastedo wrote the current hotel proposal requires no blasting of the site and that the scale and nature of the design does not require a public hearing.

Bastedo noted that a public engagement meeting may be organized, though.

When Yellowknifer asked Mrdjenovich if he's looking to develop anywhere else in the city, he said no.

"We've got enough."

He said the company's 146-room, four-storey hotel under construction across Highway 4 from the legislative assembly is expected to be open by the end of July.

"I'm hoping we're going to make that date. It looks like we will," Mrdjenovich said.

Before the hotel is even finished, work has begun on a 73-room expansion, which Mrdjenovich said is expected to be done the beginning of next year.

When asked, Mrdjenovich quelled the rumours a Tim Hortons could open at the hotel.

"We were thinking about it, but then they want us to widen the highway and we're not going to play that game . No, we're not going to go there," he said, adding the hotel will have its own restaurant and lounge.

Joey Cruz, president of the Yellowknife Hotel Association and general manager of the Days Inn, said the opening of the Nova hotel will add more competition to the city's accommodations market.

"These hotels will put some pressure on the rest of us, but again, we all compete in our own way, so that could be better for some than others," he said Thursday.

The Explorer Hotel was granted approval last year for plans to add 72 rooms, bringing the hotel up to 260 rooms. No one from Nunastar Properties, which owns the Explorer, was available to comment on when work would begin.