Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Four Yellowknife businessman have joined forces to launch a Super 8 hotel in Terrebonne, Que., a bustling suburb in Greater Montreal.

Wayne Guy of Guy Architects, David Connelly of Aurora Hospitality Inc., Dale Bowler of Bowler Development Inc. and Kirby Marshall of Global Storm IT Corp. - all based in Yellowknife - accounted for 76 per cent of the total investment for the Montreal-area hotel.

From left to right, Wayne Guy of Guy Architects, Terrebonne, Que. city councillor Jean-Guy Senecal, Aurora Hospitality Inc.'s David Connelly, Dale Bowler of Bowler Development Inc. and Kirby Marshall of Global Storm IT Corp. celebrate the opening of a Montreal-area Super 8 last spring, They accounted for 76 per cent of the total investment. - photo courtesy of David Connelly

It cost nearly $8 million to build and had to fare with conditions all-too-familiar to Northern developers including bad weather.

That said, the hotel underwent a remarkable construction turnaround, according to Connelly.

"What's unique about that property is we put the first spade in the ground in November 2007 and we opened last May," said Connelly.

"So that was a six-month construction period. And the embarrassing thing was we were finished six weeks before the signs arrived. So we had a motel, but no signs."

The partners installed paper banner signs, knocked on doors and made cold calls until the sign arrived some weeks later.

Connelly and his company have experience developing Super 8 properties.

Aurora sold the Yellowknife Super 8 - developed with Bowler Development and located beside Tim Hortons in the Range Lake area - to Toronto-based developer Holloway Lodging REIT.

"The Yellowknife Super 8 has 64 rooms," said Connelly. "This one has 81 rooms and much more meeting capacity. But like Yellowknife, its secret to success, we hope, is that it's located beside shopping, located beside a hospital and located beside major transportation routes."

The similarities to the Yellowknife property didn't end there.

"Because of early snow last year it meant that, like the North, we had a mud parking lot for our first eight weeks and didn't get a chance to pave it until June," he said.

"So we appreciate people putting up with our Northern conditions just outside of Montreal.

"A year from now we'll know if we were right or wrong in our decision (to invest)," he added.

The Super 8 marked Guy's first investment in a hotel property.

"It looked like a great locale," said Guy. "It's one of the quickest growing areas in the province of Quebec. And I'm actually an ex-Montrealer, so I know the place fairly well."

Guy said he was especially impressed with the quick construction schedule.

"We went through construction during the winter. I saw some of the photos and we actually had masonry work - brick work - which is temperature-sensitive," he said.

Having so many Northerners involved in the development of the hotel will pay off for anyone planning to stay at any of Quebec's five Super 8s, which will offer a 10 per cent discount to anyone who provides a valid NWT or Nunavut driver's licence, said Connelly.