Explorer expansion OK'd
Hotels plans to add 72 rooms and extra meeting space
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Explorer Hotel's has received its development permit for expansion plans.
The rear of the Explorer Hotel, where 72 rooms are expected to be built in spring 2016 or spring 2017 according to Nunastar vice-president and Explorer Hotel owner Rainer Launhardt. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo |
The detailed drawings submitted on June 22 reveal the hotel plans on adding 72 rooms, including a presidential suite, as well as two meetings rooms on its main level.
"We're probably going to construction next spring or the spring after," said Rainer Launhardt, Nunastar vice-president and Explorer Hotel owner. "Spring 2016 or spring 2017. We just have to time it right and at this point we don't know yet exactly."
The new rooms will be a combination of standard and king suites, with a presidential suite featuring two bathrooms and a patio space on the top floor.
The seven-floor addition and banquet room expansion total 39,090 square feet of space.
In a previous interview in June of this year, Cathie Bolstad, NWT Tourism executive director, said her organization has seen increased demand for leisure and business tourists.
However, in the organization's role as the NWT Conference Bureau, which offers assistance to any organization planning to host a meeting or conference in the Northwest Territories, Bolstad said it was tough to draw in some of the larger conferences because the facilities in the territory were insufficient to accommodate them.
"The addition of new hotel space and new meeting rooms and new banquet rooms is very good news because it'll mean we can pursue some of those conferences in the longer-term," she said.
The development permit was granted on Aug. 21 and the deadline to submit an appeal is Sept. 4.
Nunastar's only hotel development currently underway.
In early August, the company said it was also renovating 50 of its rooms as well as its the conference facilities at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit. The new additions will accommodate 450 people, making it the largest facility in Nunavut.
"It's already being built in (the) old pool area," Launhardt said of construction plans which are set to start at the beginning of next year.
The new conference centre will total 9,500 square feet, and the plan is to open in October.
"It has really great view of Frobisher Bay," he said. "The view will be spectacular."
However, Launhardt said the start date for the work heavily depends on the sea lift, which he said is late this year.
