Four-star hotel planned on Dettah Road
Company says it won't reveal details about the plan until November
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Friday, October 28, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Somba K'e Lodge at kilometre six of Dettah Road has been torn down and there are plans to build a four-star hotel in its stead.
Vancouver-based Coromandel Aurora BT Ltd. has purchased this property along Dettah Road and has torn down the former Somba K'e Lodge that stood there in 1999. - NNSL file photo |
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation sold the property, which included the building, to a private interest in August 2015, according to Housing Corp. deputy minister Tom Williams.
"It wasn't identified as a use for a healing centre so the facility sat empty for some time," he said. "Then it was the decision of the corporation to dispose of the property. We listed it through Coldwell Banker and they proceeded with the sale. The property was sold to Arctic Outback Adventures for a tourism venture."
But according to recent news reports, Vancouver-based Coromandel Aurora BT Ltd. bought the property from Arctic Outback Adventures for $1.5 million last November.
News reports state the company is planning a four-star hotel for the property, which will likely cost $25 million and hold about 72 guests in 36 rooms.
Yellowknifer called project manager Deneen Allen with Coromandel Aurora BT Ltd. but she declined to comment before November when the company plans to make an announcement about further plans for the property at the Spectacular Northwest Territories Tourism Conference, which starts next Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
The facility was built in 1991 by Northern Addictions Services (NAS) with help from the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation.
According to a 2013 Yellowknifer article, the facility cost $4.3 million to build and could house up to 28 patients. It offered addictions treatment and counselling.
Most of the facility's funding came from the Department of Health and Social Services.
However, in July 1999 the department cut off funding from the facility because it was "underused" and in need of "reprogramming," it was reported at the time.
Efforts to find new programming failed and its mortgage fell into arrears.
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation took over control of the property in 1999.
