NANAIMO -- The ceremonial turning of the dirt to signify the beginning of construction for the long-awaited Vancouver Island Conference Centre Hotel in Nanaimo took place Wednesday morning.
"Now that shovels are in the ground, we are one step closer to the ribbon-cutting and seeing the true potential of the conference centre come forth," said Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.
The hotel will become The Nanaimo Courtyard by Marriott and will be developed by Utah-based PEG Companies. The developer believes the new hotel will bring much-needed accommodations and economic growth to Nanaimo’s downtown core.
"It’ll help bring value back downtown as well as more guests for local businesses," said PEG Companies CEO Cameron Gunter.
“It makes the conference centre viable and will attract more people to Nanaimo,” added Krog.
The Courtyard by Marriott will be nine storeys high and will have 172 rooms.
There have been two previous attempts to build a hotel on the same site - one in 2008 and the other in 2013. Both fell through because they could not meet timeline agreements with the city.
The hotel is expected to open in the summer of 2021 and will provide employment opportunities for the Snuneymuxw First Nations.
Actual construction of the hotel will begin next week.
