The Grande Prairie Inn will no longer become a seniors' retirement complex. Calgary-based Dolemo Development Corp., which owns the hotel, said Wednesday it is halting the structure's conversion into the Grande Retirement Complex. "People loved the concept, it was what was needed in Grande Prairie, but a lot of people had kind of a wait-and-see attitude," said Martin Dolemo, owner of Dolemo Development.
"We didn't achieve our pre-leasing and so in turn what we had to do was pull back on the project for now." Dolemo said the decision was made last week and that the company wasn't close to getting the number of future residents needed. "Over time we would have got to where we needed to be, but without the pre-leasing it just made it a bit hard to do," he said. He wouldn't comment on the specific number of pre-leases needed or how many they had.
As for whether the company will try converting the 204-room hotel into a seniors complex again, he said it's "off the books for now." Meanwhile, Dolemo is still deciding what to do with the show suites. "(There's) no decision as of yet whether we're going to start renting them or hold off," he said. "I say they'll probably be worked into the rental mix."
Dolemo Development announced its conversion plans in January and expected the associated amenity renovations to begin in June. But the company never started on them, Dolemo said. Now, it will refocus efforts on regaining the inn's clientele, which he said shouldn't be difficult. "In these tough economic times people are looking for value," he said. "With our pricing … I think that the clientele and the companies will take note and start returning to the Grande Prairie Inn. But he's disappointed the project never took off. "We were very excited about the opportunity to bring this project into Grande Prairie and it's unfortunate that not enough people had pre-leased to make it viable," he said.
Mayor Dwight Logan commends the company on its attempt, but inevitably it's up to consumers to decide whether such a project moves forward, he said. "In a market-based economy like we've got, people vote with their dollars," Logan said. "Obviously the concept of it had been developed to try and market the property and command the marketplace but people didn't vote to stay there by buying or taking out leases." As for existing city senior care facilities, he said Grande Prairie is doing better than most places, but the city will need more. "Part of the problem is that there's different stages of care for seniors," he said. "You've got to not only have enough facilities for any particular stage of care that's needed, but you've got to have it for all the stages of care. That's the challenge."
josephine@dailyheraldtribune.com