A new hotel is one step closer to setting up shop in Merritt after city council approved a development permit application at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
The unanimous decision to approve the permit means a 46-room, 40,000-square-foot Comfort Inn and Suites could break ground within the month, proprietor Lalli Randhawa said.
Randhawa, who also owns Bob’s Mini Mart, hopes to have the hotel operational by November.
“That’s the plan, but when you line up people, the plans usually change,” he said over the phone from Edmonton, where he was meeting with prospective builders. “Most of the work is already done, I’m just lining up one after another and very soon it’s going to be breaking ground.”
The four-storey building will also house a pool and an 80-seat restaurant, and the application also lists 33 more rooms in a phase two of construction.
The site is located just east of the Game On Pub.
The restaurant alone will be 3,000 square feet. Randhawa said he has not decided what restaurant will go in the complex yet.
He said he’s getting into the hotel business because in his 30 or so years in Merritt, he has seen the need for a higher-end hotel in town.
“I thought that Merritt really needs an upgraded hotel with a convention centre, good-looking rooms,” he said.
“It’s going to be one of the best hotels in the Kamloops and Merritt area. Even Kamloops doesn’t have this.”
Randhawa said it’s been a dream for him and his wife Jasbir to own a hotel, and after purchasing the land a few years ago, the timing is right.
He said nothing will change with Bob’s Mini Mart.
Construction of the hotel complex represents a $3 million investment in Merritt, development services manager Sean O’Flaherty told council at its June 24 meeting.
Randhawa said the construction phase will employ between 10 and 15 people for about a year, and running the hotel and restaurant could open up between 20 and 25 jobs.
The hotel will be located just east of the Game On Pub near the Coquihalla Highway interchange.
At the meeting, Coun. Mike Goetz asked if Merritt would have enough electrical power to support such a building.
O’Flaherty said BC Hydro has no concerns at this point.
Randhawa said he’s thankful to the city staff and council for their support.
Coun. Neil Menard was absent from the meeting.
There are over 140 Comfort Inns across Canada.
Surrey-based JM Architecture, which specializes in hospitality and mixed-use architecture, is working on the project. That firm designed the Holiday Inn and Suites in Kamloops and the North Kamloops library development.
