$3-million renovation transforms hotel into luxury business retreat.$3-million renovation transforms hotel into luxury business retreat An ambitious renovation of the Nor'wester Resort Hotel (formally the Alpine ALPINE Antihypertensive Treatment and Lipid Profile in a North of Sweden Efficacy Evaluation (drug trial) ALPINE Advanced Logistics Program Integration and Engineering Hotel) in Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. is scheduled to be complete by the end of next month. Thunder Bay businessman John Beals John Beal is the name of:
The partners are turning the 19-year-old hotel into a "full, four-seasons business retreat," says Beals. They are funding the project with personal finances, a $1-million loan from the Royal Bank of Canada Bank of Canada Canada's central bank, established under the Bank of Canada Act (1934). It was founded during the Great Depression to regulate credit and currency. The Bank acts as the Canadian government's fiscal agent and has the sole right to issue paper money. , $500,000 from the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, $250,000 from the Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it Development Corporation and $98,000 from FedNor. "It might have been cheaper to bulldoze bull·doze v. bull·dozed, bull·doz·ing, bull·dozes v.tr. 1. To clear, dig up, or move with a bulldozer. 2. To treat in an abusive manner; bully. 3. and re-build," jokes Beals. The year-long renovation is expected to be complete some time in late April or early May. It entails the addition of 7,000 square feet to the hotel's front entrance and lobby area, and an additional 3,000 square feet to the pool area. Included in the current phase of the renovation are a new fitness centre, saunas and steam rooms as well as improvements to the pool. In addition, the hotel's 64 rooms and four suites have been gutted gut n. 1. a. The alimentary canal or a portion thereof, especially the intestine or stomach. b. The embryonic digestive tube, consisting of the foregut, the midgut, and the hindgut. 2. and redesigned. Renovations are almost complete in the 80-seat Garden Cafe dining room, which will offer an unobstructed view of the Nor'wester Mountains. A 2,000-square-foot addition to the upper floor of the hotel will provide for enlarged seminar, conference and meeting rooms. "We will have the ability, within the five rooms, to serve 450 persons for meeting and banquets," says Beals. On the hotel's 45-acre property contractors are hard at work completing the installation of two baseball diamonds, walking trails and tennis courts for the spring. A new nine-hole, par-three golf course is expected to be ready for the 1993 golf season. Beals insists the Nor'wester Resort Hotel "won't even remotely resemble the Alpine." He and his partner purchased the Alpine in 1989 and have since purchased the right to use the Best Western hotel franchise name. "We wanted a new hotel that would attract tourists - to market it as a proper facility. Best Western has got the best reservation system in the world, with the largest number of individually owned properties in the world," says Beals. Beals says the hotel should have 30 full-time and 60 to 80 part-time staff year-round. "We are going after a whole new market. One of the problems with the Alpine was that it depended on the ski trade." Beals says the Nor'wester will offer competition to other high-end resort hotels such as the Blue Finn in Minnesota. |
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