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Canmore Hotel historic designation established

It’s official, the Canmore Hotel is now designated a municipal historic site, making it all but impossible for it to be demolished and the site redeveloped in the future.
A rendering of the completed Canmore Hotel. While the image does not include a bench, developer Heritage Property Corporation indicates it will be kept as a community amenity.
A rendering of the completed Canmore Hotel. While the image does not include a bench, developer Heritage Property Corporation indicates it will be kept as a community amenity.

It’s official, the Canmore Hotel is now designated a municipal historic site, making it all but impossible for it to be demolished and the site redeveloped in the future.

But the historic designation, a first for the Town of Canmore, comes alongside approval of a development permit and rezoning of the property to allow owners Heritage Property Corporation to renovate, restore and expand the hotel.

HPC owner Neil Richardson said reaching this point in the process is a definite milestone for the project, which dates back to 2006 when he purchased the property.

“The development permit and zoning were key milestones because they are approvals in the sense of what is and what might not be allowed,” he said. “We have to get the building permit first (before construction) and that is basically our winter’s work, so to speak.”

Richardson said the goal is to have a building permit by the end of March so work can begin before Canmore’s high water table makes it prohibitive for construction work to begin.

“We have this tricky time between when the ground thaws and the end of June hits and the water table is so high you can’t really dig for a while,” he said.

It is fitting that approvals from council came the same week the Hotel celebrated its 125th anniversary. Local historian Rob Alexander said it is also fitting that the first building designated a municipal resource is, in fact, the Canmore Hotel.

That’s not only because of its historic significance – it is the second oldest continuously operating wood hotel in Alberta – but its prominent location on Main Street.

“The Canmore Hotel would have really set the tone of Main Street for more than 80 years before Main Street started to change,” Alexander said. “The Hotel was the biggest building on the street and one that people had a connection to.

“Everybody at one point or another went into the Hotel for its specific purpose – to drink. Its use has not changed in 125 years, so I think it is significant to recognize that its use in the community has not and will not change. I think that is really important.”

At the time of purchase, Canmore’s real estate and property development market was booming. Richardson said it was almost impossible to secure trades to pursue redevelopment, so the decision was made to wait for the market to slow down a bit. Not only did it slow down, by 2008-09 it came to a halt and only in the past two years has recovered enough to move forward with historic designation and redevelopment.

But the municipality had not made a historic designation of a local building or landmark before. When the process began, there were challenges to making it work from a planning and development perspective.

The decision was made early on to rezone the site with a direct control district. Basically, the district is comprised of only the hotel site – the current building and neighbouring empty lot.

The municipal historic designation bylaw also includes official compensation for HPC from the municipality in exchange for the certainty the building will not be demolished and the property redeveloped.

Council approved a grant-based compensation package unanimously – a 15-year agreement that would pay the municipal portion of the property taxes for the property on the estimated increased assessed value of $1 million from redevelopment – approximately $8,500 a year, or a total of $88,000.

There are also provisions for parking – including allowing car stackers at the rear of the building and designating two on-street parking spots on Seventh Avenue for the hotel’s exclusive use over the next 10 years.

One issue that came up during debate of the bylaws at council was the name of the hotel – the Canmore Hotel – and whether any protections were needed to ensure that epithet will continue.

Richardson said while it is tough to protect that particular name, there is no desire to change it.

“I understand the Historic Resources Act does not give the authority to protect a name, but from a marketing point of view, we would be crazy not to want to use those two words – Canmore Hotel,” he said.

As for the signage for the building, historic photos do not include a sign on the building and Richardson said all signage was removed from the development permit application and will be dealt with in a separate permit.

One of the biggest questions Richardson has been asked about the restoration is whether or not the front bench will stay.

“The current bench is not the historic bench, but it appears there has always been a bench of some kind,” he said. “We do not plan on changing that, but the building’s appearance will change a bit.”

Façade changes will reflect the historic aspects of the building, from where the windows are located to material and colour of the siding. Richardson said they are following restoration guidelines created for historic buildings by the federal government and used by agencies like Parks Canada.

The biggest challenge, however, is fitting modern requirements of the building code, such as sprinkler systems, into the historic building while not interfering with character defining elements of the historic fabric, Richarson said.

One thing Heritage Property Corporation has become known for in restoring historic buildings is incorporating a commercial aspect to the space for a financially viable end use. Richardson said with the Canmore Hotel that was easy because it already functions as a hotel and bar.

“The reality is these buildings, when they were built, were not built as museums, they were built with a commercial purpose and what ends up saving them is finding a commercial purpose for them,” he said.

With the Canmore Hotel, which he said is a viable business, it was important to include hotel amenities expected by guests like indoor plumbing in the rooms and air conditioners, along with having enough hotel rooms to give it “critical mass” to become commercially successful.

That meant putting an addition onto the hotel in the vacant lot beside it to create a larger boutique hotel with 26 total rooms that includes the historic building.

Two years ago, the company began seeking out interested local investors to help finance the historic restoration project. Heritage Property Corporation offered minimum opportunities at $5,000 to invest in the project, but Richardson said without the rezoning and development permit in place there was apprehension by some. With those milestones now achieved, he said they expect to go back out to the community to see if there is still interest.

“We felt it was important to allow the local community the ability to participate in (preserving) one of their historic resources,” he said.

Alexander said having the Canmore Hotel a designated resource not only recognizes Canmore’s working class roots, it also gives certainty to locals that it will not be sold, demolished and turned into something else.

“It allows us to relax a bit to know this building is protected,” he said. “Otherwise, the dollar is too powerful and that is such a prominent site in downtown Canmore for another developer or business owner there could easily be other plans to tear it down.”

As for how the historic designation will be recognized, municipal planner Patrick Sorfleet said a plaque will be put up, but what that will look like is so far unclear. As the first municipal historic resource, a plaque will have to be designed.

“The municipal historic designation has only existed for a little while,” Sorfleet added. “It was only five or six years ago that the province allowed for it.

“The designation bylaw effectively gives the Town final say on renovations, but the catch is we have to be reasonable and it should not come into play when renovations do not impact character defining elements.”


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