The developer of a fancy new 172-room hotel on the 300 block of Banff Avenue is gearing up to start construction.
Banff Caribou Properties last week moved a heritage home from the site to the Banff train station as it prepares to demolish two other houses and three ageing hotels – Arrow Motel, Driftwood Inn and Rundle Manor Apartment Suites – to make way for the new hotel.
Officials say the home – a heritage landmark known as the Leacock House – will be eventually returned to the Banff Avenue site and incorporated into the courtyard of the new three-storey hotel.
“We thought this home was important to preserve for its unique history in Banff – the home of Leonard Leacock,” said Sarah MacDonald, human resources and communications manager for Banff Caribou Properties.
“It will sit at the train station on a little holiday for a several months and we will need to refresh it and get it ready for guests of the new hotel.”
The Leacock House was located at 349 Banff Ave. and it is believed it was built around 1913.
Identified as a B-ranked property on the municipality’s heritage inventory, it was the childhood home of Leonard Leacock, who had a distinguished career in music and was also an accomplished photographer and climber.
The two other houses on the site are coming down to make way for the massive development, including a B-ranked heritage home known as the McLeod House at 345 Banff Ave. and the un-designated Ness House at 347 Banff Ave.
The new hotel, to be known as The Moose, covers 10 lots and is one of the largest developments to occur in Banff since the federal government established a commercial growth cap.
The village style-feel hotel will feature standard hotel rooms, single-bedroom suites and two-bedroom suites, and also include a restaurant, fitness and exercise facility, spa treatment facility, two outdoor swimming pools and indoor swimming pool.
“We’re getting ready to start construction over the winter and we’re planning to have everything opened in spring 2016,” said MacDonald.
