Plans are underway to demolish and redevelop the Homestead Inn in Banff.
The owners of the hotel, Fuji Starlight Express, have applied for a development permit to the Town of Banff’s planning and development department, with the hopes of getting started in October of next year and finished off in 2016.
The ownership group has also applied to transfer commercial space from its other Banff properties – the Banff Park Lodge, Bow View Lodge and Acadia Lodge – under new transferability legislation known as bylaw 320, which was approved in 2013.
“We are working towards demolishing the existing property, which has 27 rooms and we’re working towards building a new hotel with 63 rooms,” said Frank Denouden, the hotel’s general manager.
“We haven’t come up with a name yet, but we have a vision. It will have a Chateau feel to it with a big lobby. Not unlike the Banff Park Lodge, the new hotel will target the middle market to middle upper market … Albertans.”
All commercial development within the Town of Banff is subject to a federally legislated commercial growth cap, which was set up in 1998 after intense debate to protect the surrounding national park from ongoing development.
Development rights for commercial properties in the Banff townsite are a combination of the existing building area, plus any commercial development allotments handed out in the lottery.
In addition, bylaw 320 allows for the transfer of un-built floor space, for example commercial development allotments, from one property to another. There are no limits anymore on transfers between different owners, but the Town of Banff has yet to see that.
The existing Homestead Inn, built in the early 1970s, is about 12,000 square feet while the new building will be approximately 32,000 square feet. No new restaurants, convention facilities, or commercial shops are planned for the hotel.
The previous owner of the Homestead Inn secured about 15,000 square feet through commercial development lotteries and the existing owners of the Homestead are transferring square footage from its other properties.
Fuji plans to transfer commercial space from the Banff Park Lodge, Bow View Lodge and staff accommodation on Bear Street known as Acadia Lodge, under the new commercial transferability bylaw.
“The new bylaw on transferability allows an owner to transfer square footage between properties they own, but you can’t sell them on the market, and we are working within our own square footage,” said Dave Day, the hotel’s manager of planning and sustainability.
“We’re zeroing out the Banff Park Lodge and Acadia Lodge in order to go forward with this redevelopment. The balance will be used because we’re looking at redeveloping Bow View Lodge after the completion of the Homesteads.”
Melissa’s restaurant and bar, which is attached to the Homestead Inn but under different ownership, is not part of the redevelopment proposal. Melissa’s, known locally as Mel’s, was built around 1910 and is an A-listed heritage property.
The Town of Banff’s planning and development department has been working with Fuji over the past few months on the Homestead development permit application. The application is expected before the Municipal Planning Commission in the not too distant future.
“We are working with them closely in exploring the different elements of design they are looking to pursue,” said Town of Banff planner Claire Wilkinson. “It’s an exciting reinvestment in the town.”
The proposed new hotel will feature heated underground parking accessed from the back alley, and will also feature a large lobby that can be accessed from both Lynx Street and the Bear Street alley.
“The alley of the hotel will have a look and feel to the front of the hotel. We like to think, in conjunction with the planning department, that we are thinking ahead of the curve in beautifying the alleys.”
The redevelopment of the Homestead Inn was previously embroiled in controversy between the owners and the Town’s planning and development department over the calculation of the existing floor area of the hotel.
MPC eventually came up with somewhat of a middle ground. Parks Canada appealed the decision, amid concerns development credits for exterior hallways of the Homesteads eroded Banff’s development limits. They ended up dropping their appeal.
An open house on the redevelopment will be held at the Banff Park Lodge Thursday (Nov. 13) from noon to 2 p.m.
