morden winkler getting more amenities - very strong area of the province
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bu...487734581.html
A new hotel in Morden is another example of the economic growth along the Winkler-Morden corridor in the Pembina Valley.
A group of investors announced they are building a Best Western Hotel on the east side of Morden.
"We looked around the area. Southern Manitoba has done well for years. It’s had a growth curve for four decades. It’s always had continual and calculable growth," said Abe Klassen, a representative of a group of investors.
Even if the capacity isn’t there right now, Klassen is confident it will be in the future.
"We may be early in what we do but there’s a first-to-market rule, right?" said Klassen, who is originally from the village of Hochfeld, 10 kilometres south of Winkler. He has lived in Edmonton the past 14 years and runs a construction firm there.
The hotel was approved by the Best Western company, which did its own market research.
"There’s a big push to build midscale to upper midscale hotels," Klassen said.
There already is a Super 8 hotel and the Morden Motor Inn. Both are on the west end of the city. The new hotel is east of the Boston Pizza along Highway 3 and the first one people will see driving out from Winnipeg.
Morden’s population has been growing by three to four per cent per year.
"There are roughly 100,000 people in the area if you include the surroundings" like Morris, Plum Coulee, Manitou and Carman, he said.
Klassen heads a group of investors, many of whom are in Alberta, although one investor is his brother, Peter, in Winkler.
The decision was to start with a hotel in Morden and look to build one in Winkler in the future.
"This doesn’t mean we’ve taken Winkler off the shelf. You can’t do too many things at once," Klassen said.
Klassen would not give a construction cost, but hotels that size usually cost from $80,000 to $110,000 per room. So at 63 rooms, it’s likely to cost in the range of $5 million to $7 million.
The hotel will be the chain’s flagship Best Western Plus hotel. The building will be three floors and 35,000 square feet, with a conference centre, as well as a pool, hot tub and waterslide.
It will require 25 full- and part-time staff.
"We’ve known that we needed another hotel for quite a while," .
It’s the result of economic growth not just for Morden, but the RM of Stanley and beyond. Morden attained city status several years ago and its population is approaching 9,500.
"It’s absolutely part of the growth we’ve been bragging about. This whole southern region is chugging along quite well," said Morden Mayor Ken Wiebe said, who has served two terms as mayor but is not seeking re-election in this fall’s municipal election.
Construction of the new hotel will use local contractors, Klassen said.
It’s slated to open in the spring of 2019.