Expressway means more business for Carmen’s
By Mark Newman, News Staff
Business
Jan 15, 2010
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/199914
Peter Mercanti says he built Carmen’s on the east Mountain 23 years ago in anticipation of the Red Hill Valley Expressway.
Now that the road is a reality, the chairman of the popular banquet and entertainment complex on Stone Church Road East is ready to proceed with his long-planned hotel project.
“Ever since the (expressway) has come in, we’re getting business from places that we never had business from before,” Mercanti said.
In many cases those out-of-town clients who are planning a wedding reception, conference or some other function are also looking for nearby hotel rooms that they can stay at.
“There’s nothing on this end of the Mountain,” Mercanti said. “Not even a motel you can stay in.”
Mercanti said not having a nearby hotel has cost Carmen’s some business.
In October 2008, the Mountain News reported Carmen’s was planning to build an $8-million, 53- room hotel at the banquet centre site.
City council approved a zoning change to allow the hotel to move forward and after more than a year of modifications to the project, Mercanti said he received site plan approval last month and the working drawings should be finalized in February, with ground-breaking sometime in late April or early May.
The new hotel will be five storeys high and boast 55 rooms along with a swimming pool and conference centre. It will carry the Best Western brand.
Mercanti noted the original proposal saw the hotel connected to Carmen’s.
Under the revised proposal the hotel will be a standalone building located on the south side of the banquet centre with about 15 employees.
It will take about a year to build. “Spring 2011 is our goal,” Mercanti said.
With about 500 events each year at Carmen’s — including more than 200 wedding receptions — plus the increased interest in the facility from outside Hamilton, Mercanti said he doesn’t expect any problems filling the hotel.
“Not at all,” said Mercanti, who noted a report by hotel consultant PKF supports the project.
He expects to draw business from the corporate community as well as from groups that use the nearby Mohawk Sports Park and Mohawk 4-Pad Arena.
To make up for the parking spaces that will be lost to the hotel, Mercanti’s group has purchased 1.2 acres of land on nearby Anchor Road that will provide additional parking for the hotel and Carmen’s.
“We’re excited about it,” Mercanti said. “We love our Mountain.”
Mercanti said the hotel will pay about $100,000 a year in property taxes to the city. That’s in addition to the $120,000 annually that Carmen’s pays now.
Carmen’s had also been looking at expanding the entertainment part of the business with a new stage and other improvements to the building.
Mercanti said the hotel project has put all of that on hold.
While the idea may be revived at some time in the future, Mercanti noted it’s hard to compete with the city-run HECFI, which runs shows and events at Copps Coliseum, Hamilton Place and the Hamilton Convention Centre.
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