New Stinson plan has Di Ianni on board
December 22, 2008
Andrew Dreschel
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/485605
Real estate developer Harry Stinson is bouncing back with a new condo-hotel project in the downtown core.
But this time out, Stinson isn't dreaming of building a 100-storey skyscraper.
In partnership with a group of investors, which includes former mayor Larry Di Ianni, Stinson plans to turn two vacant adjacent properties on John Street South into a six-storey boutique hotel.
Stinson, once dubbed the "condo king" of Toronto, lost a $100,000 down payment earlier this year when he was unable to finance his $9.5-million offer to buy the Royal Connaught, which he wanted to transform into a 100-storey condo tower.
But he predicts his new smaller project will be simpler to bankroll than his failed vision for the Connaught.
"It's a hell of a lot easier to get one's mind around," Stinson says.
Stinson, who moved to Hamilton last year, expects to formally unveil the $10-million construction project in mid-January.
Di Ianni admits he thought Stinson's 100-storey scheme was "nuts," but came aboard the new project because he believes it's a practical business venture, not a splashy dream.
"I thought it was quite doable; the business plan made sense to me."
To be called The Hamilton Grand, the hotel's footprint will be the former Liaison College, which Stinson owns, and the derelict Crazy Horse Saloon next door, owned by a Mississauga group participating in the project.
The idea, Stinson says, is to build a condominium that operates like a hotel, complete with underground parking.
Basically, the building will be a turnkey investment property in which 80 fully furnished one-bedroom suites will be sold at $200,000 each.
The owners then share the costs and profits of running a full- service hotel.
"Once you buy it, you then participate in a revenue pool," says Stinson.
"So every nickel that comes in the front door of that building, whether it's somebody buying a beer at the bar or ordering a hamburger from room service or movies online, that's going into one big pot."
Stinson can't publicly market the suites until the project is approved by the Ontario Securities Commission.
That should happen in the next couple of weeks.
But he says construction financing will be based on pre-selling the suites.
Di Ianni, who is part of the development team, also intends to be a suite-buying investor.
As an ex-mayor, he says he's acutely aware of downtown's need for redevelopment and how underserviced the city is with hotel space.
Stinson believes Di Ianni lends credibility to the project.
"There's something about an ex-mayor that adds legs to the stool, as it were.
"His main role has been co- ordinating the investors and he does, obviously, have an awful lot of knowledge about the politics and planning of the city."
Stinson has been working on the project for about six months.
Though the concept became common in North America over the last decade, he says there is no standard model for how it works.
He says the suites can be bought for permanent retirement living, rented out at nightly rates of $100 to $150, or used for extended stays by out-of-town contract workers or lawyers.
"The core may not be as aesthetically appealing as we want it to be," Stinson says, "but it is still the financial and business and government core.
"And that's where the commercial traveller and extended stay person is going to want to be."
Though the design calls for maintaining, where possible, the exposed brick and 11-foot ceilings that remain behind some of the existing facade, big flat-screen TVs, modern kitchen and laundry facilities will also be part of the mix.
"There's no delusions of a five-star hotel," says Stinson. "That's not the market here. But these would be way beyond the level of a regular hotel room."
Though Stinson has kept his head down since the Connaught failure, obviously he's been busy.
The Hamilton Grand may not be as lofty a vision as the Connaught, but it does seem to have both feet on the ground.
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