St. Bernard's Rectory is located on the corner of Botsford St. and Queen St., just steps away from residential-commercial complex FiveFive Queen. Image: Inda Intiar/Huddle
Paul Scharnberg and Kara Campbell are entering their first foray in renovating a commercial property.
The couple, who has flipped and renovated many homes and residential buildings for years, has bought St. Bernard’s Rectory on 43 Botsford St. They plan to turn it the three-storey stone building into a boutique hotel.
“We’re always up for a challenge with properties,” Campbell said. “When we saw this building for sale, we saw a really good opportunity for the downtown area and for us, for our future, to develop ourselves and possibly have a future business that we can keep.”
She said the idea for a boutique hotel was the first thing they thought of when they saw the building and that seems to fit the area better than long-term rentals. She noted the people going to Avenir Centre for events, the multiple office buildings and events downtown, and the new hotels and restaurants that’s opened.
“Everything is sprouting up in that area right now. That means there’s going to be more people coming into town,” she said. “People might want something a little bit different to stay in. It would be higher-end suites that we’re going to do.”
The hotel will be called The Keep on Botsford, referring to the inner stronghold of a castle.
“We wanted something that represents the style of the building it’s in. Because it’s a medieval, Gothic-looking castle,” Campbell says.
It will be a nine-suite hotel, each with its own bedroom and living areas. The top floor of the hotel will be one large suite, with the rest housed in the first two storeys.
“We’ll have modern features of a hotel such as mini-fridge, microwave and things like that as well,” she said. “I would say that the majority of people that would want to stay there would be people traveling to Moncton for pleasure or for business as well…or couples.”
Families are welcome, Campbell says, but with the suites expected to be one-bedroom for the most part, there could be space constraints for larger families.
While there are no plans to include a restaurant in the offering, for now, Campbell says there will be a breakfast area for guests.
“We’re not closed-minded about any options in there right now, but at this point right now, there are no plans for a restaurant,” she said.
The rectory is on the grounds of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, which was built in the late 1880s to serve the Moncton’s first Roman Catholic parish. The rectory is a historic site, meaning Scharnberg and Campbell can’t change the facade.
“We’re not changing anything with the outside anyway, except for maybe adding some dormers and a deck,” Campbell said. “We’re already talking to [the city’s Heritage Preservation Review Board] about what we can possibly do there.”
“We have permits lined up right now for the demolition [inside], so the first step is to see what we’re dealing with underneath,” she said, adding that it’s unclear how much the project would cost.
Scharnberg and Campbell had planned to open the hotel next summer, but with the purchase just finalized this month, that will be delayed.
“It could take up to a year, depending on how many flags come up along the way,” Campbell said.
Campbell didn’t share what was paid for the property but said they “negotiated a decent deal” on an asking price of $459,000.
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an online business news publication based in Saint John. Huddle is an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
