$20M Hotel Development Breaks Ground In St. Stephen

Construction crews officially began work on a new hotel development worth $20-million in St. Stephen on Monday.

Spur Line Properties Inc. is the developer for a Best Western Plus, located on the town’s Budd Avenue. It was supposed to begin last year, but the Covid-19 pandemic temporarily put the plans on hold.

Tom McFarlane, president of Spur Line, said in an interview Monday that the development will include a steak and seafood restaurant, a full day spa and an indoor golf course. There’s also a banquet room, boardrooms for meetings and a Starbucks kiosk.

McFarlane said the development pairs well with the Garcelon Civic Centre just across the street.

“The area greatly needed accommodations to support events along with other things that the community has planned to organize,” said McFarlane. “The hotel, along with the civic centre, helps spur along the economic redevelopment of the area.”

The hotel is expected to finish construction by July 1, 2022. McFarlane says there will 24 long-term stay units in addition to 34 guest suites. One- and two-bedroom units will be set up with full kitchens and laundry units, where guests could stay for as long as five years.

McFarlane said the units are meant to promote staycationing. According to hotel feasibility study groups like HVS, extended-stay hotels are “the industry’s answer to those seeking accommodations similar to an apartment” without having to sign a long-term lease.

“It’s a drive that a lot of hotels had actually put on ahead of the Covid pandemic to promote a more staycation style of travelling,” said McFarlane.

In addition to the pandemic, McFarlane says other snags with the project, which has been in the works since 2013, involved convincing lenders to provide funding. Hospitality has been challenging over the last few years, but it’s a development that is “very much needed.”

“A lot of investors or lenders have actually approved the project, but as time went on, the projects get [delayed] for one reason or another,” said McFarlane. “Most recently was the [international border], so the lenders hit pause.”

“But now they’re back at the table and we’re ready to go.”

Aaron Sousa is a summer intern for Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.