Re ee ee te

Judy Reimche
Peninsula News Review

Conduct of sale of land
for the proposed hotel de-
velopment at Port Sidney
has been approved by the
Supreme Court. RayCon, an
Alberta-based company, is
now in talks with the Town
of Sidney about building a
hotel on the site formerly
planned by Sea Star Re-

_ sorts/First World. Invest-
~ ments:

Representatives of Ray-
Con met with the Mayor,
town administrator, Sidney
Business © Association,
Chamber of Commerce and
architects last week, said

* Denis Beaudry, who repre-
sents. Prudential Rocky
Mountain Real Estate. “It

' looks positive,” he said.

‘He said the construction

company plans to build a_

-128-suite. . condominium
building; the suites will be

purchased by. independent.

investors, and the units will
be rented as hotel suites. -

_ “[RayCon] will be putting

~ more emphasis on a. con-

; vention centre than the pre-

_ vious Owners had,” Beaudry:

_ said.

. ” First “World,” ‘owners of |
a ‘the: ‘property, - had been)
) working with Sea Star. Re’
: orks to build a hotel onthe:

Ww ners f r inn at

M ONIONS _

Bryan Law had taken the
project to the Town initially,
but was-later replaced on
the Sea Star management
team. None are now: in-
volved in the present deal.
The purchase in Sidney
has not been. without: its
problems. RayCon negoti-
ated a purchase of the land

from First World ‘Invest-.

ments last -month, but the

purchase was challenged in

court by a partner in First

World.. However, about two”

weeks ago, the judge ruled
in Raycon’s favor. Final sale,
if agreed upon, comes at the
end of April.

That leaves RayCon free
to begin negotiations with

hotel management compa-
nies to find a suitable man-.
ager for the proposed hotel.:
‘Beaudry. said: the. sale
should not slow down the.
‘construction process, if Ray-'
Con decides all aspects for

building are favorable... :
‘“All going as planned, it
looks very. plausible. that

~“RayCon will go ahead: If so,

T would expect to.see the ho- .
tel built and ready to open
“by April of next: year,”-he
» said: He wouldn’ t.speculate ~ -
on the starting date, other -
_ than to say: that could hap- —
pen in: late. spring or aly

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development permit as. it

- Stands, other than to make

some minor improvements
on it. Any changes would be
within the restrictions of the
permit,” he said. Since the
Town of Sidney has tied the

development permit to the

design, any © significant
change would mean the pro-
ject would have’ to go
through the whole process

According to reports
from the . Ladysmith-
Chemainus Chronicle, finan-

Sea Star Resorts are mir-
rored by those of the com-
pany from which it spr. ang,
‘Sea Vision.

When. Bryan. Law, as
principal of Sea Vision, first

Prince George. .

-aseries of missed deadlines;

LOCALNEWS

Say ti

cial troubles that plagued °

took his proposal to Lady- -
smith council in 1993, it was —
for an eco-tourism project.
based. around _ glass-bot-

-tomed boat tours. The plans *
.| quickly expanded to.a100--
| room resort hotel, ‘comple- n
| mented by a marina, float-
ing suites, an indoor water-.
slide heritage park and a‘.
floating convention. centre ..
built. in. the’ steam ‘ship ee

_, The idea received wide
; ‘spread ‘support. Then came.

ind | internal ‘struggles. that:

again. Beaudry. said. the
company is sufficiently sat-
isfied with the current plan
to go ahead.

He said the company is
currently in talks with Jim
Burton, owner of the con-
necting property at Port Sid-
ney, to find ways they can
work in cooperation.

Why will the project work
this time?

town and the developers.

Sea . Vision’s’ first “deal.

‘never.was closed, and that
became a pattern. :

In February of 1996, they
signed a «new. land” use

agreement. The site was —
‘cleared, an office. and a
. show. ‘suite built. Then,

everything . slowed down.
-again: A later deal was also
agreed upon. but never.
‘long-

sealed » - because
promised Alberta- based fi-

‘nancial backing didn’ t:ma-:

terialize.

In. April; 1997 Law “re-

signed from Sea Vision and

: takeover bids with the: com

“cy | MAPLE LODGE auciD :

‘BOLOGNA

g/ CHICKEN | 2)

ture. :
“sources in Sidney, ‘because.
of the way ‘the deal was —

__ PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW 9

ic

“We are simply building a
condominium. that people
will buy and use as a hotel.
The difference is, we have
the money; we.can build the
condominium,” he said. Sea
Star was attempting to sell
the units first, and.use that
money to build the hotel.

“We are not, in any shape
or form,.the previous com-
pany. We are totally sepa-

Sea Vision foreclosed in
the fall of 1997.-Assets are

~ now in the hands of SVR
Acquisitions, based i in Cal- :

gary.

In Sidney, the. site: re-
ceived its development per-
mit, but failed twice to meet
its start date: At least once,
Sea: Star. managers : said

‘they were awaiting financial .

backing from Alberta-based

In the Sea Vision case,

~ when the. company’ failed,
_ the investors'lost any funds

__ they. had put into the.ven-.
launched a lawsuit against
the company, but: that Mike
“not followed through.
. Law. also: launched - two: structured: here, Sea. Star.

“was: not to collect funds. “in

“But ‘according to

Plus!! Save On Lots of

Ct’s

~ artwork on behalf of -the

Beaudry, ‘the “Prudential

buyers of the property, said |

- team ‘believed in.the } pro-
companies; that never. ma- i

terialized. _ the’ money, to make it suc-

ceed.

» the legal issues are settled,
remarked: “They wanted to

rate,” Beaudry said. “Only
the sellers of the property
are the same.”

Chuck McCaffree, presi-
dent of First. World, said:
“We worked on this deal for
a long time, so it was disap-
pointing to see it not go for-
ward. But it’s also a relief
that the hotel is going to be
built. It’s something ‘we
wanted to see happen.”

cluded earlier this month.
Those who have lost money
are those who provided ad-
vertising, engineering:and

company. At least. one. of
those people has a lien on
the property.

In the Sidney case, Denis

Rocky Mountain represen-
tative acting for. RayCon,

he believes the Sea Star
ject, they'simply didn’t have

-One source, “who: asled .
not to be identified before

do the right thing. But in. =
this day: and’ “age, you can’t |
bee a developer’ without hav-

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