Mixed feelings on hotel proposal atop Atlantic Place parking garage

While there were mixed opinions on a proposed hotel for downtown St. John's at a public meeting Wednesday night, people seemed able to agree on one thing: it can't get uglier than it already is.

Sonco Group has released its assessment and proposal for the four-storey, 108-room Park Hotel above the existing eight-storey Atlantic Place parking garage at the intersection of Clift's-Baird's Cove and Harbour Drive.

The proposal would bring that building to level height with the attached Atlantic Place complex.

"Not all that happy about being shadowed even more by another tall building in the downtown," said Peg Norman, who owns Travel Bug and The Bee's Knees on Water Street.

Talk of any tall building development in the downtown area is often met with contention from residents concerned about obstructing the harbour view and changing the cityscape.

Norman said the company's feedback at Wednesday night's meeting didn't do much to allay her concerns.

"They're crunching the numbers and looking at how many rooms they need and what height they need to be able to make it a viable project, and I understand that. And I'm not anti-development," she said.

"Just, hotels are for visitors;they're not for people that live here, generally speaking, and I think that the Atlantic Place building itself and the parking garage were, in its incarnation, one of the biggest mistakes ever made in terms of development in the downtown."

In Sonco's proposal, there is a section on Harbour Drive dedicated to retail space something Norman was happy to see, but she said it's a "bit of a double-edged sword," since the proposal increases the height on the existing structure.

"I'm not a huge fan of that. And I think the proposal of putting a 1,400-square-foot retail space or whatever it's gonna be in that corner section, I think that's a start because Harbour Drive right now is really just a driveway, it's just access to parking, which is unfortunate," Norman said.

"But I think if they are serious about that then they should look at increasing the retail space that's available on Harbour Drive."

Downtown resident Daunt Lee is also concerned with continuous development in the downtown area.

"I feel, for many, many years, the views keep on getting compromised by other things getting built in front," Lee said.

"It's long been my view that we live in a bowl and there's a ridge right at the top of it it always confounded me why nobody would ever look at this situation and be like, 'Oh, I'm gonna build something tall on the ridge instead of down in front of everybody else.'"

As a longtime downtown resident, Lee has had plenty of interactions with tourists, but the response from a German cruise ship passenger asked what they thought of St. John's came as a surprise.

"I was expecting her to be like, 'Oh it's a wonderful city,' but she came back with, 'It's kind of lame. It looks like glass and concrete, looks like everywhere else,'" Lee said.

"And I was standing on Water Street at the time, which certainly looks very much like Water Street, but if you came in on a cruise ship and the first thing that you saw was the waterfront, yeah, OK. That made me second-guess it. I was like, 'Oh yeah, she's got a point.'"

Lee said the developers behind the project seem to have the community's concerns in mind, but Lee thinks the Atlantic Place building is already an eyesore that no development can help.

"There guys aren't looking to upset the community. They're really looking to add to it, and I appreciate that," Lee said.

"But the fundamental thing is that they want to build extra floors onto a 45-year-old building and I think, quite frankly, it's a 45-year-old building which should probably just be allowed to meet its end of life."

For Kerry Shears, the owner of Natural Boutique on Water Street, the development makes sense from a business perspective.

"They're not using any more height than Atlantic Place," he said.

"Now if they were developing up higher, then I could see a concern there, but for us it's more just trying to make sure they're gonna be a business partner."

Shears, who lives in Gros Morne, said he would welcome new businesses near his St. John's shop, adding that every time he comes into town, things seem to be changing.

"Even if they're at 50 per cent occupancy rate, that's an extra 50 people, 50 rooms, so then you're talking an extra 100 people or more down on that end of Water Street which helps every business that's down there."

'Pleasantly surprised' with meeting

Anthony Novac, the project lead for Sonco Group's Park Hotel development, said Wednesday's public meeting went well, and the discussion was productive.

"I actually was pleasantly surprised, to be perfectly honest," he said. "I think there was some reasonable questions as well as concerns and support, so I was quite happy with the meeting."

Novac said there were some initial concerns and confusion about the height of the proposal, but the height on the addition to the parking garage would not surpass the neighbouring Atlantic Place.

"I mean, we're definitely building up. We think that that site has always been planned to have that amount of height on it," he said.

"We don't think we're doing any harm to the view planes at all. We think we're beautifying the landscape and creating an interesting and iconic property that's going to be excellent for the development of that area of the downtown."

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