Hotel project may move to new locale

A proposed 10-storey, 82-room boutique hotel project in downtown Charlottetown may be moving, The Guardian has learned.
Homburg Invest. Inc., which announced in late November intentions to spend $45 million on a three-phase development project in the capital, is currently embroiled in a $5-million lawsuit against property owners in Charlottetown.
Homburg has launched the suit against 2950243 Canada Inc., 100946 P.E.I. Inc., Nemir Tweel Corp. Ltd. and Christopher Tweel.
"The properties owned by 2950243, 100946 and/or Nemir Tweel (collectively 'The Tweel Properties'), border upon, or are in close proximity to the plaintiff's properties," Homburg, the plaintiff, says in the lawsuit.
One of those properties is the vacant lot next to the TD Dominion Bank on Queen Street. In order to use that property, Homburg would need to reach an agreement with the Tweels.
Christopher Tweel, who lives in Toronto, is mentioned in the suit as an officer, director, shareholder and/or a controlling mind of the defendants 2950243, 100946 and Nemir Tweel.
Homburg is suing the aforementioned companies for $5 million, claiming properties owned by the Tweel companies in downtown Charlottetown are vacant, under-occupied, derelict, dilapidated, run down, unsightly, susceptible to fire, susceptible to crime and vandalism and are non-compliant with the city's bylaws or building codes.
The lawsuit says the Tweels, essentially, have not taken proper care of the properties in the downtown and that is impacting their ability to do business in the Confederation
Court Mall, which is owned by Dyne Holdings (a Homburg company), and the future of the $45-million project.
The City of Charlottetown confirmed Tuesday that Homburg has applied for a variance with the intent to move to a new location.
The proposed move wouldn't take the hotel far. It would remain inside the block which houses Confederation Court Mall but instead of fronting Queen Street, as the current proposal lists, it would look out onto Grafton Street.
The city will receive comments on the application over the next few weeks. At that point, planning board will examine all the new information and forward a recommendation to council for a vote.
The Guardian did reach someone directly connected to the Homburg project but that person did not want to be identified or quoted, explaining it wouldn't be appropriate to
comment with the matter before the courts.
All they would say is that the lawsuit could delay construction but that Homburg
remains committed to moving ahead with the full project.
The City of Charlottetown has looked at the issue of properties in the core
that have been vacant for years.
One idea bounced around before was to change the tax structure, penalizing landlords for not doing enough with their properties to make them more attractive to prospective tenants or simply not filling them with tenants.
The problem the city runs into is that some landlords say their buildings need to be outfitted with things like elevators and that the cost of doing that is prohibitive.
Some landlords have asked the city to help in that regard.
The city is expected to take another look at the downtown vacancy problem during its ongoing budget deliberations.