Owner of former Ritz Inn still undecided over future of building, but. . .

It could be a motel: “Maybe The George Hotel will never be built, which would mean a completely different picture”

(By News Desk)

The owner of the former Ritz Inn has still not decided what he wants to do with his building. 

“Until further notice, I’d say it might be a motel,” says the owner, who does not want to be identified. “Maybe The George Hotel will never be built, which would mean a completely different picture.” 

If The George Hotel does not get built, the former Ritz Inn — if used as a motel — would be the only tourist accommodation in Lower Gibsons.

The owner bought the building in 2016 for $2,023,000 and has been renovating it since then, and says he has spent more than $3 million. “I had no plans for it, but I thought it was a perfect location, opposite the public market and close to The George. And now there is the new Mexican restaurant, as well,” he told The Coast Clarion last November. 

He put in elevators, patios and decks, and started to put new bathrooms and kitchens in every suite. In November, he thought the work would be finished in two or three months, but it has taken much longer. 

“It needs a lot more work,” he says. “It’s a big job putting in 30 bathrooms with only one tile guy in town. There are not a lot of trades people on the Coast; this is not Vancouver, so we’re slowly chipping away at it. I see trades people from Vancouver on the ferry, but there’s not enough of them. Nothing is quick here.”

He wants to wait until the middle of summer to make a decision on the future of the building. In November, he told The Coast Clarion he might turn it into a seniors’ home and rent units to young people, or operate it as a motel.

Now he leans toward a motel. “That’s what the zoning is for, too, but I’m not sure, I’ve never run a motel before — or a seniors’ home, for that matter. Heck, the work isn’t even finished. I’m not in a hurry.”

In his opinion, the market is not favourable for large projects on the Coast right now. “The economy is not strong. We’ll wait and see how those new projects on Gibsons Way will be doing. I haven’t decided. Phone me again in the summer.”