The Hyatt Place Hotel located on Jasper Avenue and 96 Street will open its doors to guests for the first time on the last weekend of October.
The hotel is located in The Quarters area, east of downtown, where some plans for revitalization –such as high rises and retail stores- have faced delays or have fallen through.
“We picked up this area because this will open up everything going east,” hotel owner Prem Singhmar said. He hopes the unique 13 storey glass tower will help move development forward.
Another hurdle is poverty in the area. Singhmar says while the hotel was still under construction people were found sleeping inside.
“If [the City wants] more development then they need to provide security, clean, all those other things without hurting the homeless,” Singhmar told CTV News.
Singhmar left Libya in 1985, where he worked as an eye surgeon. He moved to Redwater, Alberta and started a chicken farm. “In my Hindu belief we believe that there is a reason why you are planted where we are planted.” He told CTV News that these life changes have prepared him for this new challenge.
It’s Singhmar’s hope that the new Hyatt Place will serve the Quarters in a much greater way.
“We have to be a little patient and people will come,” Singhmar said.
“Then it will start looking like a downtown.”
With files from Dan Grummett
