The market force that is Brock University
A large, high-profile suites hotel in Thorold appears to be biting the dust after more than 25 years of operation.
The Four Points Sheraton is seeking Thorold city council’s approval to turn the hotel into a student housing complex. It’s a stunning fall from grace. What happened? Rather than point to one factor, let’s examine several. Namely, the limitations of municipal planning, the power of market forces, the malleability of local politicians and decades of consistently strong Brock University growth.
First of all, it would be hard to overstate the community pride and enthusiasm that greeted the proposal to build the suites hotel back in the late 1980s.
It was a joint $15-millon venture launched by two prominent local businessmen, Archie Katzman of the Parkway Hotel and Nick Basciano of Mountainview Homes.
Called the Parkway Suites, the four-story, 136-room hotel was an ambitious, first-of-its-kind development for the area. It was also a showpiece for the fledgling Brock Business Park, a tract of land that was envisioned by Thorold as a prestige corporate/commercial campus.
There was reason to buy into the city’s vision.
The park’s location near the interchange of Highway 406 and St. David’s Road was easily accessible and had high visibility. It also had some pretty solid corporate neighbours — Brock, Niagara Region, Shaver Hospital and the Niagara Children’s Centre.
Indeed, it was believed these institutions would provide a strong customer base for the Parkway Suites.
There were some early successes in attracting companies to the business park. But that momentum faded after a few years, never to be regained.
Changing circumstances didn’t help.
A site across St. David’s Road in St. Catharines, a former drive-in property owned by the Zahorchak family, was supposed to be a mirror image of the Brock Business Park. But after years of moribund development, the property owner persuaded St. Catharines city council to tweak the zoning, opening the door for student housing and smaller commercial units. Development followed quickly.
On the Thorold side of the road, the alleged prestigious nature of the business park took a hit in the late 1990s when city council agreed to allow a bar/restaurant adjoining the suites hotel to be turned into a bingo hall.
Owners of the hotel, now called Embassy Suites, were furious with council’s decision, complaining that a “low public perception” of bingo halls would drive customers away from their business.
“I think we’ve been a damn good corporate citizen,” said Stephen Dreschel, vice-president of Adelaide Capital Corp., “and I don’t get the sense we’re getting the support that we think we deserve in terms of assisting us in operating our business to the maximum potential.”
Then in 2010, business park owner Mountainview Homes sought a zoning change to allow student housing on its site.
Mountainview’s Mark Basciano said the property was stagnating. The market had changed. There was a need to adapt in order to bring “badly needed vibrancy” to the area.
The planning departments of both Thorold and Niagara Region recommended against the request. So did Brock University. They counseled more patience and expressed concern about the loss of valuable employment lands.
But Thorold city council supported the developer’s bid.
Nine five-level student residences have since been built on a large parcel of property next door to the suites hotel.
So, maybe it shouldn’t be a shock that the owners of the Four Points Sheraton building are hoping to cash in on the same market.
It’s certainly not surprising Thorold city councillors appear amenable to the request.
On paper, it may make sense to retain these lands for future commercial use. But Thorold councillors, like their counterparts in St. Catharines, receive a lot of angry complaints from citizens about the negative impact of student housing infiltrating more traditional residential areas.
Any opportunity to divert students away from those neighbourhoods is usually welcomed.
It’s why Thorold council approved the student-housing concept in 2010 and why it will likely do the same for the Four Points Sheraton’s bid.
When the suites hotel was being planned in the late 1980s, Brock was a relatively small university with a full-time enrolment of about 5,000.
Today, it has more than 16,000 full-time students.
Catering to the university’s needs has overwhelmed all other market forces in the area.
The proposed repurposing of what was once the jewel in the crown of the Brock business park is only the latest example.