Coming soon-ish: Ground breaks for 70s retro-themed motel in Essex County
Construction is underway on a retro-style boutique motel in the village of Colchester.
A ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday along County Road 50 near Colchester Harbour ushered in what’s expected to be an eight month project.
“This is something that's needed in the area,” said Essex Mayor Richard Meloche.
Meloche was joined by several other municipal dignitaries to kick off the $5.5 million project.
“We know that this is something that the tourism industry has been asking for in this area,” Meloche said. “We've got 10 wineries now in the Town of Essex. Out of the 10 wineries, we've got seven that are relatively within a few kilometers of this of this site.”
Meloche joins others who say there is a lack of accommodations in Essex County to compliment the region’s growing wine tourism industry.
“It's not a chain motel. It's somebody that knows small town and they're willing to work with the individuals that live close by to try and make their lives as uninterrupted as possible,” he said.
Plans call for a two-storey, 28-room motel to be built by the owners of the Grove Hotel in Kingsville.
“They’re in the class amongst themselves,” said Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos. “Seeing this come online is an asset that we can celebrate as a county and as a region.”
Plans for a new retro-style boutique hotel in Colchester, Ont. on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)
Councillor Chris Vander Doelen is eager to see work begin.
“We spent 40 years trying to expand our tourism industry here in the Town of Essex,” he said. “It's our second largest industry and suddenly just in the last couple of years it's become red hot.”
Vander Doelen admits not everyone in the community was on board, but suggests progress is necessary.
“If you want to keep taxes down you have to have some new development to help pay for the extra cost of government and government is very expensive and it's going up.” Vander Doelen told CTV News.
“We've got, we believe, hundreds of rental cottages, short term rentals and Airbnb, but we don't have a hotel. It's crazy. How can a great hotspot like this with wineries and bike paths, how can we not have a hotel? We have to have one, so we're delighted.”
Councillor Sherry Bondy believes having regulated lodging addresses some concern locals have about short-term rentals that have been brought to the town’s attention in the past, noting this could bring a cultural shift to the quaint community.
“I think that having a motel or a hotel is going to alleviate some of the concerns that the community has about unsupervised residents and stays in the town,” Bondy explained. “So this is great because it's licensed, it's regulated, and it's watched. So I'm thrilled. I think the majority of the community is thrilled, you know change is a little bit hard.”
Co-Owner James Flynn said they’re committed to the community and industry.
“The Town of Essex actually and Colchester have an improvement plan where it's been identified the need for professionally managed accommodations,” Flynn said.
He said the team hopes to finish construction by early 2023, with the goal of booking guests by next spring.
“We hope to be that catalyst to bring other businesses to the area, support the local wineries and all of business,” Flynn said. “Our friends from Michigan, Ohio, and of course the exposure to the GTA market, we’re a short three and a half hour drive from Toronto so people can come and explore the North Shores of wonderful Lake Erie.”
A ground breaking ceremony was held to mark the start of construction on a retro-style boutique hotel in Colchester, Ont. on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.