City waits for final report from engineers before opening of Sandman Signature Hotel

By MICHELE YOUNG

Engineers and other professionals involved in the construction of the Sandman Signature Hotel downtown still have to present the City with a final report and sign off on the work before the municipality does its inspection.

That means the hotel is not likely to meet the Thursday opening date that developer Northland Properties was hoping for.

City chief building inspector Kundan Bubbar said Wednesday he was told by fire department staff there’s been an indication the hotel builders want to open Friday, May 2 instead.

Bubbar was on the site of the 202-room, $25-million hotel last week and he mapped out the list of the City’s concerns.

That list included a sign-off by engineers and other construction professionals working on the building and fixes to items that have been pointed out such as the front stairs not meeting code and the front flower beds causing other code issues.

“We need their team to sign off, then we will go in and check it over,” he said.

“Their professionals haven’t given us anything signed off. Until that happens, we won’t be inspecting.”

The front entrance stair treads are too narrow and off by half an inch to an inch in spots, Bubbar said.

“The rise and the run do not meet the code requirement. But I told them, their professionals need to look at it and see if they can use the back parking lot exit in case of an emergency.”

The flower beds affect the measurement of the front of the building and are out by half a metre, he said.

“This is a complex building.”

Once the Northland Properties construction team has provided the City with information and sign-offs, the inspectors and other municipal staff can do their jobs.

“We are waiting for information from their professional team and until that happens, we are not going to allow any occupancy,” said Bubbar.

Until the City’s fire, planning and inspection departments have done their jobs, no business licence will be issued, he said.

Northland Properties, whose president Tom Gaglardi also owns the Kamloops Blazers, bought the Lorne Street land across from Riverside Park from the City in 2008 for $2.4 million.