Let’s take a step back in time to 1973.
That year city officials eagerly awaited the completion of Delta’s newest hotel located in North Delta, which in later years did not have the best of reputations before being torn down.
The crumbling, vacant lot of the former North Delta Inn is now waiting what’s likely to be a new high-rise application.
In March of 1973, a “topping off” ceremony took place for what was then called the Scottsdale Inn, adjacent to the Scottsdale Mall.
The $2 million hotel was to open in May of that year, featuring 50 “premium rooms” and an indoor swimming pool with a sauna for guests.
The new hotel was to also feature a specialty dining room and lounge as well as a 3,000-square-foot banquet room.
The site was torn down several years ago after the city moved to close it.
In March 1973, Acting Mayor Ald. Ernie Burnett (left) joined Sandy Reid of Reid Properties Ltd. to mark the topping off ceremony for the new Scottsdale Inn.
The run-down former hotel at the time was being used as an unauthorized low-income housing complex and was riddled with code violations.
The city allowed a liquor store to continue operating there and it was relocated to another building on the large property, but only temporarily until the landowner submitted a development application within a specified time.
The owner had to submit a detailed development concept that included proposed uses, density, form and character, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, parking, preliminary traffic analysis and details regarding the relationship between the North Delta Inn site and adjacent properties.
City council was ready to pull the plug, giving the temporary liquor licence just one more year, after nothing was happening. The owner since made progress on plans, working with civic planning staff.
The site is owned by a numbered company which retained the services of former city councillor Scott Hamilton of Quadrant Management to make the application for the extension for the liquor store.
He told the Optimist in an earlier interview that the upcoming development application will be a showcase for Delta.
The site had previously been the subject of a controversial high-rise proposal that never made it to the council table, however, a high-rise may be looked upon more favourably this time around because it’s in a designated high-density, high-rise node.
A separate new condo complex is already under construction next door.
