The Barrel Yards | 25 fl | U/C

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Delta hotel announced for Barrel Yards in Waterloo
Nov 27, 2012 | Paige Desmond | The Record | LINK

WATERLOO — Goodbye Kitchener and hello Waterloo. Delta Hotels and Resorts announced Tuesday it will operate a hotel in uptown Waterloo’s Barrel Yards development. The Kitchener Delta has been sold and will no longer operate under the Delta name as of March.

“It will be the best property in Waterloo,” said Ken Greene, president of Delta Hotels and Resorts.

The Delta will be part of the 14-acre Barrel Yards development at Father David Bauer Drive and Erb Street West.

The nine-storey hotel was originally slated to open in August, but until now, project developers were mum on the details. Water issues during construction set the project back about 10 months and a boutique hotel operator from London, Ont., backed out.

The announcement was welcome news for the City of Waterloo.

“We were quite confident that they were going to build a hotel there,” Mayor Brenda Halloran said. “It’s very exciting news for us.”

The Delta Waterloo is being billed by the company as the city’s first four-star hotel and is expected to cost about $36 million to develop. It’s expected to open in summer 2013.

It will be a boutique-style location with a full-service restaurant and lounge, fitness facility, business centre and about 8,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, including a 3,000-square-foot ballroom.

Delta’s 40 locations are being built or renovated to reflect modern design and make modern technology part of guest spaces.

Greene said Waterloo’s strong technology sector was part of a winning formula for the hotel here.

“You have to have a great amount of support behind it,” he said. “You have to have the location, you have to have great community support, you have to have the support of the city and you have to manage it well and you have to have the right brand name attached to it.”

Earlier this month, it was announced downtown Kitchener’s Delta hotel on King Street East had been sold to Vista Hospitality Group, a local company that originally operated the hotel in the 1990s. Vista plans extensive renovations to update the landmark.

Greene said the decisions to sell the hotel in Kitchener and move to Waterloo were made separately.

The Barrel Yards is located at the former Canadian Barrel Company lands and is developed and owned by London-based Auburn Developments Incorporated.

“We are very excited to finally be bringing Delta’s new upscale hotel experience to Waterloo,” said Auburn president Jamie Crich.

The project includes condominiums, an office building and apartments. The city approved the $250-million project in 2008.

Taxpayers have put $18 million into the project through regional and city governments, which included paying the development charges owed by Auburn. Waterloo borrowed about $2 million to cover its $8.9-million payment.

Up to 10 buildings were planned for the site, including condominium, apartment and office buildings. Building heights range up to 25 storeys.