L-r Developer Rod McLeod, Architect Claudio Rabaglino  and General Contractor Richard Allen -photos 250News

Prince George, B.C. –  When  you ask  Developer Rod McLeod  how construction on the new  Marriott Courtyard Hotel is going,  the  answer is  simple “On time and on budget”The $35 million dollar  Marriott Courtyard  project is buzzing with activity.   The project is half way through framing,  structural steel will arrive later  this week for the front part of the building,  windows are  expected to arrive next week . “Right now our primary focus is getting all the wood framing up and the exterior windows on” says General Contractor Richard Allen  “Then we can start with the roofing,  and mechanical  rough in.”.

Marriott International’s  Vice President of Lodging Development,  Ryan Mcrae  says  the company is “very impressed by pace of construction of the Courtyard by Marriott Prince George, BC to-date.”

The weather has been a challenge.  Although the project  benefited from a milder than normal fall,  the recent cold snap had an impact  says Allen ” When there’s snow and ice, and cold temperatures, the productivity goes down a bit, but that is expected.”

The project truly is international in scope  as the developers are from Prince George and Utah ,  the architect (Claudio Rabaglino) is  based in Toronto,   the General Contractor is from Alberta.  The team has been  meeting regularly  through “Go To Meetings” on the internet for nearly a year.

Developer Rod McLeod is all smiles as work continues on project

As  most in  Prince George already know,  the  project was originally  to be a Delta Hotel.   Then Marriott bought out Delta,  and while still  favouring  the project,   the plan had to be redesigned to fit  a Marriott plan on the already existing  foundation. Architect Claudio Rabaglino  had  produced the initial plan,  then revised it to meet Marriott’s  requirements,  and would do the work  one more time when it was decided the design would be the more modern “Generation 6”  Marriott Plan. “The Gen 5 was an older design,  it had a curved front” says  Rabaglino “Now with this Gen 6, it’s got a different  kind of panel, and stucco on the  exterior”  and there were some minor changes to the floor plan and location of elevators.

The hotel will be the  first “Generation  6 Courtyard to open in Canada” says Marriott’s Mcrae  who praises McLeod and PEG Developments  for  making the changes that would make this an identifiable Courtyard by Marriott design “No easy undertaking given much of the hotel’s footprint was already in-place.”

“People may think there wasn’t anything going on, that the project was idle” says developer Rod McLeod, “But there was so much going on behind the scenes.  Securing financing,  designing  and re-designing,  it all took time.”

Critics  of the project often raised concerns about the  concrete foundation and the rebar that had been left exposed to the  elements,  but Richard Allen says  it’s all good “The structural engineer did a review on that,   there were no issues with the foundation.  Fortunately it was built according to the  drawings and test reports all came back at what they needed to be.”

The project has been good news for local sub trades as the General Contractor has tried, wherever possible, to put local  firms to work on this project.  The roofer is local, the storefront windows,  metal framing doors,  excavation and concrete finishing have  all involved local  firms  and sub trades. “For the most part, we’ve been able to use as many local  sub trades who could contribute as possible” says McLeod.

While there may have been  a hiccup or two, as  designs and  partners were formalized,  Allen  says the construction portion is going smoothly “Having dealt with multitudes of  projects over the years,   this job is going really well.”

At peak of construction,  there will be well over 50 people on the job and when complete, the hotel will employ around 40 full and part time employees.

And the completion date is not far off.  The projected completion is  late fall of 2017,  and McLeod , who also owns Royal LePage Real Estate in Prince George, is confident  it  will be ready on time “I’ve already booked the Royal LePage 2017 Christmas party  at this hotel.”