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Media Coverage
The Calgary Herald, December 4, 2007 Historic Columbia Valley resort to get $1B makeover By Geoffrey Scotton Please scroll down for the article
Historic Columbia Valley resort to get $1B makeover The new owner of the Fairmont Hot Springs plans a $1-billion makeover of the historic and iconic Columbia Valley resort that includes new hotels, a high-end spa, commercial development, residential development and, eventually, scheduled air service to the facility’s 6,200-foot air strip southof Invermere, B.C. “It’s close to a billion dollars when we’re finished. It’s a big project,” Ken Fowler told the Herald Monday. “Picture this as a mini-Okanagan. It’s a 25- year project.” The redevelopment plans will begin with up to 50 new large residential mountain view lots north of the current development and eventually encompass a relocation of the existing public hot pools, an expansion of the main hotel, a doubling of the resort’s ski areas, construction of a high-end hotel and spa, condominiums and residences, changes to the golf course, creation of an upper village centre and development of a commercial and community hub with an indoor-outdoor water park at the resort’s main entrance from B.C.Highway93/95. “This mountain village is going to be very unique and very much atuned like a Whistler (B.C.). It’s going to become a healthy-sized community,” Fowler emphasized. “Picture 4,000 to 5,000 doors, Iwould say.” St.Catharines,Ont.-based Ken Fowler Enterprises Ltd. bought the 809.3- hectare Fairmont Hot Springs Resort property from its longtime owners and founders—theWilder family—in September 2006 for an undisclosed sum. The site includes its namesake hot springs, a 120-suite hotel, a 300-person conference centre, four restaurants and 1,000 homes, townhomes and villas, a small ski hill and 27-hole golf course aswell as a 310-site recreational vehicle park. The Wilders had owned the property stretching back to at least the 1960s and, starting in 1965 under Lloyd Wilder, had developed a four season resort, but fractured ownership and different priorities among family members led to its sale last year. Invermere Mayor Mark Shmigelsky said he has yet to see detailed plans for the Fairmont redevelopment, and noted any zoning changes will have to go through due process. He noted Fowler’s reputation and experience with an Ontario cottage country development as positives. “We were very happy when he took over Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Fairmont is very important to the economics of the valley,” Shmigelsky said. “We certainly look forward to seeing what he’s got.” The new plans will stay true to the original vision of Fairmont Hot Spring Resort founder Lloyd Wilder, Fowler pledged. Fowler also owns in whole or in part the Earl’s Restaurant Ltd., Joey Tomato’s Mediterranean Grill and SaltLik Restaurants Ltd. chains, the high-end Red Leaves Resort in Muskoka, Ont., theWest 49 Inc. clothing chain and gasoline retailer Cango Inc., and has a more than 50-year involvement in real estate and property development in Canada and theU.S. For additional information regarding the project, click on the logo: 
Reprinted from The Calgary Herald |
