The Squamish Holiday Inn developer still indebted to 15 companies in B.C. and eight companies in Alberta launched a new business this summer, leading contractors still owed for their work to express shock and dismay.
Three local and 17 Lower Mainland businesses have filed liens against the Holiday Inn investor group Squamish JV Limited, and several business owners were upset to learn that developer Brian Ostrander established SaskWest Hospitality Group Limited on June 14 as a Calgary-based hotel management service despite still owing contractors hundreds of thousands.
"God almighty, that's absurd," said Stuart Oldale, owner of Langley business Oldale & Sons.
Oldale filed a claim against Squamish JV on April 6 after $27,000 in picture and mirror frames remained unpaid despite numerous assertions form Ostrander that payment was coming. A month later, Ostrander's legal firm, Borden Ladner Gervais, filed papers denying the claim outright.
"I'm still waiting on the court date because that was pushed so far away I wish there was some good news, but there isn't," said Oldale.
"The Holiday Inn hasn't gone out of business so obviously someone is getting paid they're paying their basic bills so they can operate, and people like myself have sent letters of demand without receiving anything."
Ostrander did not return calls for comment this week and staff at the Squamish Holiday Inn declined to comment.
In a previous interview with The Chief, Ostrander blamed payment delays on massive construction cost overruns at the $14 million facility.
Meanwhile, another hotel project in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta headed by Ostrander remains unfinished and has faced a litany of legal trouble including a municipal order to clean up the property.
Local and Lower Mainland contractors worked diligently to finish the Squamish hotel before the Olympics. But when the Fort Saskatchewan project ran into similar financial difficulties, the results took a different turn.
Without the incentive of anticipated Olympic-style payouts, contractors stopped work on the Fort Saskatchewan hotel. Today, the half-finished building sits covered in tattered Tarvac paper on a prominent highway-side lot
Eight lawsuits have been filed against the Fort Saskatchewan property land title, most of which were instigated by contractors who filed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of liens over the last 20 months.
Richmond-based Colter Developments is owed for the both projects, with a $539,112 lien on the Fort Saskatchewan property filed in July 2009 and a lien against Squamish JV filed in March 2010.
Colter vice-president Kelly Leroux wouldn't disclose what the company is owed, but said delays have caused a domino effect since the company hasn't been able to pay local businesses Pipeline Mechanical and Granite Art Masonry for their services, or the local Rona outlet for $30,000 to $40,000 worth of building material.
Leroux wasn't as surprised as Oldale, but was just as dismayed that Ostrander was branching out under a new company name.
"Oh my God, now it's SaskWest," he said. "He does it everywhere then starts a new company."
Despite having to downsize his family-run business due to Ostrander's non-payment, Leroux still has hope in one of the Squamish JV investors who has maintained contact throughout the ordeal and is directly involved in both hotels.
"I don't know what's going to happen here but the one guy that we're relying on I'm still hoping will come through," he said.
And Leroux hasn't given up on working in Squamish either his company bid on a new project starting up in the coming months.
"We placed a bid so hopefully if we get it this one will go a little smoother."
