HELP MAKE AMHERSTBURG A “STAY” LOCATION NOT JUST A “VISIT” LOCATION
We are creating an upscale boutique hotel in downtown Amherstburg with a beautiful ‘Industrial Victorian’ design and a scale that respects Amherstburg’s heritage. It was approved unanimously by the town’s Heritage Committee.
Below are some of the benefits of our hotel but first, we would like to ask for your help.
In order to create a hotel befitting of the downtown core we require a minor variance that is classified as a Zoning Bylaw Amendment.
The process for this amendment requires a Special Purpose Meeting of Town Council. This meeting is scheduled for April 11, 2023.
We believe it is important for Town Council to hear all voices and we are asking you to speak up in support of the hotel.
You can do this by writing to Town Council and the Planning Department. The emails are:
Town Council: councilemailgroup@amherstburg.ca
Chris Aspila, Manager of Planning Services: caspila@amherstburg.ca
The hotel will contain 15 rooms. Two will be fully accessible and 12 will have both fireplaces and outdoor balconies. Its first floor will have a restaurant with a view overlooking the park and the river as well as a unique retail space. The rooftop floor will contain a bar and an event space that will accommodate up to fifty for meetings or small weddings.
We expect the hotel’s primary catchment area will be from as far away as London, and as close as Essex County and Detroit, Michigan.
The hotel will work to celebrate Amherstburg. We will team up with town attractions like the Gibson Gallery, Amherstburg Freedom Museum, Park House and Tourism Windsor Essex to help them market their presence and events. We will rent e-bikes so guests and town visitors can easily travel to those locations as well as local wineries and micro breweries. We will work closely with local shops and restaurants to encourage guests to support them. And we will advertise to encourage timely hotel reservations that will allow people to enjoy Amherstburg’s unique events like Art in the Park, River Lights, Uncommon Festival and Open Air.
Currently Amherstburg has some lovely Inns and Airbnbs but it is at a competitive disadvantage to other towns because it has no hotel. All of Ontario’s great small towns have at least one hotel. Niagara-on-the-Lake has eleven. Amherstburg needs more than this small boutique hotel, but it’s a start! Prince Edward County and Picton’s recent success has demonstrated how positive new hotels can be to a County.
All of this is a lot to fit into a 27’ by 125’ footprint so it needs all of its space, working very hard, to be a successful hotel. Without access to the entire footprint the hotel is not financially viable.
With thanks,
