New hotel approved on Iqaluit’s Astro Hill
Councillors ask about how 85-room building will impact traffic, emergency vehicle access
Nunatsar Properties Inc. has the approval from Iqaluit city council to build a new hotel on Astro Hill. (Photo courtesy of Nunatsar Properties Inc.)
A second hotel is set to be built on Iqaluit’s Astro Hill after city councillors unanimously approved a development permit for Nunastar Properties Inc.
The 85-room, six-storey building with a basement will occupy an area near the Canada Post office.
“It’s a little bit different of an offering than we have anywhere else on the hill,” Nunastar’s chief operating officer Ben Cox said in an interview.
With a planned mid-2027 completion date, 28 suites are included for visitors planning longer term stays such as rotational workers, Cox said.
“There’s a lot of people that don’t necessarily need an apartment for a full year,” he said.
Designs also include a small restaurant, conference space and new outdoor pedestrian walkways. An outdoor patio is part of the concept, but how that shapes up is to be determined, Cox said.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, councillors asked about how the hotel would impact emergency vehicle access, traffic and parking.
“We’re not expecting a lot of traffic from the guests staying at the hotel,” said Scott Hanson, Nunastar’s design and development manager, in an interview.
A traffic study concluded that hotel guests at the Frobisher Inn weren’t typically occupying parking spaces unless they were renting a car for their stay, Hanson said.
Astro Hill’s ring road helps emergency vehicles navigate the site, he added. As well, a second gate, separate from the entrance bridge, exists via a private road. It would be closed for regular traffic, but first responders would be able to pass through.
“We’re willing to allow access to emergency vehicles if there was an event where that bridge was shut down,” Hanson said.
Another consideration was regarding ongoing work to upgrade Astro Hill’s water infrastructure.
Hanson said Nunatsar and the city are working together on that.
“[City engineers] know the full extent to which Astro Hill will be developed,” Hanson said.
“The infrastructure is being sized for this new proposed hotel.”
Cox said the plan is to start shipping materials up on this year’s sealift.
With housing developments also going up on the hill this year, Cox added that the hotel is part of Nunatsar’s vision to grow the Astro Hill property.
Cox didn’t provide a price tag, but described this hotel as Nunastar’s “largest” Iqaluit investment.
“We, for probably about 10 years, kind of had a master plan of how we slowly, incrementally will kind of build and densify Astro Hill,” he said.
“We decided to prioritize this one right now just because of the demands of Astro Hill and what we see the community needing.”
Way to go Nunastar Properties! With all the success the Frobisher Inn has seen the past 6 years and the demand from people to stay with you it only makes sense that you will double your capacity.
Well done to the City Councillors for unanimously approving the new hotel! More short term accommodation in town will bring more travellers who will spend more money in the community and more tax collection. Win-Win on all sides.
Can’t wait to see it built!
No mention of a walk way on the exsisting bridge
much needed. hopefully Inuit will be trained at all levels of jobs.
Probably won’t train any Inuit to work there. The City should pose that as a prerequisite on such buildings since they are building on our territory, however, for some reason they don’t. When was the last time you saw an Inuk person working at the Frobisher Inn? Nada!
They’re actually building on the City of Iqaluit’s property. If you read the NLCA, you’ll see that the entirety of Nunavut is not Inuit-owned.
Every business in Iqaluit is constantly hiring. This notion of no one wanting to hire Inuit is false. Most business are actively looking for Inuit to hire. There are a lack of applicants or when some who is Inuit is hired there are major attendance issues. There are so many people that think by posting on public service announcements “who’s hiring?” means they are trying to get a job. If you really want a job it is out there and most businesses will train you if you show up and work hard.
People get all upset and downright racist about new Canadians coming to Iqaluit and getting jobs. Take your faith in your hands and get out and apply. Update your skills if needed. There are some jobs that offer great money with no formal education or skills required.
This is a nice building design, and its six-level design demonstrates excellent use of space. By placing it in this location, Nunastar is demonstrating thoughtful long-term urban planning. This complements Nunastar’s existing multi-unit buildings.
This building is also nice in that it adds to the housing stock that is within walking distance to all amenities. (In my opinion, Iqaluit already has a problem of too many cars, nearly all of which are carrying just one person each. That is a sign that we need more walkable communities, and Nunastar’s offerings answer that call.)
This building combines both hotel rooms and medium-term suites, thereby clearly answering a very strong need. For example, I know many people who have been looking for a move-in-ready suite in which to stay for a period of time less than one year.
Iqaluit is overcrowded——hotels and residential. People who want to visit Iqaluit beg on Facebook for a resident to rent them space in their home for a tiny stay, no living space for essential workers, overcrowded homes everywhere. People living in moldy, decades old homes. Meanwhile HTO gets millions for toy giveaways. When will this be corrected? Better to build a 200 room hotel now than regret building only a 85 room hotel 2 years after its built.