Question re: Hotel
Ron Bolin: May 15, 2014
On Tuesday morning, May 13, I received an email with the header: “Question re: Hotel”. This is what it contained:
Ron,
I’m a reporter for The New York Times and I’m working on a story that touches tangentially on something that came up recently in Nanaimo. Do you have a minute to talk?
Thanks
Stephanie Saul
Staff Writer
The New York Times
Intrigued, but skeptical of what a New York Times reporter might want of me, I immediately went to the New York Times web site to see what I could find. It was not difficult to find that she is not only a NYT reporter; she is a prolific NYT reporter. I emailed back to say that I would be in for the morning and soon after got a call from her.
She indicated that she was working on a story involving Wenliang Wang, and the corporation which he heads, the Rilin Group of companies (both were later easily found on the web and both are quite prominent) and that he and his company were somehow involved in a bid, unsuccessfully it seems, to build the “Conference Centre” hotel. She asked what I knew about this project and I was forced to acknowledge that I knew nothing other than the name of the company which had been selected to build the hotel, that staking was currently in progress and that construction was touted to be imminent.
I found it odd that she should be contacting me and asked what she had been told by City Hall. She indicated that her discussion with a senior member of Staff was not fruitful and felt that she was given a response bordering on the secretive. As a result she looked further and apparently found this blog.
As I knew nothing of this decision or of any bidding process associated with it, I suggested that she contact members of City Council and provided three names. I am aware that she did speak with at least one of those names and there may have been others. In my discussions with these Councillors it seemed that they knew little more about bids or offers on this project than I. And there is where her rubber hit my road…
We have been down this trail before in the matter of the selection of a contractor to build the new SARK City Administration Building. It was asserted that the firm chosen provided the best solution to the City’s problem, but despite repeated requests for verification of this conclusion by some, no evidence has been forthcoming other than the assertion that the circa $14 million spent was the best bang for the buck. In the matter of the conference hotel we are dealing with an approximately $50 million dollar project (granted our direct exposure seems to be limited to an absence of DCCs (Development Cost Charges) and a ten year exemption on property taxes). Given that both these elements would be available to anyone under current city policy circumstances, this, in itself, is not problematic.
What I do find puzzling is that we have again been through what is effectively a bid/proposal assessment process and the manner in which a final decision on which proposal is accepted is not only not known by citizens, but perhaps unclear to the “bidders” and, as far as I am able to determine thus far, our Councillors don’t seem to know much more about it than do the rest of us. The pattern used in the SARK building process has been repeated and remains as opaque as ever. What are the rules of the game and who makes such decisions? And what in the world brings a New York Times reporter to be interested in a hotel project in Nanaimo?
Your comments are requested.
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
Scary…
While we are on the subject of Hotels, can anyone explain how the Hilton proposal can be built on private land (100ft of depth) when the site plan shows a 112 ft deep building foot print?
It would appear that public waterfront park land is required for this project. Can parkland be given to a developer or is a public hearing process required along with a rezoning?
How can we doubt any of the actions of our city mayor and councillors? Look at how well the Conference Centre and the Cruise Ship Facility have turned out!
Ron: You advise that the NYT reporter was referring to the “conference centre” hotel. It seems that Nanaimo is suddenly now seeing more than one proposal to build upscale accommodation for “conference centre attendees”, so was she enquiring about the project at100 Gordon Street, by SSS Manhao International Tourism Group from China, which has been touted to attract 70,000 young Chinese tourists annually?
I believe that the Conference Centre hotel proposal was to house Chinese students more than it was to house tourists.
With tourism down again & conferences at zero I fail to see any reason to build any hotel!
Be it Millenium or Cable Bay developments the world is full of under financed get quick rich schemes just waiting for a profitable in camera deal with taxpayers financing.
Leverage is the name of the game; I suspect both hotel proposals are based on such particularly with an over eager council & staff who just drool over such proposals.
We have no attractions in Nanaimo .
Why then would anyone risk $millions building a hotel?
FWIW.
Vancouver had 12000 cruise ship visitors today; yes in one day!
There are a massive number of unknowns here. This is a $100,000,000 dollar proposal yet the presentation low cost, flawed and strung together in a quick and dirty way.
There is a play been made, but I don’t know what the game is. It doesn’t look like real estate development.
I’m a reporter for The New York Times and I’m working on a story that touches tangentially on something that came up recently in Nanaimo.
In other words Mr Wang is involved with something that is perhaps problematic in the USA that is somewhat similar to the Nanaimo proposal?
First thought…
What is this going to cost the Nanaimo taxpayer?
The End of the Affair? Further Correspondence with Stephanie Saul:
__________________________________________
Stepanie:
Thanks for the response. Every day out here is a slow news day.
Ron
__________________________________________
From: Saul, Stephanie
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 6:36 AM
To: Ron Bolin
Subject: Re: question re: hotel
Ron,
I make about 100 phone calls a week. They don’t generally become news. Must be a slow news day out there.
Stephanie
Stephanie Saul
Staff Writer
The New York Times
_________________________________________
On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 3:27 PM, Ron Bolin wrote:
Hi Stephanie:
Your call has set off some online discussion here in Nanaimo and I would be interested to know if your story on Wenliang Wang and the Rilin Group has been published or if you can let me know anything more about it. The announcement this past week of the possibility of the construction of another new hotel in downtown Nanaimo (a reputed $100 million Hilton Hotel also with Chinese money behind it), has increased interest in the story.
I have discussed the matter with the three City Councillors to whom I referred you, all of whom have pleaded lack of specific knowledge, if perhaps a hazy recollection from some time ago. If the information which you got from Mr. McKay, who indicated that you had contacted him is similar to that which he gave me, you did not get much.
The response which I received from Messrs.’. Pattje, McKay and Bestwick all led me to believe that our controls on development might be in need of some attention and I wrote on this subject in my blog at http://www.nanaimocityhall.com . I hope that you will find what I have written accurate as far as it went and that you will let me know of any gross errors which need correcting.
You may also be contacted by a couple of local papers who have gotten word of this story.
I look forward to reading your eventual piece in this matter and hope that I was able to be of some, if minimal, service.
Ron Bolin
PS: Ms. Saul is also the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for her journalism.