The site of a proposed hotel on the St. Croix riverbank in St. Stephen is for sale for $1.6 million in Canadian funds. That is the price that Brunswick Brokers/Commercial Real Estate Advisors is asking for the 2.59 acre site on Budd Avenue where Spur Line Properties proposed to build a Best Western Hotel.
      Spur Line Properties, owned by local businessman Tom McFarlane, acquired the land from the former Town of St. Stephen in 2013, hoping to take advantage of opportunities presented by the nearby Garcelon Civic Center.
      However, the $20 million project seemed to run into financial difficulty from the start, and construction did not begin in earnest till 2022. The concrete floor was poured and some piping installed.
      Creditors sued for more than $2 million they claimed that Spur Line owed them. On November 17, a judge in Saint John appointed MNP Ltd. as receiver in bankruptcy of Spur Line's property and assets.
      The receiver set May 31 as the deadline for offers on the assets. St. Stephen Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud confirmed, in reply to a question from a citizen at the June 26 municipal district council meeting, that the receiver rejected all offers that came in by the deadline and would look at other options to dispose of the property.
      Justin Noftall with MNP in Halifax confirms that the company listed the 2.59 acres with Brunswick Brokers, commercial realtors based in Saint John, with an asking price of $1.6 million.
      The site looks forlorn today, with weeds covering the ground surrounding the 17,656 square foot concrete floor slab. A pile of rock sits near one corner of the slab. A few wooden construction barriers left by contractors who worked on the project sit elsewhere among the weeds. Cars on Budd Avenue drive past one side of the property, while pedestrians amble along the walking trail past the other side, not giving much thought to the large vacant lot between them.
      Still, Brunswick Brokers' advertisement for this property describes St. Stephen as "a major international border crossing with historical counts as high as two million travelers and nine thousand commercial trucks passing to and from the United States on an annual basis."
      The advertisement describes the Spur Line site "a prime piece of real estate in the heart of St. Stephen overlooking the St. Croix river," offering "the perfect foundation for your vision" - a pun on the concrete slab already there? for "a versatile mix of hotel, residential and commercial applications."
      Potential buyers can view the construction drawings including floor plans and layouts for the five storey structure that Spur Line planned to build providing they execute a non disclosure agreement.
      The site already has electrical and telephone service, along with streetlights, and municipal water and sewer readily available. The province assessed the site at $102,000 for 2024 with this year's property taxes at $4,566.75.
      Spur Line Properties ended in heartbreak, but a study funded by Future St. Stephen and the commercial real estate investment and services company CBRE concludes that the border town is "a viable place to build a hotel," FSS chair Genevieve Coates reported to the municipal district council meeting on July 31. FSS "worked with several potential bidders on the Budd Avenue land, pitching the site and the town as a viable place to invest," her written report states.
      "We do continue to have hotel developers who are interested in building here. A lot of it comes down to investment, the cost of land," she said, adding that FSS would "love to help facilitate a discussion between" developers and the municipality about investment opportunities. She describes the study concluding that St. Stephen needs a hotel as "very, very positive," adding, "We've gained interest from hotel developers, so we hope to continue to move that one forward."
      Councillor Marg Harding states, "I hope that this hotel will go through because, when you drive through town and you see everyone who is in the civic center, kind of here for the weekend or whatever, we need a hotel."