SSS Manhao has a new six-month window to get a building permit for a conference centre hotel.
Nanaimo city council unanimously agreed to wait six months for SSS Manhao to get a building permit before it considers exercising its right to claw back the conference centre hotel property.
The extension is in exchange for the developers providing $100,000 toward Piper Park improvements and the loss of the first right of negotiation for the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
Coun. Bill Bestwick called it a more complementary opportunity for SSS Manhao to not have as many impediments in order to perform.
Coun. Gord Fuller said he couldn’t give a “rat’s patootie” whether the extension was six months or 12 months. He wanted the right of first negotiation removed from the agenda and it will be.
“So if they get the permit in six months, fine, and if they don’t, fine,” he said. “In the meantime, this wonderful building that we are in right now, if someone comes forward with great ideas and wants to look at them we can do it and that’s the main thing for me.”
The extension expires Nov. 30.