Across Front Street from the Globe Hotel, the lot at 10 Front Street was left partly excavated when an earlier development stalled. In May 2014 the firm Stantec applied to rezone it, together with the run-down building next door at 28 Front Street, for a Hilton hotel. The Times Colonist reported the plan as a 30-storey tower with floors that would rotate and twist so the balconies seemed to ripple like waves. Mayor John Ruttan called the interest of the Hilton group "huge" for the city.
The Nanaimo Hilton hotel also needed a piece of the small public park next to it, and that is where the argument started.
The 2014 plan for 10 and 28 Front Street
City staff described the project to council on August 11, 2014. The applicant wanted to merge the two lots and the lane between them and build a hotel of 32 storeys measured from Front Street, a six-storey mid-rise wing and a two-storey podium, with three more levels below street grade because the land drops toward the water; seen from the walkway, staff noted, it would read as a 35-storey building. The request raised the height limit to 114.3 metres and the density to a floor area ratio of 12. The hotel would have 303 rooms.
The counts differ by source. The Times Colonist reported 30 storeys in May; the staff report three months later, and Business in Vancouver in August 2015, give 32 storeys and 303 rooms.
The site came with a history of its own. InSight Developments had planned a 24-storey condominium tower called Seawalk there before the market stalled it in 2009, and Ruttan said InSight still owned the land and would be a partner. The staff report records that 10 Front Street had been rezoned on November 15, 2004, for a 25-storey residential building, so the sources differ by one storey on that earlier scheme too. The Discourse later reported that the 2004 approval came despite strong opposition and required removing a 16-storey height limit from the official community plan.
Parking was settled by the rules for the downtown core, which exempt commercial buildings from providing any. The hotel offered 59 underground stalls anyway, and because the Hilton standard required more, the applicant was looking for extra spaces nearby for a valet service.
Georgia Park and the loading bay
The lots abut Georgia Park on the north and the waterfront walkway on the east. Staff wrote that commercial loading would be "provided via a park lease area" so that delivery vehicles could reach the north side of the building, which also needed a variance for the loading bays. In other words, the hotel's service access depended on public parkland.
The city's own design guidelines pointed the other way: properties fronting Georgia Park were to be developed to provide public amenity from the park side. Stantec architect Jiang Zhu promised an "upgraded" Georgia Park and a "multi-purpose" plaza tied into the city's waterfront plans. "The high-rise development has great visual interest and will form a landmark for downtown," he said.
In return for the extra height and density, the applicant offered a community contribution of $1,187,000 toward waterfront walkway and park improvements, plus a public pedestrian route through the hotel between Front Street and the walkway. The advisory planning committee had recommended approval on May 20, 2014, and staff supported the contribution.
On the park itself, staff were cautious. The applicant had shown council and the advisory planning committee a concept for the park, but the report noted that it had not gone through any detailed review or public process and was "not currently being recommended for approval." The parks department was still working on the Maffeo Sutton Park improvement plan, which took in Georgia Park as well.
The park has a public life older than any tower proposal. A 1973 photograph from the Nanaimo Community Archives, published by The Discourse, shows crowds packed on its slope to watch the bathtub races. If you stand there today, the hotel's loading bay would have been on your right, between you and the empty lot.
Why the tower never rose
Business in Vancouver reported in August 2015 that the rezoning had been approved earlier that year that a development permit application was pending for a 32-storey, strata-titled hotel that Hilton would manage. The city had about 900 provincially approved hotel rooms at the time. The money was the problem. The Discourse reported that in August 2015 InSight's president and owner, Charles Koo, asked Mayor Bill McKay to travel to China to help seek investment. The Hilton project was eventually shelved.
The lots stayed as they were. By January 2021 the former restaurant site at 10 Front Street was "little more than a demolished hole," The Discourse wrote, and 28 Front Street was empty and derelict.
The step aside here is worth taking, because 28 Front Street is a heritage building. It was Tom Brown's Autobody, built in 1937 to a design by Thomas McArravy, the architect of City Hall, and it is on Nanaimo's heritage register. "That's where all the car dealerships and gas stations were. It was our auto strip in the '20s," Nanaimo Community Archives manager Christine Meutzner told The Discourse. Next door, from 1977 to 1983, Michael Stamoulis and Gerry Michalaos ran Chez Michel's, a French restaurant whose lounge, according to a biography of Diana Krall, was where the teenage pianist was first noticed by the jazz bassist Ray Brown.
InSight's Darwin Mahlum said in 2021 that the company was taking a serious look at the site again. "It's just a fabulous site, and nobody wants to see that hole sit there much longer," he said, adding that the mix might change to "maybe more office, maybe more condo, less hotel."
Across the road, a smaller plan failed the same way. A six-storey, 89-room hotel on the site of the old Katerina's restaurant won a $2 million tax break in 2017; its owners put the property up for sale in June 2018, and a building permit issued in 2019 was revoked for inactivity in March 2020.
The hotel that did get built, on Gordon Street
The rooms Ruttan wanted came from Gordon Street instead. Long before the city-owned Vancouver Island Conference Centre opened in 2008, its value was tied to a hotel on the vacant lot at 100 Gordon Street across the road. Business in Vancouver listed the failures: a developer called Millennium, which the city sued to recover more than $3 million, and SSS Manhao International Tourism Group, which held approval for a 240-room hotel, held a ribbon-cutting, failed to finish the foundation and withdrew in 2015. Through those years the city budgeted close to $1 million annually to cover the conference centre's operating loss, and it still does.
Utah-based PEG Development finally built it. Crews arrived late in 2019 to keep the building permit from lapsing, and the nine-storey, 172-room Courtyard by Marriott opened in spring 2023 with 50 employees, a ground-floor pool and an exterior assembled from 750 panels prefabricated off site. Snuneymuxw First Nation holds a majority stake in the $23 million hotel. "It reconnects us to this parcel of land and tells the story of who the Snuneymuxw people are," said Erralyn Joseph, president of the nation's Petroglyph Development Group. A 45-room Quality Inn on Selby Street had opened in March 2021, the first new hotel in Nanaimo since 2008, according to city staff.
The waterfront walkway north to Departure Bay
The walkway that runs past the Front Street lots is the city's other long waterfront project. When Nanaimo released renderings in October 2017 the path was about four and a half kilometres long, and the plan was a route of 13.5 kilometres from Departure Bay to the Nanaimo estuary, at an estimated $30 million to $41 million. The city turned to it after voters rejected the events centre. Part of the route runs beside harbour foreshore that the federal port authority controls.
The section people asked for first has been the most expensive. By April 2019, CHEK reported, the estimate for a 350-metre stretch along Departure Bay had grown from $3.5 million to more than $10 million. "That's a significant amount of money for a fairly small stretch of the proposed waterfront walkway," Mayor Leonard Krog said.
The city redesigned it with a green shores approach, running from the ferry terminal to Kinsmen Park, and asked the public again in 2021. Of 2,583 people who answered, 79.9 per cent supported the plan and 15 per cent opposed it. Krog said Snuneymuxw First Nation had not decided: "They haven't said yes and they haven't said no but that is clearly crucial to this project proceeding." Staff then expected a referendum on borrowing in fall 2022 or spring 2023. By 2025 the city was still describing a vote of electors as a future step.
A staff report in September 2025 put the cost at closer to $40 million, plus an $8 million bond for Fisheries and Oceans Canada that would come back after five years. On October 6, 2025, council put the walkway on hold behind three other projects until their designs are priced, expected in early 2027. Its planned northern end is Departure Bay, where the Horseshoe Bay ferries leave from 680 Trans-Canada Highway.
Stephenson Point, where the assessments run highest
The waterfront that already has its money lies along Stephenson Point Road. On BC Assessment's 2026 roll, the most valuable home in Nanaimo was 3372 Stephenson Point Road, at $5,120,000, and five of the city's ten highest-assessed homes were on Stephenson Point Road. It took the top spot from 5025 Hinrich View, the previous year's leader, now second at $4,956,000. For scale, the most expensive residential parcel in the wider mid-Island region was in Nanoose Bay, at $20.5 million. Development on Stephenson Point Road comes to council one lot at a time: in June 2020 council approved a permit for 3258 Stephenson Point Road that cut the required setback from the top of the bank of Cottle Creek from 30 metres to 6.9 metres for a single house.
Back on Front Street, the owner put the uncertainty plainly in that 2021 interview. "Will our dreams coincide with the city's reality? We don't know," InSight manager Eileen Barker said.
Questions
Is there a Hilton hotel in Nanaimo?
No. A Hilton-managed tower was proposed in 2014 for 10 and 28 Front Street and won its rezoning in 2015, but the project was shelved. The full-service hotel that did open downtown, in spring 2023, is a Courtyard by Marriott on Gordon Street.
Where was the Nanaimo Hilton going to be built?
On two lots on the east side of Front Street, between the Pacifica high-rise and Georgia Park, sloping down to the waterfront walkway. The site is across the street from the Globe Hotel and the courthouse.
How tall was the proposed Nanaimo Hilton?
The city staff report of August 2014 described 32 storeys from Front Street, with three more levels below street grade, and asked for the height limit to be raised to 114.3 metres. An earlier newspaper report from May 2014 called it a 30-storey tower.
What did the Hilton plan have to do with Georgia Park?
The two lots abut the park on their north side. The design relied on a lease of park land to give delivery vehicles access to the north side of the building, and the applicant showed a concept for upgrading the park that city staff did not recommend for approval at the time.
Who owns 10 and 28 Front Street?
InSight Holdings Ltd., a Nanaimo company, which also held the site through the earlier Seawalk condominium plan. In January 2021 its project manager said the company was revisiting the site and might shift toward office or condo space rather than a hotel.
Who owns the Courtyard by Marriott in Nanaimo?
Snuneymuxw First Nation holds a majority ownership stake in the hotel at 100 Gordon Street, which was developed by Utah-based PEG Development. The nine-storey, 172-room hotel opened in spring 2023 across from the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
How long is the Nanaimo waterfront walkway?
When the city released renderings in 2017 the existing walkway was about four and a half kilometres long. The long-term plan is a continuous route of more than 13 kilometres from Departure Bay to the Nanaimo River estuary.
When will the Departure Bay walkway be built?
No date is set. In October 2025 council put the Departure Bay section on hold until other projects are designed and priced, which staff expected in early 2027, when council may decide whether to seek borrowing approval for it.
How much will the Departure Bay walkway cost?
City staff estimated about $40 million in 2025, up from $30 million to $38 million in 2022. That figure excludes an $8 million bond required by Fisheries and Oceans Canada for foreshore restoration, which would be returned after five years.
What is the most expensive house in Nanaimo?
On BC Assessment's 2026 roll it was 3372 Stephenson Point Road, assessed at $5,120,000. Five of the ten highest-valued homes in the city that year were on Stephenson Point Road.
Sources
- Hilton hotel proposed for Nanaimo, Times Colonist, 2014-05-06
- Staff report to Council: Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2014 No. 4500.069, 10 and 28 Front Street (RA000335), City of Nanaimo, 2014-08-11
- Nanaimo hotel plans might be down, but they're not out, Business in Vancouver, 2015-08-25
- Nanaimo's prized Front Street properties may soon get a facelift, The Discourse, 2021-01-28
- First new hotel in more than a decade opens in Nanaimo, NanaimoNewsNOW, 2021-03-09
- Top Stories of 2023: better late than never, new downtown hotel opens following years of false hope, NanaimoNewsNOW, 2023-12-26
- Nanaimo is planning longest waterfront walkway on Vancouver Island, CHEK News, 2017-10-05
- Nanaimo's waterfront walkway extension sees cost estimate jump, CHEK News, 2019-04-09
- Proposed $25 million pedestrian connection around Nanaimo needing public feedback, NanaimoNewsNOW, 2021-06-11
- Public shows strong support for $30M Departure Bay waterfront walkway: City of Nanaimo, CHEK News, 2021-07-26
- Nanaimo Builds for the Future Plan Update (staff report), City of Nanaimo, 2025-09-17
- October 6, 2025 Regular Council Summary, City of Nanaimo, 2025-10-06
- Nominal change in 2026 property assessments for Nanaimo & Oceanside properties, NanaimoNewsNOW, 2026-01-03
- DP001171 - 3258 Stephenson Point Road, City of Nanaimo, 2020-07-29
