Ground Breaking to Growth: Building the Coast Oliver Hotel

A Day to Remember

It was an outstanding day on November 6th, 2017 when we gathered with our partners Coast Hotels and Horizon North to launch the official groundbreaking event for the new Coast Oliver Hotel. The day was cool, but the sun was shining, and our hearts were warm with the encouragement from the Town and local businesses.

In attendance was Mayor Ron Hovanes, CAO Cathy Cowan, representatives from the Town Council, Colleen Misner (MLA to Linda Larson), Rod Graham, President and CEO of Horizon North Manufacturing, and Victor Komoda, President of Coast Hotels. Regrettably, Chief Clarence Louie could not make it that day.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and who helped put together the event! We are very excited to be part of the beautiful Town of Oliver.

A Long Time Coming

This project didn't come together overnight. When Coast Hotels first announced the development, Oliver Chronicle reported that Oliver Town Council had unanimously approved the plan, even amid some public concern over the loss of green space at the old Centennial RV Park.

Mayor Ron Hovanes saw the bigger picture: "This investment will support revitalization of the downtown and have economic spinoff benefits." Coast Hotels' Sarah Kirby Yung added that the design was chosen with the community in mind: "The hotel is intended to have a modern architectural feel, and colours will be reflective of the local natural landscape," and the team committed to preserving "as many existing trees as we can, as they are a beautiful part of the town." For our own Ron Mundi, partnering with Coast Hotels was an easy decision, built on "the same values, performance focus and community approach" that have guided Mundi Hotel Enterprises from the start.

Oliver's Year of Growth

Not long after we broke ground, Castanet News caught up with Mayor Ron Hovanes for a year-end interview reflecting on 2017 — a year highlighted by new facilities and development across the town. "They broke ground in the second week of November and they already have most of the concrete poured," he told the paper.

Our 80-room hotel, rising on Fairview Road at the former site of the Centennial RV Park, will be Oliver's first full-service hotel — something the community had wanted to attract for more than a decade. It joins a wave of development that's been driving the local economy, from the Area 27 racetrack's grand opening in June to the newly opened Oliver Correctional Centre, which alone created roughly 300 jobs for a town of about 5,000 people.

"It's been huge for our community. Everything from enrolment numbers into our schools, to people buying homes and having young people move to town," Hovanes said. By the end of November, Oliver's building permit value had already topped $15.2 million, with new housing construction accounting for almost 90 per cent of it. "Our housing starts this year are as big as they've ever been," he added, crediting the local economy and the success of the Osoyoos Indian Band for giving the town "the opportunity to grow." Looking further ahead, the town was already planning for the cost of policing that comes with crossing the 5,000-resident mark at the next census — proof that Oliver's council was thinking well beyond just one hotel project.

Why We Chose Modular Construction

What made our timeline possible was the decision to build modular. As the Penticton Herald reported shortly after groundbreaking, Calgary-based Horizon North manufactured the hotel's room units in a factory setting for assembly on-site — a method our own Ron Mundi said "allows us to open the property six months earlier" than a conventional build.

Horizon North President Rod Graham put it well: "Our combination of quality innovation and the ability to manufacture in an environmentally controlled facility allows projects to be completed in significantly less time than traditional site-built products." At the time, this was the eighth property for Mundi Hotel Enterprises, and Ron Mundi was also simultaneously building a 95-room hotel in Penticton — a busy, exciting stretch for our team.

Crane Day and the First Modules

By spring, that promise started to show. Once the tower crane went up in March, the pre-built room modules began arriving from the factory floor and lifting into place — as Penticton Western News covered when the first sections were set. "The rooms have been built to be as complete as possible, so as little work as possible is needed once lifted into place," the report noted, describing how each unit arrived finished and ready, while foundation work continued underneath at the same time.

Watching the Hotel Take Shape

From there, things moved fast. Once the crew got into rhythm, entire structural sections of the hotel were assembled in a matter of days rather than months. It's the kind of pace that turns heads in a small town, and it's exactly why modular construction made sense for a first-of-its-kind hotel in Oliver — no long weather delays, no waiting on trades to cycle through room by room, just steady, predictable progress toward opening day.

Stacking Complete

We are excited to share that the stacking of the modules is now complete, and our crew is currently seaming the boxes together. This property will take on a beautiful shape quickly now, and we'll share as much of the journey to opening as we can!

This 83-room property will be branded a Coast Hotel and is scheduled to open mid-June, 2018 — complete with an indoor pool, hot tub, breakfast kitchen and eating area, and a striking modular grand entrance, as outlined on ATCO Structures' project page for the build.

What's Next

With the modules seamed together, the next phase is all about the finishing touches: interiors, landscaping, and the countless small details that turn a structure into a place guests will love to stay. Thank you to Oliver, to Coast Hotels, and to Horizon North for making this milestone possible. Stay tuned — opening day is getting closer!