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May 30,2005 - Now News

 

By Angela MacKenzie - Staff Reporter

Port Moody council got a peek Tuesday at the plans of one of four companies vying to build a restaurant in Rocky Point Park.

Peter Bonner, CEO of the Spectra Group of Great Restaurants Inc., was the only one of four proponents to present council with design plans for a restaurant.

The Spectra Group is a Vancouver-based company that owns and operates Milestone's Restaurants, the Bread Garden, the Kingston Taphouse and Grille, the Red Door Pan Asian Grill and Romano's Macaroni Grill, as well as restaurants in Washington state.

Spectra is proposing to build a 7,500-square-foot Boathouse restaurant that would feature views of the inlet, seating for several hundred and a "premium" seafood menu.

Pointing to large, full-colour architectural illustrations, Bonner said the restaurant would feature an outdoor fireplace and incorporate natural wood and stone.

It would be the smallest site in the restaurant chain, he said, but would closely resemble the Boathouse restaurant at Horseshoe Bay.

Bonner said the company is financially able to stand up to the risk of building and operating a restaurant at Rocky Point, a move that will likely require $4.5 million in capital costs.

The Rocky Point location would be the best designed Boathouse so far, he said, adding that Spectra employed LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified designers to work on the plans and incorporate the city's vision for the waterfront.

"We recognize the sensitivity of putting a restaurant there," Bonner told council.

Spectra approached the city more than a decade ago about building a restaurant on the city's pier. But that deal failed to go through over location and leasing issues.

Bonner said the restaurant would be involved in the community and would be expected to employ 200 people during the peak summer season, hiring staff who live in the city first.

Representatives from the Sequoia Company of Restaurants (Cardero's Restaurant and Marine Pub, Seasons in Queen Elizabeth Park, The Sandbar and the Sequoia Grill in Stanley Park) told council they were not prepared to make a presentation.

No one appeared before council representing the remaining two proponents - The Flying Fish Market and Grill Ltd. and The Point Group.

Last year, the city moved forward with plans for a potential 5,000- to 7,000-square-foot restaurant on the west side of Rocky Point Park.

The site would be offered on a long-term lease basis.

Additional parking would be provided in the adjacent boat launch area, and the city would expect the restaurant investor to build a public boardwalk as a community benefit.

During the city's rezoning process to allow for the restaurant development, Elaine Golds, president of the Burke Mountain Naturalists, raised concerns.

She said building a restaurant in the park would open the door to further development, endangering the city's sensitive shoreline.

posted on 05/30/2005

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