Budget cuts Nanaimo school trustees finalize next year’s expenses. Page 20 On the run Erin Burrett earns second place in half marathon. Page B1 Family theme Edgy play’s message rooted in traditional story. Page 3
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THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
VOL. 25, NO. 115
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Plans unveiled for Hilton hotel
Police catch suspect in assault case
CoMPANy bANks on Asian tourists to help fill rooms in new $100-million project.
A 43-year-old man is in custody and facing numerous recommended charges after allegedly beating and threatening a 39-year-old woman early Wednesday. The assault happened at about 12:30 a.m. when the victim was giving rides home to two men after a social function in north Nanaimo. She dropped one man off and was driving the second man home when she pulled over in a parking lot on Jingle Pot Road to check her cellphone. “Suddenly he just starts wailing on her and he tells her while beating on her to go to a secluded area,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. The victim, who was punched and choked for several minutes, pretended to comply with his demands, but instead drove to her home in central Nanaimo where she blew the car’s horn to alert her roommates, fled the car and called 911.
I
By Chris Bush THe NewS BULLeTiN
By Tamara Cunningham THe NewS BULLeTiN
A $100-million skyscraper hotel proposed for Nanaimo’s waterfront will bank on Asian tourists to help fill rooms, according to the consulting firm behind the project. Nanaimo’s Front Street is being pitched as the new home of a 30-storey Hilton-brand hotel that would boast just more than 300 rooms, plus restaurants, commercial spaces and public waterfront access. According to John Steil, senior planner with architectural and consulting firm Stantec, it’s hard to find waterfront property in places like Victoria and Vancouver for new hotel developments making this “one of the last great sites for a waterfront hotel.” There is also optimism for the local economy and the ability to create a market for
the hotel among international tourists thanks to the Hilton-brand – all ingredients to make the project successful, he said. The project is proposed for 10 and 28 Front St., beside the Pacifica condominiums, and will look to attract Asian travellers, anticipated to make up a significant number of its visitors. The project follows on the heels of work to build a $50-million luxury conference centre hotel by a company that also plans to rely on Asian tourists. “[It] won’t be competing per se with most of the hotel industry in Nanaimo. It’s creating demand,” Steil said, adding the goal will be to provide a high-quality hotel a certain sector of travellers want.
See ‘HOTEL’ /5
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
An RCMP forensic unit member carries an evidence bag containing a knife found in shrubbery in the front yard of a home on Rock City Road Tuesday afternoon. Nanaimo police conducted a search to find the weapon used in a stabbing on Fairway Crescent earlier in the day.
Teen recovering in hospital from stab wounds By Chris Bush THe NewS BULLeTiN
A victim who was stabbed multiple times is recovering in hospital and police have a suspect in custody following an attack in a Rock City neighbourhood Tuesday. The attack happened shortly before 12:30 a.m. when several 911 calls came in reporting an assault in progress, a female yelling for help and that a man was seen running from the area. Officers arrived to find a 16-year-old girl on the 3300 block of Fairway Crescent bleeding from what appeared to be multiple stab wounds. She was rushed to
Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Police Dog Services were called to the scene at about 1:20 a.m. from where Cpl. Dean Muir and police dog Arco followed a track to a man a few blocks away on Colwood Road. The suspect, Arshil Azim Parekh, 19, was arrested without incident and charged with attempted murder in Nanaimo provincial court Wednesday. The victim underwent emergency surgery and is currently recovering in hospital where she is expected to remain for several days. Tuesday afternoon police started a grid search of the area to find the weapon
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used in the attack. An RCMP forensic team recovered a knife found within some shrubbery in front of a home on the corner of Colwood Road and Rock City Road shortly before 1:30 p.m., but police have not confirmed it was the actual weapon used in the stabbing. Const. Gar y O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the attack was not random, the victim and her assailant knew each other and investigators will be looking into their relationship prior to the assault. Parekh was held in custody until his next court appearance by video link on May 20. photos@nanaimobulletin.com
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