New Homburg hotel facing design criticism

The facade of the new Homburg hotel in Charlottetown is getting some criticism from residents and city council.

The exterior of the multi-million dollar Holman Grand Hotel was supposed to feature aluminium panel. That was part of the design plan outlined to city council.

But the material now being used is painted steel.

City officials met with the company Wednesday night to express their concerns.

"I am hearing from some people that they are not particularly fond of the look of the building. And it is a bit different from the rendering that we originally saw," said Councillor Rob Lantz, chair of the city's planning committee.

"There was a design that was entered in to the development agreement. The drawings are there and they indicate the original aluminums panels, but there is no mechanism for us to enforce that."

 Lantz said the city would like to have been consulted about the change.

But he said the company has assured council that once all of the architectural features are in place, the 10-storey hotel will be quite impressive.