The old Newfoundland Telephone building in downtown St. John's is destined for a $3.5-million makeover into high-end hotel suites.

Southwest Properties Ltd. - the Halifax-based owners of the remodelled Atlantic Place - has submitted an application to redevelop the building on Duckworth Street.

Once refurbished, it would house 20 hotel suites, complete with kitchenettes. The basement floor along McBride's Hill is likely to become retail space.

Southwest's plan calls for tearing down the seven-storey west wing and expanding the five-storey east wing.

That expansion will consist of two additional storeys and a new section on the west side. Eleven off-street parking spaces will be created on the west side.

Overseen by John Hearn, the St. John's architect who designed the St. John's airport terminal, the building's exterior will have a stucco finish and a parapet around the seventh storey.

Frank Galgay, ward councillor for the area, plans to vote in favour of the hotel, saying it will help revitalize that section of Duckworth Street.

"This is really going to add to this particular area," he said.

"It's derelict. There's been all kinds of graffiti. People have been getting in there and vandalizing the building, and it's become a total eyesore for that particular area.

"As the ward councillor, I fully support the development of it because it's going to enhance the area ... and with the Hebron-Ben Nevis development and the spinoffs for the oil and gas, there's going to be a need for accommodations."

The rest of St. John's city council members are likely to follow suit at tonight's meeting.

The project already has the blessing of the city's planning department and the council's planning and housing committee.

Final approval is contingent on a few items - submission of revised plans and approvals from the city's heritage officer, engineering department and building and property department.

The area is zoned for commercial central mix, which includes hotels.

City development manager Joe Sampson said the overall footprint of the building will shrink by 27 per cent.

It will also continue to be a non-conforming building under the city's regulations - meaning it exceeds the maximum height of four storeys, or 15 metres, permitted under zoning regulations.

The city's rules say such buildings may be "repaired, rebuilt, structurally altered or expanded, provided the degree of non-conformity is not increased."

The refurbished building won't get any taller.

"Viewscapes are not impacted whatsoever by this. In fact, they're slightly improved where they're taking a piece off the west end. But mostly what you'll see more of is ... more buildings," said Sampson.

"The final building elevations will have to go through the city's heritage officer for review."

Earlier this decade, there were plans to redevelop the building into office space. But, there was one small hitch - none of the floors in the east and west wings lined up with each other.

"It wasn't conducive to good office space," said Sampson.

A smaller wing to the far west was torn down and has remained an empty lot.

Excerpt from The Telegram, Monday, October 29, 2007. Article by Moira Baird