Part of motel will stay, part will be moved

By Ken Johnston
Editor

After the Record reported last week that an unnamed party had purchased the Roadrunner Motel in Rainy River and was planning to move the facility to western Manitoba, the buyer made contact with the paper.
Bryce Campbell of Reston, Manitoba, sent the Record a fax last Tuesday. While he did confirm that his company, The Rest’n Inn, had purchased the motel their current plans are to only move the smaller six unit structure at this time. “We have been searching for bankrupt motel properties with every intention of moving them, and one of those properties was in Rainy River, Ontario.”
The reason Campbell is looking to move motel units to Reston is that they are in the oil patch and all accommodations are experiencing 100% occupancy rates. “We are in the middle of Manitoba’s largest oil field, and demand for rooms is huge. On some nights workers... have to drive hours to find a room. There are 20 hotels in the oil field and all are full.
“At first we thought we had a great property to move and it was going to work out perfectly; but then we changed our mind,” explained Campbell. “As we started researching more about the community, we came across this plan online. I believe it was called Rainy River’s ‘Vision 20-20’; WOW! Our opinion suddenly changed about this community. It would appear that like many other small towns in Ontario, that its had its hardships over the last few years, but this town has a plan of action and we thought we should give the motel a chance and see if there is viability for it after all.”
Campbell said that by moving the detached six units the Roadrunner’s main building will be, in their eyes much more viable. It will lower water and sewer and tax costs dramatically. “The Roadrunner Motel has more units than it needs and our hotel does not have enough, so it’s a win win situation now!”
Campbell spoke with Rainy River Town Councillor Gord Armstrong over the phone last week and told him he will be in Rainy River in about two weeks. They plan to renovate the main building, rename it and reopen it very soon. “We will try to make it work over the next little while and hopefully it will be a success!” said Campbell. Armstrong is the councillor spearheading the Vision 20-20 economic development plans for Rainy River.
In last week’s article it was said by Armstrong that he had been working on a local cooperative to buy the motel before it was sold. Campbell said, “It has now been brought to our attention that members of the community wanting to purchase the motel and run it as a co-op, if they are still interested, we will certainly entertain that notion, but in the meantime we hope to have it open soon.”
“We hope the community isn’t upset we are moving the six units out. Just please remember that we are leaving twelve units there to re-open, and we hope that the community can be grateful for that as this motel has been closed for some time. We are looking forward to becoming part of the business community of Rainy River and watching the progress of your community and the 20-20 vision.”