The City of New Westminster will be pursuing plans for the Kyoto site in 2012.
The city had purchased the building at 801 Columbia St. as a possible site for the civic centre, which is now being built across the site.
The site, known as the Kyoto site, is located across from Hyack Square and next to the existing SkyTrain station and the Plaza at New Westminster Station that's under construction.
The building was deconstructed earlier this year, and the city is now exploring potential uses for the site.
Lisa Spitale, the city's director of development services, said the city has created a series of principles that the site must fulfil. Those include being a gateway to the downtown.
"The vision has always been we would love to see a hotel there," she said about the area. "We will put it out in the same way we did the multi-use civic facility - here is our vision."
Last year, the city issued a call for expressions of interest to determine if there was interest in the development community to purchase density from the city and construct a tower above the multi-use civic facility.
The city received a number of submissions and selected the Uptown Property Group's proposal, as it was the only one to propose office and employmentgenerating uses.
Spitale said the city has done some of the work needed to move forward with an expression of interest process for the Kyoto site, which would make it known that the city is interested in exploring potential uses for the site.
Mayor Wayne Wright said a boutique hotel of about 60 rooms is one of the concepts being explored.
"It's a challenging spot," he said about the small site located next to the Plaza 88 development. "The more we do there, the better it gets."
Wright said the city hasn't started the expression of interest process because it's still considering concepts for the site.
He believes a small hotel would complement the civic centre, which will have conference centre capabilities.
Mike Degelder, who is developing the Plaza 88 project around the New Westminster SkyTrain station, is eager to see what he city has proposes for the neighbouring Kyoto site.
While the three residential towers are complete at that development, construction of the Plaza at New Westminster Station retail component continues at a furious pace.
"I'd still like to see it compatible with our development," he said.
Degelder, meanwhile, is pleased to see construction of the city's new civic centre getting underway across the street, at the corner of Eighth and Columbia streets.
"There is quite a synergy in this part of town," he said. "We were quite happy to see that happening. We don't have office space - they do. It's a nice combination."
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