In his 30 years in the food and beverage industry, Glenn Cormier has learned how to do virtually every job in the business. As the owner of the Bowen Island Pub, that experience has come in very handy. If any of his 20 staff calls in sick or has an emergency to attend to, he can roll up his sleeves and step right in.
Now he’s adding a new job description, one that requires the passion of a dreamer, the pragmatism of a banker and the patience of… well, someone who accepts that the wheels of municipal hall can sometimes turn more slowly than first expected.
Cormier takes out his iPhone and shows an artist’s drawing of his plans for the corner of Bowen Trunk Road and Dorman Road. The design includes a new building that will occupy what’s now the parking lot in front of the existing Pub building. It will house retail spaces on the first level, the Pub on the second level and four staff accommodations on the second level.
Once that is built, he’ll be able to tear down the old Pub and, it’s hoped, build four two-level townhouses (1,500 to 1,600 sq. ft. each), two ground-floor apartments, more retail space and underground parking for 19 vehicles.
“That corner deserves so much more,” he says. “The biggest thing people want to know is ‘When, when, when?’ There’s already a huge number of inquiries about the townhouses. There are a lot of empty nesters who have too much house and not enough people to fill it.”
The plan first got tied up by the municipal elections and then there were changes in planning staff. The zoning, however, has passed fourth reading and he hopes it will be approved in September so he can stick to his goal of starting construction next spring.
“It’s been frustrating but at the end of the day I’m comfortable with it as long as the [existing] building stays standing,” he says.
The West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce recently gave Cormier a vote of confidence by choosing the Pub as the MediaumBusiness of the Year at its recent Excellence Awards. Like the other Bowen Island recipient, Andy Rainsley of Bowenshire Stoneworks and Landscaping, Cormier was totally taken aback by the win.
Cormier and his wife Meredith, whose work for the BC Medical Association includes recruiting doctors to rural areas, bought the Pub as a lifestyle choice three years ago this week. The previous owner had shut down its food operations a month before shuttering the windows and everything was in disarray. When everyone told the Cormiers that they simply had to be open for the fastpitch weekend, they scrambled to get everything ready. A barbecue on the patio acted as a fill-in for the kitchen.
It was worth it. Not only were the hordes of baseball players happy but it cemented a relationship with the community that’s only grown stronger.
“Obviously the Pub had seen better days,” he says. But he knew he could work through that and, in fact, relished being able to start everything from scratch. And even though he has a lot of experience, he also wanted to adapt to what islanders wanted.
The pleasant surprise, he says, is how much the community has embraced them and the atmosphere they’re working hard to create.
