Snow and storms have forced workers to stop construction repeatedly throughout the winter on the new pub building at the corner of Bowen Island Trunk Road and Dorman Road.
“To be honest, the weather has not been on our side since the beginning,” says Glenn Cormier, pub owner. “This summer, it was so hot and the guys were trying to lay the foundation down in the big hole and it would get up to 42 degrees down there. And then, in October and November it just rained so heavily making it hard to get much done.”
Cormier says the project is probably about eight to ten weeks behind schedule.
“Everyone keeps asking when we’ll be done, but that’s a really hard thing to predict until we have a roof on,” he says. “I keep telling everyone it’ll be next fall. I am hoping that by then, at the very least the apartments will be ready as well as the retail component. I am less concerned about the pub being operational - despite the fact that ongoing maintenance of the old pub has been a real challenge.”
Cormier says that soon, the crew will be working on getting the building hooked up to municipal services such as sewer and water.
“This will cause some traffic disruption on Dorman Road,” says Cormier. “With the construction, with the snow, the parking situation has been really challenging. So I apologize for that. We will get through this chunk of work as quickly as we can.”
The pub is being built by Bowen-based Mil Con Construction, owned by cousins Julian and Jesse Milstead. The project manager, Mike Hartwick, is also a Bowen Islander.
“I think that despite everything, they’ve been making fantastic progress,” says Cormier.
