As Hay River springs to life with new growth and development, one of the Rowe鈥檚 Group of Companies family members says it was the right time to sell their long-established Ptarmigan Inn, as announced last week in the Hay River Hub.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a family business and we鈥檝e been in hospitality for about 20 years, and I think it鈥檚 time now to move on and try new things,鈥� Terry Rowe, the former general manager of the Inn, said.

鈥淚 think it is a good opportunity as well, so Rowe鈥檚 Group of Companies posted it and I think there is lots of good opportunities in Hay River, business-wise,鈥� he said.

The building includes a 42-room hotel, a restaurant, a pub, a full-service gym in the basement, three conference rooms, plus several non-hospitality lease tenants 鈥� all for a $4.25 million price tag. Rowe said they did constant upgrades throughout the building during the 18 years they owned the building.

鈥淚 think our family tried to keep it as new and fresh for our customers as we could, so that is another reason I think why maybe now is a good reason to sell, as we鈥檝e done as much as we could to the building and the property, and we are pretty happy about that.鈥�

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a good time,鈥� he said of the decision to sell the building, located in the heart of the downtown area.

Prosperous outlook

There is a flurry of construction activity in the region, including the Sundog development project, a possible new long-term care facility, a commercial fish plant, new housing construction, as well as Brad Mapes鈥� AWP Industries partnership with North Star Agriculture NWT in Enterprise.

The possible opening of the Pine Point mine will also likely bring economic benefits to the region.

Jane Groenewegen, a former NWT MLA, and a businessperson in Hay River, said in an email that it was indeed 鈥渂ig news鈥� that one of Hay River鈥檚 long-standing, locally-owned businesses is now for sale.

鈥淲e roll along and the years pass. We don鈥檛 often think about things changing, but they do and they will,鈥� she said.

鈥淚 can understand that after 20 years, they may feel it鈥檚 time. That鈥檚 a long run for any business.鈥�

Neither Rowe nor Groenewegen could surmise who might decide to buy the business.

鈥淲hen there鈥檚 major changes in ownership, the local economy, it sort of reshuffles the deck, so to speak,鈥� said Groenewegen.

鈥�(It鈥檚) hard to know who will pick it up, and the market for it is likely somewhat limited in a town the size of Hay River. Outside investors would probably come with a different corporate culture,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e are pretty used to knowing the key players in most of the businesses in Hay River that have been built from the ground up. So many family businesses in Hay River fall into that category.

鈥淪o, it will be different in that sense.鈥�

One thing for certain, it won鈥檛 be the Groenewegen family that buys the keys to the business.

鈥淥ur family hasn鈥檛 and wouldn鈥檛 consider buying it. We are getting close to retirement age ourselves and should be thinking about scaling back, even though we don鈥檛 have any immediate plans in that area,鈥� Groenewegen said.

鈥淲e had the opportunity to purchase the Ptarmigan 20 years ago and we actually looked at it, but it didn鈥檛 really fit our plans. This may sound strange, but at that time, a lot of the revenue was around the sale of alcohol, something that didn鈥檛 really suit us as non-partakers ourselves,鈥� she said.

We saw a lot of ways to make a living in Hay River and there are still lots of opportunities here. We wish the owners of the Ptarmigan all the best in their efforts to sell and I鈥檓 sure it will remain an integral piece of what Hay River has to offer.鈥�

Rowe said he was appreciative of all the staff that worked for the business over the years.

鈥淭here were a lot of amazing people and a lot of great relationships and it was a working family, for our family for sure, and I want to thank them for their hard work and great years throughout that time,鈥� Rowe said.

Rowe said there are no plans to sell any of their other real estate - the group owns numerous businesses, land and properties in the area.

Currently on the Rowe鈥檚 website, the company has an announcement of a 鈥渘ewly constructed apartment complex鈥� slated to be completed this year.

The 44-unit downtown building is described as serving 鈥渁 growing need for accessible housing鈥� in the community and being 鈥渁 first for the Town of Hay River.鈥�