Canad Corp. is officially going international.

The Winnipeg-based hotel chain yesterday announced its formal plans to build a 192-room, high-end hotel in Grand Forks, N.D. in time for a Christmas 2004 opening.

The $17-million project will be built beginning next March adjacent to the Alerus Center, the city's sporting and entertainment crown jewel which opened more than two years ago at a cost of $80 million US.

Leo Ledohowski, Canad's CEO, said Grand Forks, with its extensive shopping and other attractions, and his chain's banquet capabilities, themed rooms, casinos and other amenities, share a "destination style of operation."

"Grand Forks fits hand-in-glove with the concept Canad Inns is built around," he said in an interview just prior to the official announcement, held at the Alerus Center.

Kevin Dean, public information officer for the City of Grand Forks, said the new hotel is another "very important piece" in the city's development puzzle. He said it will complement the Alerus Center, which has seating capacity of more than 19,000 people and extensive convention capabilities. "We have identified the Alerus Center as a convention centre and it can only be enhanced by having the hotel directly adjacent. All of the successful convention centres have a hotel available right next door," Dean said in a telephone interview yesterday from Grand Forks.

Ledohowski is also busy on this side of the border. Ground is expected to be broken next April on a new $17-million, 160-room property to be built adjacent to the Keystone Centre in Brandon. Ledohowski said he's targeting a Christmas 2004 opening date for what will be Canad Corp.'s 10th hotel property.

Dean noted Grand Forks has undergone a renaissance since being swallowed up by the Flood of the Century six years ago. In addition to the Alerus Center, The Grand Forks Market Place, a 12-location retail power centre, King's Walk, an 18-hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer and the $104 million (US) Ralph Engelstead Arena have all opened up in the last few years.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca