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The Hyatt Place Hotel still regularly sees empty rooms, in part due to the sluggish development of eastern downtown, the hotel’s owner said.

Nearly a year after it opened its doors, the 255-room hotel currently sits at a 50 per cent occupancy rate, lower than a healthy 65 per cent. And the retail space on the ground of the hotel lies empty.

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Owner Prem Singhmar — who owns other establishments in the greater Edmonton area — said the hotel at 9576 Jasper Ave. was planned during a boom cycle in Alberta as a part of The Quarters plan to fix up a neglected part of the city’s core.

However, the province’s economic slump has hindered the continuation of The Quarters plan and the eventual end of construction in the region.

“We are hoping that more development will come in the area, but nothing has started, so far at least,” he said.

Singhmar blames low oil prices and a general economic slump for the slow development surrounding the hotel.