Hammers are still swinging at the Signature Sandman Hotel construction site adjacent to Riverside Park, and it's expected to remain active until late 2013.

In August 2011, David Trawin, City director of development and engineering services, said the project's target date had been summer 2012. However, his prediction of late 2013 based on the pace of construction turned out to be prophetic.

But Northland Properties has plenty of time since the construction permit is good to 2014, said Marvin Kwiatkowski, who took over as Kamloops director of development and engineering six months ago.

"They're probably not going super quick," he said. "They do all the construction work themselves so sometimes it takes longer."

Salim Kassam, Northland Properties vice-president of marketing for the Sandman Hotel Groups, did not answer inquiries into the use of local firms by press time.

The six-storey hotel will include 202 rooms, a banquet meeting room, a swimming pool, 109 underground and 114 above-ground parking stalls and two restaurants - The Shark Club and The Rockford Grill.

Northland Properties owner Tom Gaglardi first announced the $25-million Lorne Street project in August 2008 after buying the lot from the City for $2.4 million.

"This is a city that's important for my family. Kamloops is the city that gave us our start," he said at the time.

There have been a few minor changes since.

It was first expected to include a Shark Club and Cucumber Café, a trans-fat free, all-day breakfast spot. Instead, the Rockford Grill is billed as "neither strictly a restaurant nor strictly a bar" offering a high-quality menu of Asian inspired West Coast fare.

The hotel's opening will create about 200 jobs, according to Kassam.

"Between guest services, housekeeping, two restaurants - oh yeah, it's going to be a few hundred people," said Kassam. "That's is great for the community."