Medicine Hat Lodge owner’s receivership details show plans to keep businesses running

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Ryan Dahlman

By Collin Gallant
Southern Alberta Newspapers

More information is coming to light about the Medicine Hat Lodge and its owner as it entered receivership last month.

Court documents filed in the proceeding launched by Alberta Treasury Branch to recover money owed state the receiver, Ernst and Young, intends to keep a number of businesses run by Mayfield Investments up and running as it prepares for potential sale.

Documents filed at Court of King’s Bench in late October state that ATB is a secured creditor owed $38 million, while receiver states that Mayfield’s hotel and gaming businesses were hampered during the COVID pandemic and further hurt by a legal dispute stemming from repairs after the Camrose Casino flooded.

A list of unsecured creditors is not yet available.

Letters to about 100 employees of the Medicine Hat Lodge on Oct. 25 told them of Ernst and Young’s plans to make payroll and continue operating businesses “without interruption” while it “determines the most appropriate sales strategy for the assets of Mayfield, which could include selling Mayfield as a going concern.”

Similar letters were sent to 112 employees of Camrose Resort Hotel and the Camrose Casino, which is jointly owned by Mayfield and the Camrose Regional Exhibition.

Mayfield also owns a 50 per cent share in the Copper Coulee Casino in Medicine Hat.

The managing partner is a numbered company owned 50 per cent jointly by local businessman Albert Stark and the Canalta Group of companies.

Stark recently told Southern Alberta Newspapers that the Casino is still being managed locally and there are no changes for the public expected.

In Camrose, the receiver was granted a temporary licence from the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission to continue operations.

Mayfield also owns three-quarter interest in Stage West Dinner Theatre and a company that holds Stage West’s real estate assets, according to a report from the receiver.

Summary of business conditions filed by Mayfield attorneys states the businesses were improving following the 2020 pandemic that hit revenue in the hospitality industry very hard.

The Medicine Hat Lodge is also in the middle of major heating system repairs which have rendered 31 of the facility’s 219 rooms unusable.

The receiver will also consider moving ahead with completing urgent repair work in order to facilitate a sale.

The sign in front of the hotel in Medicine Hat which was damaged in the summer by wind, will also be replaced.