A site within downtown Sudbury has been selected for the city’s $225-million arena/events centre.
Located east of the existing 70-year-old Sudbury Community Arena in the city's core, the site fills out much of the land enclosed by Brady Street to the north, Shaughnessy Street east, Van Horne Street south and Minto Street to its west.
The site selection is a key highlight within a report city Growth and Infrastructure manager Tony Cecutti tabled for the Feb. 18 city council meeting.
Cecutti’s report aims to update the city’s elected officials on both the events centre project and the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square library/art gallery/municipal relocation project.
The question of where the events centre would be located has been bandied about for months as the city joined consultants in working to find an answer.
Their only limitation was that it be located within the south district of downtown Sudbury, which comprises a swath of land the city either already owned or purchased/expropriated for the project.
The site they selected eats up land currently occupied by municipal parking lots, the Wacky Wings restaurant and various shuttered and demolished businesses.
Wacky Wings is the lone holdout, and has been expropriated by the city for $2.49 million and counting but allowed to continue operating until the end of March.
Selecting an area site was done in conjunction with KKR advisors, the architectural team, geotechnical engineers and various city representatives.
“Major considerations and constraints discussed included existing municipal infrastructure and utilities, geotechnical conditions, development opportunities and parking availability,” according to Cecutti’s report.
Soil conditions are a concern throughout the south district, with bedrock determined to be “quite deep, with a modest slope from south to north,” Cecutti’s report added, clarifying that the cost and complexity of constructing foundations for the event centre does not vary considerably.
The site the team narrowed in on “avoids the need for road realignments and major relocations,” Cecutti’s report notes, and might even allow the city to downsize its road network.
“The site solidly anchors the south downtown, offering redevelopment opportunities on three sides,” which includes leveraging “under-utilized” spaces such as Memorial Park and the Tom Davies Square courtyard to help support large events.
The proposed building’s footprint is slightly larger than the Sudbury Community Arena, so a net change in parking spots will depend on what becomes of the existing arena building, which city council has yet to decide.
Unused land will be sold to private developers for ancillary uses, such as a potential hotel and/or conference centre.
BBB Architects are working on a schematic design and a preliminary geotechnical investigation is currently under review by the architectural team.
The city has pre-qualified two U.S.-headquartered companies to serve as the events centre’s operator, and a request for proposal will be issued to have a venue operator on board by the end of March.
Although the city has used $200 million to describe the events centre’s cost, it does not include the money budgeted for the purchase and demolition of downtown properties, nor does it include the $4.38-million spent on the since-cancelled Kingsway Entertainment District.
With these accounted for, the project’s budget is the $225 million which Sudbury.com uses.
As for the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square project, Cecutti’s report notes that six firms have prequalified to manage its construction:
- Aquicon Construction (Brampton)
- Ball Construction (Kitchener)
- EllisDon Corporation (Mississauga)
- PCL Constructors (Oakville)
- Percon Construction (Toronto)
- Pomerleau Inc. (Ottawa)
A request for proposal will be posted in the coming days to select one of these firms.
The Feb. 18 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
The meeting’s agenda doesn’t include any decision points in relation to the events centre or Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square projects, with Cecutti’s associated report intended to offer city council members an update on these efforts.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
