Ready for Phase 3

Although the location of a proposed $106.1-million event centre has yet to be approved by city council, administration is already looking forward to the next phase of preparations for the facility.

City manager Tim Commisso on Tuesday said he’s hoping to move to Stage 3 of the development plan, which would entail seeking preliminary expressions of interest to build, operate, program and/or provide an anchor tenant.

Commisso cautioned the city is simply performing due diligence ahead of any government ask, noting federal and provincial support is usually dependent on a proper, workable business plan already being in place.

“Again, no final decisions have been made, but this project needs to move through in a strategic way, so that’s what this is intending to do,” Commisso said, calling the next year key to the success or failure of the 5,700-seat event centre’s future.

“We need to be ready and we’ve said that, in the event that we can secure government funding to move forward with this project.”
Council will be asked on Monday night to approve a controversial downtown north core location for the facility, which consultants hired by the city have recommended over an Innova Park site.

Commisso acknowledged the preferred location does have plenty of detractors and the overall cost to build the hockey arena and convention centre has also raised eyebrows, with opponents pointing to other cities where facilities were built for as little as one quarter of the Thunder Bay cost, in the case of Sault Ste. Marie’s Essar Centre.

Sticker shock aside, the city manager said the only way they’ll convince Ottawa and Queen’s Park to chip in an estimated $70 million is to be prepared.

Phase 3 also includes the site’s potential design.

“What we really have (now) is a concept. That design will result in a higher level of costing. As you do design, you get better costing, because you take it from being generalized numbers to this is the actual design and your pricing,” Commisso said, adding the $106.1-million cost is the ceiling they plan to work with.

“We’ll look at the business model, the operating model.”

Commisso said there already is plenty of informal interest in the facility. Local entrepreneurs Anthony LeBlanc and Keith McCullough have repeatedly said they are interested in providing an anchor tenant, likely an American Hockey League franchise.

“People are watching this project to see where it goes. And I suspect that early in the new year we’re going to want to know who these groups are and what their interest is and have that conducted through a request for expressions of interest process,” Commisso said.

Getting the federal and provincial governments to commit to the project will also fall into the next stage of preparation, he added, as will a future plan for Fort William Gardens and its potential re-use.

He’s confident that through the current Build Canada fund, which has $300 million set aside for major infrastructure projects, can still be tapped, noting the feds are expected to add to the pot in 2014 for a new round of projects countrywide. 

The city is hosting an open house on Wednesday night, which will be live-streamed at www.tbnewswatch.com, at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium. Consultants will be on hand present their findings and explain the reasoning behind their choice of location for the event centre. The discussion is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.