Sudbury councillors approve site for new events centre

Greater Sudbury is moving forward with its $200 million events centre, approving Tuesday a downtown location for the project.

Meeting Tuesday, city council in Sudbury approved the location of the new events centre in the city’s downtown.

As previously reported by CTV News Northern Ontario, the $200 million project will be built east of the current Sudbury Community Arena on land bordered by Brady, Van Horne, Shaunessy and Minto Streets.

Infrastructure GM Tony Cecutti briefed council Tuesday on the criteria for the site selection, including cost, scheduling, visibility, and development opportunities.

“It feels like we have achieved a significant milestone by selecting the location and there is certainly a lot of enthusiasm among our team,” Cecutti said in an interview Wednesday morning.

Positive feedback

“Everyone I talk to, they really like the spot that we have picked and they have become enthusiastic, as well. I am really looking forward to sharing our thoughts and our ideas and getting feedback from the community. It seems like it’s gaining a lot of momentum.”

There are two prequalified venue operators -- both are American companies, but have major operations in Canada. The winner is expected to be selected by the end of March.

“We have finished the pre-qualification process, two companies submitted applications that were both accepted and we are moving to the next stage of procurement called the RFP (request for proposal,” he said.

“They make submissions on proposals, and we evaluate on a scoring system to decide who is offering the best value for the city.”

The city will own the event centre and the venue operator will be under contract to help with operations.