Renovating Sudbury's arena would cost more than a new build, says report

While Greater Sudbury city council has yet to decide whether it will renewthe 73 year-old Sudbury Community Arena or build a new event centre entirely, a recently tabled report suggests the city wouldn't save money by going down the renovation route.

Council is expected to make a final decision in this decade-long debate at its next regular meeting on April 16.

The city's chief administrative officerEd Archeris recommending that council vote to build a new event centrethat would cost some $200 million and include 5,800 fixed seats.

City council previously rejected the Kingsway Entertainment District (KED)after costs for that event centre project came in at $215 million.

The new build City Council is currently contemplating would bein the southern portion of Sudbury's downtown, where a lot of properties were recently purchased by the city for $12 million to pave the way for a future event centre project.

Archer's recommendation is the same as the third party experts that were hired to research both the renewal and new build options.

Third party experts A2S Consulting Engineers and Brisbin Brook Beynon (BBB) Architects say a new build would be the preferred approach.

BBB notes that "the expected life cycle for a new facility is over twice the remaining useful life of a renewed [Sudbury Community Arena]."

A new arena could be operational by April 2028, although Archer notes that this is an "aggressive timeline" that doesn't account for possible delays.

A renewed arena, on the other hand, would have its grand opening in September 2028.

Below is a summary of the estimated budgets associated with either approach.

In the renewal scenario, the facility would be renovated according to the city's requirements, which include emissions and accessibility features.

The new build scenario does not include costs of exceeding green building and accessible standards. City staff estimates incorporating these features into a new build would increase costs by $13 million.

Where will the money come from?

The city would fund this project by borrowing funds. It already secured $90 million in 2020 to support the event centre project.

Some $4 million of that has already been spent on the now-defunct Kingsway Entertainment District project, and another $20 million has been spent demolishing the properties in the southern portion of downtown.

The report states $65 million of that initial $90 million remains available. Another $135 million needs to be borrowed.

This debt would be repaid by increasing the property tax, the municipal accommodation tax and the price of event tickets.

For taxpayers, this means a portion ofthe four-year capital levy included in the previous budget could be redirected, or city council could choose to include a 0.4 per cent tax increase starting in 2025.

The report estimates Greater Sudbury's GDP could increase by $75 million with a new event centre.