Peterborough City will soon be seeking assistance from the County to help pay for a new multi events and sports arena downtown.
During the August 5 County Council meeting, Sheldon Laidman, Project Developer for the Multi-Use Sport and Event Centre for the City of Peterborough gave a presentation to council outlining the project.
Laidman told council that this new arena would be intended to replace the current Memorial Centre located on Lansdowne Street.
He explained that the Memorial Centre is 70 years old and the only venue of its kind in Central Ontario however it does not meet the current OHL standards or expectations of large concert promoters.
He told County Council that the Memorial Centre would require $22.4M capital repairs in the next 15 years with $1.5M in capital repairs for 2026.
Laidman said that those costs do not include structural roof enhancements for ceiling rigging which would attract more concerts. He noted that this structural deficiency in the arena has already cost the city as one concert was cancelled.
“Those operating deficits are expected to increase over time as our ability to host events declines. And it’s certainly jeopardizing the region’s ability to be a destination tourism market.”
He went on to say that the City has done extensive needs assessment for the new Multi Use Sport and Event Centre (MUSEC) and determined it does not make economic sense to upgrade the existing Memorial Centre.
They are instead hoping to create a new 5500-6000 seat new venue at 130 Aylmer Street with frontage on George Street.
Laidman said the new space would be a fully equipped multi-use sport and event centre for hosting on-ice spectator events, and a range of non-sports events comprising (among other opportunities):
• Concerts
• Theatrical events
• Trade shows and flat-floor events
• Conferences
• Major non-ice performance spectator events (including dirt and other events)
• Volume community events (graduations, banquets and other operations at scale)
In terms of visitors, he told council that right now for the memorial centre, 50 per cent of ticket sales come from the City. Specifically for the Lakers and Pete’s games, 19 per cent of ticket Sales come from the County of Peterborough residents while the remainder come from surrounding cities.
The plan from the City is to move the current bus garage and secondary public works site that is at the location of the old Canoe Museum building on Monaghan Road.
In terms of budget, Laidman said that this new project is anticipated to cost $170M which makes it the biggest municipal construction project in the city’s history.
For context, the City’s total annual Capital budget, which funds services such as roads, water, wastewater, recreation, parks, and more, is $140M.
He told county council that in May of this year, the city decided to move forward with the project and committed to funding one third of the project ($57M) and are looking into alternative funding sources for the remaining two thirds of the project costs.
Laidman said that while he was not asking the County that day for a funding commitment, his intent was to introduce the project to the County and make them aware a future financial commitment will be asked under the assumption that country residents would use and benefit from the new MUSEC.
Coun. Taylor said he was confused by the plan and cost as to have frontage on George Street, the City would have to buy and then demolish many stores, restaurants, and businesses in the area.
Lindman said, “the expectation is for this to be a successfully build, it needs to have some frontage on George Street. I will say the city’s going through a process, that I am not able to speak publicly about, around a land acquisition in the area around the arena to make sure it’s as successful as possible. One of those being how we can extend frontage onto George Street appropriately.”
It was further explained that that process was accomodated in the budget of $170M.
Coun Ryan Huntley asked if this development was going to impact Jackson creek and if they had noted that the City had not yet engaged the Conservation Authorities on this project.
Lindman stated that this project intended to remove the current buildings overtop of the creek and to his knowledge they would not be building on top of the creek for the new arena.
Coun Mathew Graham asked for clarification if this was the first time the City has come to the County about this project. Lindman said that yes, that was correct.
Graham, then stated, “At this point, this is the first time we’ve been made notice of it, but we’re already getting into the fact that we’re being alluded to a future ask for compensation, or a fiscal contribution, probably significant. Might I suggest that as the process moves forward and evolves, that it’d be more meaningful with actual engagement with the other partners that the city has this expectation of funding from. There should be an expectation of participation, and that if this is a regional facility, maybe there are other needs in the region that should be accommodated and addressed when the facilities are in construction or at least contemplation of construction, because, quite frankly, it’s a little distasteful to be asked up front for this fiscal implication for something that’s we’ve been totally void of the decision or input phase on. So if there are opportunities for any future meaningful engagement I think that would be something that the city should strongly consider before coming to any illusions of asking for any financial contributions moving forward.”
Deputy Warden Senis asked if the city had plans for the Memorial Centre once the new space was built.
“There’s no been no decision by [city] council at this point in time on the next steps of the Memorial Center. It would not be practical to maintain two arenas of this type moving forward. But council has not made any decision about what the future use of it could be, or that the future changes could be to the Memorial Center for a different use. That would be part of next steps if council decides to move forward to complete with this new Arena.”
The presentation was received by council for information.
