Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckey
I see a lot of pro CC folks.
so I amused myself on the lease idea, Class a office space is what $20/sq ft/yr - combined wh/office in burnside $10 or $12.
Lets ignore the $47 million upfront by the feds
$13,000,000 per year 120,000 square feet. Over $100 per square foot lease -
I need to see a lot more details. WE have a lot of other space and another new waterfront hotel coming and guess what a lot of conventions go to the hotels.
This does not pass the sniff test. 1,200 jobs most of which are min wage. Just doesnt do it for me spinoffs or not
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The hotels and downtown businesses want the convention centre. Also the convention centre will have 309,000 square feet gross and part of the cost will be covered by the federal government (if not then I assume the NDP won't proceed). So the provincial and municipal government are paying the amount of $325 million dollars/25 years/309,000 square feet gross = $42.07 per square foot. Certainly it is not cheap but not as high as your numbers.
EDITED: If the province and municipality pay over a period of 3 - 4 years during construction then the cost will only be ($46.7 million x 2 levels of government)/309,000 square feet/25 years = $12.09/square-foot for the province and HRM combined - this is similar to the Burnside rate that you quoted for Class A office space (on top of this there are maintenance charges as there would be with an office or industrial lease) However, they will be paying it in advance, so once it is built they will only have annual maintenance and facility upgrade charges. I think they should pay as construction proceeds - this will be the cheapest option. Then without the annual amortization payments the HRM and province will likely make money on the direct rental of the facility which can go towards the provincial debt.
The province should look at all possible ways to get the cost down but rejecting the convention centre would be a poor business choice since it will mean rejecting a strength of the province - the tourism sector. It will also show the rest of Canada and Halifax area businesses that the province is anti-development. Whoever opposes the convention centre should be able to come up with a better way of generating money for the residents of Nova Scotia. Otherwise their arguments are pointless.
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