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Posted Oct 6, 2010, 9:36 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,824
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Nice inflammatory and totally misleading headline in the Herald. Someone there should get their ass kicked for this.
Quote:
New trade centre would cost taxpayers $325 million
By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter | UPDATED 3:51 p.m.
Wed, Oct 6 - 1:39 PM
The proposed new convention centre that's three times bigger than the current one would cost provincial and Halifax regional taxpayers more than $325 million to lease and maintain over 25 years, the province revealed Wednesday.
The cost was part of a briefing on details of Rank Inc.'s proposal that Premier Darrell Dexter promised last week, just days after New Democrat backbencher Howard Epstein leaked the estimated $160-million construction price tag for the convention centre.
There's no up-front cost to the province or city. The two levels of government would pay capital lease costs over 25 years, but those payments wouldn't start until 2014 when the building would be complete. The NDP plan to have Nova Scotia's books balanced by then.
The convention centre is part of a 1.2-million-square-foot development proposed for the former Halifax Herald site in downtown Halifax.
It would include a hotel, office tower, retail space, and a parkade. The convention centre would be underground.
The entire project cost is estimated at up to $500 million, but taxpayers would be involved with only the convention centre portion.
Senior Infrastructure Renewal official Jane Fraser said Wednesday that the total capital cost for the convention centre is $159 million, broken down as $119 million for construction, $21 million for engineering and design, and $19 million for interim financing.
The province wants to share the cost of the project with Halifax Regional Municipality and Ottawa. The split is still a topic for negotiation, if the province gives the project the green light.
Ottawa doesn't cover interim financing costs, Fraser said, so the province hopes it will cover one-third of the construction and design costs, or close to $47 million.
That would cover a payment to Rank in 2014 when the project would be substantially complete.
It would leave the province and city to pay about $57 million each in construction costs. Those would be amortized over 25 years at an estimated rate of 6.98 per cent, putting the cost to those two levels of government at $128 million each for the capital lease.
The province and city would pay another $1.7 million in annual operations and maintenance costs for things like cleaning and security, and $1.2 million annually for facility upgrades.
With lease costs, the total is about $164 million over 25 years, or about $6.6 million annually, for each level of government.
Fraser said the costs would be offset with increased economic activity from more convention centre business. She said there's an estimate of $86 million in direct and spinoff benefits for the province over a 10-year span, not including the impact of repeat visitors.
Scott Ferguson, CEO of Trade Centre Limited, the Crown corporation that operates the convention centre, said current maintenance costs are about $1 million a year. He said Trade Centre revenue would grow to $12 million to $14 million annually in the new building within 10 years from about $6 million now.
About 12,000 jobs will be created if the convention centre is built, government officials claimed today.
One conference of 1,000 delegate would inject $1 million into the provincial economy, if each delegate spent about $1,600 per visit, the government says.
While the Dexter government was boosting the benefits of the new building, it stopped short of saying whether it would OK the development.
Infrastructure Renewal Minister Bill Estabrooks got the proposal in July. He said a month ago that his mind was made up on the project, but some of his cabinet colleagues want more time.
"They would like to have a few more days, weeks, or months so they can feel as comfortable as I do with the information that I received on July 19," said Estabrooks, who won't yet disclose his position on the project.
Estabrooks said approving the project isn't contingent on the books being balanced.
Both opposition parties say they support the new convention centre.
Liberal MLA Andrew Younger said he thinks the Dexter government has already decided to go ahead with the project, and the premier should say he supports it.
"There's risk with every project this government undertakes, and any government undertakes, but certainly, we support this project," Younger said.
The previous Tory government got the process started back in 2007 with a joint call for expressions of interest with the city.
Tory MLA Karen Casey said today that a new convention centre would be a good business decision for the city and province.
"I believe there's enough information, based on what we heard here, and what the government has had through their consultation, that it's now up to the government to make a decision, and to make it sooner, than later," Casey said.
Ferguson reiterated the case for a new convention centre to replace the current one, which opened in 1984.
He said 55 per cent of the facility doesn't meet current industry standards. A consultant's report released in the spring listed shortcomings including low ceilings, inconvenient pillars and small spaces.
Ferguson said a huge drawback is the inability to host more than one convention at a time.
The proposed four-star centre would include 115,000 square feet of rentable convention space, about three times as much as the current one. The new one would have a 35,500 square foot column-free ballroom, 52,000 square feet of multi-purpose space and 28,000 square feet of meeting room space.
The building would meet the gold standard of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an international ranking system.
Ferguson said he's talked to event planners who give Halifax a pass because of the building.
"Our facility is our major barrier to booking business," Ferguson said.
"With a new facility, we will book more business into Halifax and Nova Scotia. Our customers are telling us that they will bring their events to this market if the proper infrastructure is in place."
Fraser's presentation included a panoramic view from two spots on Citadel Hill with the office tower and hotel in place. It showed little to no effect on viewplanes to Halifax Harbour and Georges Island.
But Phillip Pacey, a past-president of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia and part of the Save the View Coalition opposing the project, said the image distorted what a tourist would actually see from Citadel Hill.
"We have images ... that show what the impact would be on a standard photograph taken with a regular camera by somebody standing on the Citadel, and it is very devastating," he said.
"When people see that image, they, in great numbers think this is a project that should not be built, even if it were free."
Pacey also said the cost news was even worse than the $160 million Epstein revealed, and the project is too expensive for taxpayers.
Project supporter Cheryl Stewart, chairwoman of Fusion Halifax, a 2,000-member organization of young professionals, said the project would have an impact well beyond just convention business.
"From a progress perspective as a young person, I want to see our city move forward, and I'm looking to see a business case and today I saw further evidence that there's a strong business case for this," said Stewart, manager of entrepreneurship for the Nova Scotia Community College.
Nova Scotians can view highlights of Rank Inc.'s proposal for the project and other information at conventioncentreinfo.com and leave their own comments.
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Got my hopes all up.
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