Seven possible sites have been shortlisted to home a Collingwood arts centre, but the public will have to wait a little longer to find out where they might be.
During Monday’s corporate and community services committee meeting, councillors received an update on major town parks, recreation and culture projects leading into the end of the council term. Included in that update was the status of the town’s investigation into the feasibility of an arts and culture centre in Collingwood.
While the project is currently in Phase 2, Manager of Parks Wendy Martin provided a general timeline of that phase during the meeting.
“The objectives of this phase are to validate the feasibility of a new arts facility,” said Martin. “This will underline a recommendation on the size and seating capacity.”
Martin noted that in September, the town and the consultant had identified seven potential shortlisted sites for a centre and prepared a framework for their research.
In October, the group would be doing interviews, engagement and research with interested parties.
From November to December, the consultant would be determining scope, size and model updates, and in January and February they would be narrowing site selection and economic impact analysis with recommendations and reporting to the public on the findings expected in March/April 2023.
“We’re meeting with Nordicity monthly, at minimum,” said Martin. “We’re excited about where we’re going with this.”
Nordicity was the consulting group charged with the original feasibility study (Phase 1) for the potential arts centre, the results of which were brought to council in October 2021. The study presented a "high-level" picture of what an arts centre in town could look like, with an estimated price range between $16 million and $49 million depending on seating capacity and size.
The second phase – which council voted to award the contract again to Nordicity in July – will include building on the findings of the feasibility study by further specifying the market, operational, financial, economic and social impacts of an arts facility. Nordicity will also be tasked with recommending what the space should include, and ideal locations for a possible centre. The outcome of Phase 2 would also help determine the actual cost.
The third phase of the project will be the design-build stage, including designing the facility and fundraising.
With files from Erika Engel.
