– Kim Smythe is CEO of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at ceo@nanaimochamber.bc.ca.
NANAIMO – January always brings out the prognosticator in me (the rest of the months bring out the procrastinator). And this year there are some pretty big subjects to prognosticate on. The biggest is Nanaimo’s new mega-project – the Events Centre.
You’d have to be living under a rock to not know the very minimum about the Centre, but here’s a few details, just in case. It could be located on one of two downtown sites – HOJO, or across the street from Port Place.
It will be primarily built for hockey (with talks on with the WHL hockey league) and concerts but will be suitable for everything from MMA to Figure Skating to Monster Truck Events and religious rallies. It will likely be similar to Victoria’s Save-On Centre with about the same number of seats – 6000 – 7000.
There are approximately 400,000 people living on either side of the Malahat so either venue would be marketing to a similar size potential audience. It is generally believed that promoters and performers currently booking into Victoria would also book a show here for that audience north of the Malahat.
Aside from the tourism draw, the regional hockey fans, and the draw for major entertainers there are other key reasons to support this concept – ‘economic influence’. What additional development and investment could be expected on adjacent properties, and the downtown in general, as has been the case in other communities?
How can this be integrated to the Terminal-Nichol Project? What else does this spur with the South Downtown Waterfront lands? That’s where the excitement starts to build.
The big question that will be coming up, and will be answered through an electoral process, is how many Nanaimo residents would vote to support construction and infrastructure management costs over its lifetime – and for how much.
Ongoing feasibility studies are forthcoming with the details, realistic cost projections, funding and financing structure, and who the participants and partners in the project might be.
If all goes according to plan, we would be looking at dropping the first puck in September of 2019. Throughout the process, the City promises to maintain a high level of consultation and communication with residents for their opinion on what could be a monumental move forward for our community.
And if we can do something like this, how many other great projects can we get moving forward? To many, it feels like we’ve been in ‘stall mode’ for much too long.
