SudburyArena-1

By Nick Liard

Sudbury City Council heard what the price-tag would be, along with the benefits and risks of renovating the Sudbury Community Arena.

No decisions were made last night, since the report from two consultants was for information only.

Director of Special Projects at the Consulting firm, CBRE Limited, Michael Renaud, says refurbishing could cost between $44-50-million.

The renovations detailed in the report included expansions and upgrades to everything in the arena, except the ice-pad.

Ward 8 Councillor Al Sizer, who previously worked in the Sudbury arena believes refurbishing is a bad idea, due to timelines and problems that may arise when renovating an already aging building.

He thinks constructing a new building is the better option.

The Sudbury Arena is now the oldest building in the Ontario Hockey League.

The Consultants provided two examples of new event-style centres -on in St. Catherines and the other in Medicine Hat.

The price-tag for something similar would be between $52-74-million.