Elliot Lake City Council has given the go-ahead for plans to turn the old Reel 2 Reel movie theatre at 16 Elizabeth Walk into performing arts and museum space along with art studio facilities.
The upset cost would be $3.6M (less any grants applicable) to be taken from the insurance recovery funds held in reserve, following the 2019 Civic Centre collapse insurance settlement.
The downtown Arts Centre was originally planned as an added facility to a larger future multi-use arts hub. But like the rec hub originally planned for 151 Ontario Ave., money from the two senior levels of government which would have paid a large chunk of the costs, never materialized.
Since the time when the original budgeting was done before the pandemic, costing for construction of the arts centre has risen by 35 percent. That's due to project backlogs and supply chain issues triggered by the pandemic.
The initial funding plan for the Arts Centre project involved a $750,000 contribution from FedNor paired with a $391,250 contribution from the city. Now the city will pay considerably more.
“It appears every stakeholder concerned in this project is not getting what they wanted,” noted council candidate Mike Thomas during the public presentations period at Monday night’s meeting.
“Other than the $750,000, why are we doing it?” he asked.
The approved FedNor funding of $750,000 has a requirement that the project be realized by March 31, 2023. That leaves the project timelines with a limited period for completion.
FedNor has told city staff the government is concerned over the available remaining time, indicating that funds will have to be reallocated if the project does not move forward fast.
Out of three choices, council selected a renovation option that requires further upgrades to the Reel 2 Reel building for additional floor space (to make room for a museum, studio space and a 130-seat performing arts theatre.)
The build will have a level floor installed to house artist workshops. The eastern portion of the remaining floorspace will have its sloped floor modified to accommodate current building codes for the use of the performance/presentation theatre space.
There will be upgraded washrooms and barrier-free access to the second floor via a person-lift/elevator.
The second floor, now sloping, will also be levelled to house artist workshops, a model train club clubhouse and storage.
Mayor Dan Marchisella said he was pleased with the plan.
"Personally, I'm good with option three for the moment because it covers all the arts groups. It covers the theatre. It covers the museum.
"We've been discussing a rec Plex for how many years we got approved for funding twice. We've had that funding pool twice. We're still discussing it. Now the rec Plex has been torn apart. It's no longer rec Plex and we're going to be spending close to $4M to upgrade our pool to get another 10 to 15 years out of it.
"We're looking at anywhere from seven to $14M to replace our arena because our arena is not going to last 10 years. We're lucky if it lasts three or four years. And that's from the engineering reports. I'm not an engineer.
"I want to make sure that everybody's housed and that as we come into a new council, we look at funding options for a museum/theatre because that is a need in our community," the mayor went on.
"I'm personally not done with the idea of a new museum or a new theatre," he concluded.
Besides the Arts Centre go ahead, council also decided to declare surplus the long-vacant land at the site of the former Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre.
That designation opens the property to purchase offers for the city-owned serviced land at 255 Hwy 108.