Downtown Sudbury chair Jeff MacIntyre says he likes Dario Zulich's so-called music city proposal for downtown Sudbury – but he liked it better when it was called the Synergy Centre.
"It basically looks a lot like the Synergy Centre, stuck in the old Sudbury Arena," MacIntyre said Thursday, minutes after Zulich made his pitch at Fromagerie Elgin.
"I'm ecstatic! They just made the case for the downtown events centre. They showed that the demand is here for the urban growth. They showed that hotels are willing to build in our community, which helps pay the cost of the new events centre."
Zulich, who wants to see the new arena/events centre built on land he donated to the city on The Kingsway, said part of the old arena could become a 1,200-seat venue for music and comedy acts, while the rest of the building could house a new art gallery or library.
That's similar to the Synergy Centre proposal, which city council also supports. Vital to the centre's business plan is having a new arena built downtown.
"A style of building like this, or the Synergy Centre, as it's been called for the last 10 years, really goes well with an events centre," MacIntyre said. "There's a huge opportunity for having a music tourism centre right next to an events centre that's also going to host massive concerts. You can tie together the festivals."
What doesn't make sense is splitting the two up, he said, which would discourage tourists from coming here.
"I just don't see why someone would want to take a $50 cab ride across town to go back and forth from one venue to another if you're a tourist,” MacIntyre said.
"I don't think this makes sense, separated. I think if you have a massive events centre on one end of town and you've got a music tourism section in another section of town, you lose all your tourist benefit. Tourists are not going to want to drive back and forth, go to a concert in one end of town, and a hockey game in another."
But, as Zulich showed Thursday, there's demand for hotels and other amenities to compliment a downtown events centre and arts centre.
"It's great to see there's demand for hotels downtown. That's how you pay for this thing. And they just proved it."
It also supports the downtown master plan, a document crafted through consultants with contributions from people across the city,
"So it's important that the entire city's vision becomes part of this,” he said.
