Moncton businesses report Avenir Centre spinoffs, but no data available

Full hotel rooms and restaurant seats are benefits businesses say followed the opening of Moncton's Avenir Centre.

"It's been very, very well received on our part with sales it's reflected in sales and workers being able to work more hours," said Kolin Barley, an owner and operator of St. James Gate.

Staff regularly review the books to understand what drives sales for its locations, which include a downtown restaurant and nine-room hotel, he said. Event nights have coincided with early dinner sales and waiting lists for the restaurant's 125 seats, Barley said.

But those internal numbers aren't public and so far, few concrete spending figures are available showing the $113-million centre's effect on downtown businesses.

The centre was built downtown without on-site parking as a way to get event goers stopping at shops, bars and hotels in the core.

No comprehensive data has yet been collected to compare the impact on sales at those businesses since the centre opened.

The first public numbers may be months away when the city complies information on the economic spinoffs of a council vote to spend more than $100,000 to lure the Ultimate Fighting Championship to the centre last weekend.

Moncton council voted 7-2 on Oct. 1 to use taxpayer money for 60 per cent of the $250,000 bid fee for the event. A report to council stated similar events generate a minimum of $3 million in economic activity.

"We will be looking at the economic impact and the hard numbers that happen here in Moncton," Greg Turner, the deputy mayor, told CBCNews in an interview after the vote.

The city won't carry out a formal economic impact study. Instead, it plans a more informal approach.

Isabelle LeBlanc, the city's director of communications, said it will involve calling the Greater Moncton Hotel Association and businesses to collect information.

"We will be providing council with some information on how things went with the UFC event," she said.

Beyond the city's look at the UFC spinoffs, none of the groups representing downtown businesses are aware of a comprehensive look at spending or sales.

Anne Poirier Basque, executive director of business group Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc., said the organization is tracking things such as downtown building permits and population but not sales.

Neither is the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce, said president John Wishart.

Nor does the Greater Moncton Hotel Association, the group's president said. Grald Normandeau, also the general manager of the Crowne Plaza across the street from the centre, said hotels have been seeing the benefits of the centre.

"We see a lift in business anytime there's an event," he said, adding hotels were full to the best of his knowledge at the time of the UFC event.

UFC staff booked about 800 hotel nights over the period before and around the fights, he said.

Shane Porter, the city's venues manager, told reporters earlier this month that no analysis has been carried out on events held so far at the Avenir Centre.

"It's fairly early days and they've been pretty standard events other than this one," Porter said, referring to the UFC fight. "Sales are great at the centre and obviously people are taking advantage of checking out the high quality entertainment that's there."

David Shaw, the UFC's senior vice-president of international and content, predicted the day before the fight that there would be "close to 10,000 people in the room."

The event drew 6,282 people to the arena, whichcan seat 8,800 for hockey games, according to SMG Canada, which manages operations of the centre for the city.

Shaw told Radio-Canada that UFC hopes to return to the city.