Sudbury mayor hits 'pause' on Junction East project

Sudbury city council is hitting the pause button on one of its major construction projects.

Sudbury mayor Paul Lefebvre's last-minute addendum to Tuesday's council agenda a motion to put the Junction East project temporarily on hold will give city staff four months to come up with a pared-down version of what had once been a cornerstone in visions of a revitalized downtown.

The new price tag that Lefebvre is hoping to see: $65 million. That's roughly $30 million less than the last estimated total.

"I believe that we need to be appropriately ambitious with this project in the size of the scope of where it's at," Lefebvre said.

"I'll do whatever I can do to make sure that we have thebest deal on the capital costs and on the operating costs as we move forward."

The price for Junction East steadily rose since the idea for a downtown arts hub first materialized. In June, the city approved a multi-year accessibility plan, a community energy emissions strategy and a draft public art policy.

City council has also asked staff to find an alternate site, eventually settling on Shaughnessy Street, which required them to buy the property.

It's the second large project that has been temporarily shelvedin recent months due torising construction costs. In July 2022, the municipal arena proposed for theKingsway Entertainment District waseffectively killed as estimatedcosts ballooned to over $200 million.

The Junction East was set to be constructed on Shaughnessy Street next to the Sudbury Theatre Centre, and was expected to house a new main library branch, the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and the Sudbury Multicultural and Folk Arts Association.

But costs skyrocketed, and Lefebvre said he was concerned the $98 million price tag was becoming too big a burden for taxpayers.

That was a concern echoed by city councillors. Lefebvre's motion passed unanimously. Lefebvre said he now expects staff to return to council with new, albeit smaller and less expensive ideas.

"We want to explore the opportunities to reduce the price tag from $98 million to $65 million and continue to advocate to other levels of government for support to reduce that price even further."

Lefebvre said he spoke with the three major tenants of the facility before the motion was presented to council, to assuage any concerns that council was dropping a bombshell without alerting its partners.

"They understand, and now we continue to work together to try to find the best way, the best path forward as we try and achieve those objectives a smaller footprint, a smaller price tag, but still a beautiful facility that we can all be proud of."

"My main concern is to get it right," Lefebvre said. "Get the whole community on board and to have a community that everybody can get behind."