Greater Sudbury releases KED cost sharing agreement

After months of negotiations, the City of Greater Sudbury has revealed how the bill for developing the Kingsway Entertainment District will be divvied.

A summary of the cost-sharing agreement was released on Monday afternoon.

It shows how the cost for preparing the land in Sudbury's east end will be split up between the city and its three private sector partners.

Those partners are Gateway Casinos, which plans to build a $60 million gambling and restaurant complex on the site, land owner Dario Zulich and the developer of a hotel and conference centre.

Zulich is currently in talks with several hotel companies about building in the entertainment district.

He says how the hotel's share of the costs for the road, stormwater improvements and other infrastructure needs will be split up will be decided in his negotiations with the hotel company he decides to work with.

Zulich told CBC news if there was any delay in developing the hotel, that he could cover that share of the infrastructure costs. 

The agreement does include time frames for when the partners are able to exit from the deal, which were not released to the public. 

"Well I'm counting at this point in time, all of us following through. We're dealing in good faith, we're confident in what we have negotiated and we're confident in this project. Everything we're doing right now is a means to get from A to B," Zulich said.

"It wasn't easy getting there, but it's absolutely fair for all parties," the owner of the Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five said of the cost sharing agreement talks.

City event centre project director David Shelsted said these infrastructure costs represent between 10 and 15 per cent of the cost for building the new arena, estimated to be around $100 million.

"The whole goal was to ensure that we got a good deal for the taxpayers and I believe that this agreement is a good deal for the taxpayers," Shelsted said.

Both acknowledged that this agreement comes amidst some "uncertainty" for the project, which has been appealed to the newly-formed Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and is facing lengthy delays.

That could push back the opening date for the Kingsway Entertainment District and its centrepiece arena, which the city currently puts at late 2021 or early 2022.