600 new parking spots coming to downtown Sudbury?

Downtown Sudbury could soon see more parking on Prime land.

Susan Thompson, spokesperson for the Downtown Village Development Corporation, said Prime Real Estate Group is ready to develop 600 parking spots in the city's core —  if the city picks downtown as the place for its new arena.

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Thompson made the announcement just as Sudbury councillors get ready to decide where to build a new events centre.

Downtown Sudbury was recently given the highest rating by consultant PriceWaterhouseCoopers as the best location for a new arena. But the second choice, True North Strong Events Centre, scored higher for its potential number of parking places at its proposed Kingsway property.

Thompson said Prime's decision is good for both drivers, and city coffers.

"Not only is it on [Prime's] land and they'd be paying the total cost of it, they would now be providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenues to the City of Greater Sudbury because they're on private lands," she said.

Thompson said the company is interested in moving forward even if the arena is not built downtown, though with slightly different plans.

"I think at some point, they will probably go ahead with a modified version of their plan, it just might be scaled down," she said.

"However, should the event centre go ahead, it would definitely boost the short term feasibility of their project."