Convention centre signing deadline extended
Posted Jan 13, 2011 05:37:50 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There could be a delay in finalizing a deal for the proposed downtown convention center.
All parties are supposed to come to an agreement by Friday but it looks like the city, the province and the feds won’t reach an agreement on funding by then.
There’s still no word whether Ottawa will pitch in the remaining $47 million needed to build the multi-million dollar convention centre – so the developer in the project has agreed to a three-month extension of Friday’s deadline.
Minister of Infrastructure and Renewal Bill Estabrooks tells News 95.7 Rank Inc. president Joe Ramia was willing to be flexible because negotiations are going well.
“We have a few more details to work out with the federal government but we’re making good progress and having open lines of communication,” he said. “Mr. Ramia has been very flexible and he’s not going to press the deadline that’s looming. That’s no longer an issue for us. We’re going to get this deal done, whether it’s done by tomorrow is no longer an issue.”
Estabrooks says even with the delays he’s still very confident in the project.
“We’re very close,” he said. “In the next few days hopefully we’ll have this deal done and the convention centre and its financing will be announced publicly.”
The city and province have already agreed to contribute $56 million each to the project.
