Developer: Nova Centre will open September 2016
Posted Nov 28, 2014 03:50:32 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Developer Joe Ramia announced Friday the Nova Centre would be complete by the end of September 2016, after bad weather last winter and a public consultation that forced a design-change meant made for delays in construction.
That’s a far cry from the expected opening date of January 1st 2016 date, which would have meant that Ramia’s company, Argyle Developments Inc. would get just over $160 million from taxpayers.
Ramia says that doesn’t matter.
“The province and the city is not putting any money on this project,” he said. “This is a private investment, private risk, to develop this project.”
The delay also means conventions booked for the new convention centre that will be part of the building won’t be able to get ahead as planned.
Scott Ferguson with Trade Centre Limited says he’s been talking to clients who had booked the convention centre, and he’s not worried.
“We are expecting to retain the vast majority if not all of that business,” he said. “Some…they might try to shoe-horn into the older facility, other are just going to come the next year.”
Right now, the concrete is poured on five stories of the building, including two levels of parking, and the first few levels of the convention centre. Ramia says the full 16 floors will be up by spring 2015.
Here’s a time-lapse video of the construction thus far:
