Proposed arts centre at former Kamloops Daily News site pegged at $90 million

By: Andrea Klassen Kamloops this Week, News April 9, 2015

http://www.kamloops.ca/arts/pdfs/15-PerformingArtsCentre-Report-Final.pdf

Kamloops’ new performing-arts centre would boast a 1,200-seat theatre, a 350-seat black-box theatre, 350 parking stalls and an $90-million price tag.But, Mayor Peter Milobar and city staff told the public last night at Interior Savings Centre, building the new facility on the former site of the Kamloops Daily News would require only a one per cent tax hike in 2016 and another one per cent increase in 2017.Should it pass in a referendum later this year, construction would begin in 2018, with an opening date in 2020. Milobar said he does expect some sticker shock — as Coun. Donovan Cavers put it to media earlier this week — from the public, but doesn’t think the overall price is insurmountable. “When they see that it’s only one per cent a year for two years and you not only achieve the theatre, you also achieve 350 parking stalls for daytime usage in downtown Kamloops, I think that a lot of people will see that it’s not necessarily a wild and crazy concept,” he said. While the city considered Thompson Rivers University and the soon-to-be-vacant Lake City Casino space at Hotel 540 on Victoria Street as potential sites, Milobar said the city preferred to keep the centre downtown, which ruled out TRU early on. Of the two remaining options, Hotel 540 was slightly larger. But, Milobar said, the L-shape of the vacant property on the hotel site made it difficult to lay out the various components the centre would require. (more)
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