New tack for Tache multiplex

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This article was published 16/07/2018 (2109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Long-gestating plans for a new regional multiplex in Lorette have been sliced into phases in an effort to get shovels into the ground sooner, Tache council heard last week.

Councillor Lucille Brunette said the multiplex fundraising committee has set its sights on a fall 2019 sod turning, and will launch a corporate fundraising campaign this September.

Community fundraisers have amassed roughly $400,000 so far, and naming rights and other corporate efforts are expected to bring in an additional $1.5 million, said Mayor Robert Rivard.

Under the revised plans, phase one of the multiplex would entail construction of an arena and library. Future phases could see a daycare and gymnasium built simultaneously or separately, Rivard said.

At 4,000 sq-ft., the library’s footprint has been halved, though Rivard said the building’s design would allow the later addition of a second storey. In the arena, bleacher-style seating may be installed to reduce costs.

While council heard a global estimate of $15 million during preliminary design talks in early 2017, phase one now carries a $9.5 million price tag, Rivard said.

Council hopes an even three-way split with other levels of government is still possible, and Rivard believes a phased approach will make the project “an easier sell to the other levels of government.”

Even if external funding doesn’t materialize, the mayor was confident recreation reserve funds, coupled with the committee’s fundraising pot, could get phase one built.

Council is just beginning to cost out different scenarios as it awaits responses to its grant applications, the mayor added.