By Mark Laden
PARRY SOUND - Early this month, on the waterfront of this Georgian Bay town, Parry Sound Place and the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame started to move closer to reality.
Construction on the $11.4-million facility finally began.
Former mayor Wilf Sabourin first brought the concept of Parry Sound Place forward. While some call the project a white elephant, the current mayor and council, as well as members of the arts and tourism industry, support it as a springboard to more development on the waterfront.
Putting together funding for construction of Parry Sound Place has not been easy. It has taken about three years to come, with just over $9.7 million to date and that still leaves a shortfall of just under $2.5 million.
The funding has come from a variety of sources: Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, $4.2 million; FedNor, $250,000; Heritage Canada, $2.966 million; area municipalities, $564,000; and fundraising, including funds from the Festival of the Sound building fund, $502,000.
Additional funding from FedNor ($500,000) and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund ($750,000) is expected soon.
For the shortfall, the Parry Sound town council has approved bridge financing until the fundraising proceeds and outstanding grants are received.
Construction giant Ellis-Don has been chosen to oversee construction of Parry Sound Place. Ellis-Don competed in a comprehensive bidding process which included two main components: the company's technical expertise and its price, Coun. Conrad van der Valk says.
"Ellis-Don did not have the best price, but it's certainly one of the best in the technical aspects, and they were below the average in cost," says van der Valk.
"So, those combined, and given their past track record in dealing with performing theatres and what we knew of that firm, they were chosen simply on the merits of our points system. They scored highest.
Ellis-Don was responsible for the construction of the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts (Toronto), London (Ontario) Sports and Entertainment Centre and the Princess of Wales Theatre (Toronto).
"I was at a performance in the Ford Centre three years ago and was amazed by the beauty of the place and its acoustics... just amazing," says van der Valk. "Ellis-Don is by far the most specialized in acoustical halls and theatre, performance centres."
One of the main users of the Parry Sound Place Performing Arts Centre will be the annual Festival of the Sound. The three-week classical music festival puts on about 50 performances each summer, spokesperson Margy Boyd estimates.
"We also plan to put on several performances during the winter months, but we need to do a market study to find out how much the market will bear," says Boyd. "We will likely start small with four or five concerts in the off season."
In addition to Festival of the Sound, concerts of all kinds are expected to be offered in the almost 500-seat theatre, van der Valk says.
"We even hope to rent it out for conferences, wedding receptions and other public gatherings," he said. "Our goal is have something booked in the hall as often as possible so that it starts to break even by the end of 2005."
If everything goes according to plan, and van der Valk says he is confident it will, Parry Sound Place and the Bobby Orr Sports Hall of Fame, both components of the Parry Sound Place, will be open for business in time for the Festival of Sound in July of 2003.
