Sudbury's Place des Arts on track for a 2022 opening

Sudbury's Place des Arts is expected to open its doors in 2022.

Construction on the downtown arts centre, which will host seven francophone organizations, including the Thtre du Nouvel-Ontario, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario and the Carrefour francophone, is almost complete, according to Place des Arts board chair Alain Richard.

Richard could not yet provide an exact date for the centre's grand opening, but he said they are "very close to occupancy."

The centre was supposed to open in December 2020, but that timeline was pushed back due to delays caused by the pandemic.

"COVID has had an impact from the early start where the whole construction had to be shut down due to some of the guidelines from the province," Richard said. "And then afterwards, we did have quite a few different challenges in terms of material as well as workforce."

Richard said he expects the centre to bolster Sudbury's economy and help attract talent to local industries.

"I know from my day job that we want to attract top talent to Sudbury," he said. "Well, there needs to be things that are offered outside of work. And to me, Place des Arts is part of that offering that we can bolster up for Sudbury."

He added the space could also be used for small conventions and will lead to synergies in the arts community.

Despite construction delays, Richard added thatthe project has been able to stick to its $30 million budget.