'We need a fair shake'Rainbow Centre continue lobby for downtown library, art gallery

The owners of the downtown Sudbury mall are still hoping to convince city council to partner with them on a new library and art gallery.

Council was to pick a site for a $110 millioncultural complex including a library, art gallery, as well as a convention and performance centrelast month, but put off a vote until January.

City staff are recommendingthe current site of the Sudbury Arena, which would become available once a new arena is built as part of the planned Kingsway Entertainment District.

But Vista Hospitality Group, which owns the Rainbow Centre,says it could the library and art gallery at a fraction of the cost, between $12 and 15 million.

It's also offering the city half price rent on the space.

CEO AminVisramsays this will be good for his business, but also downtown Sudbury as a whole.

"It will make those businesses flourish more. Hence, those businesses will pay more taxes to the city. Hence, you'll have a boom that will take place between Elm, Notre Dame and the School of Architecture. Hence, more businesses will come in," he says.

The Rainbow Centre was ranked fourth out of four possible sites for the downtown cultural complex, partly because it doesn't have room for the convention centre, formerly known as the Synergy Centre.

Visram believes that a ranking of potential downtown sites was unfairly skewed against his property by using incorrect information such asunderreporting the number of available parking spaces at the mall.

"We need a fair shake," he says.

"We pay $1.2 million in taxes. All we're saying is if that system was fair and the points were objectively looked at that we would be the target and we would be the site."