Sudbury developer wants to preserve arena's architecture

As people in Sudbury debate where a new arena should be located, at least one developer is making plans to refurbish the existing facility.

Greg Oldenburg of Oldenburg Inc., and Brewer Lofts is entertaining the idea of converting Sudbury's downtown arena into new offices, parking spaces, a post-secondary campus, a library or art gallery.

"If you peel back all the billboards and everything else in there, there's a really interesting structure and it's situated nicely in the downtown," he said.

Oldenburg has fond memories of visiting the arena with his grandfather, who once playedhockey for the Frood Mine Tigers in the 1930s.

"I'd hate to see this building go, simply because it's current use has been outlived," he said.

"The intention here is to align with the master plan that the city of Sudbury has, in terms of adaptively reusing a building that currently exists."

Developer's plan could cost up to $60M

Oldenburg's plan is not completely nailed down yet.

But he estimates renovations could cost up to $60 million.

He envisions five floors within the arena's existing roof line.

The chair of Downtown Sudbury, Jeff MacIntyre, said he has not been approached by Oldenburg about the idea.

But MacIntyre is trying to bring new development into the city core.

"When we do development and we point to people where our downtown is, you want to have something that's impressive," he said.

"You want to have your main events centre, you want to have your main library, you want to have your city hall, you want to have the best of your hospitality, the best of your retail, the things that showcase you as your downtown. And that's why it all needs to be in a condensed area."

MacIntyre said there are several downtown proponents waiting for a request for proposal to come out for a new arena.

He said Downtown Sudbury does not think the recent sale of the Sudbury Wolvesaffectsthe business case for keeping the facility in the city core.

City council has yet to to make any decision about a possible new events centre or arena, but it is moving forward with its plans to issue arequestfor proposalto developers.

First, it is spending $125,000 on a consultant to study the market opportunity for a new arena and $150,000 for staff to come up with a business case for the project.