Expect price tag for Halifax Forum redevelopment missiles to reach $110 million

Ouch. Construction estimates for the Halifax Forum redevelopment have reached $110 million.

When the project last took place in Halifax Regional Council in 2021, city officials estimated it could cost up to $81 million.

“This (increase) is due to market costs, inflation and just the general challenges we’re seeing across the board,” Gareth Evans, recreation planning specialist at Halifax Regional Municipality, explained to the city council on Tuesday.

But don’t be afraid, Coun insisted. Lindell Smith (Halifax Peninsula North) as he cradles his infant son during the council meeting. Building is expensive these days and councilors should focus on why the Forum is important, Smith said.

“Thinking of the forum as just an ice rink, or just a community center, or just a bingo hall, is the wrong way to think about it,” he said.

“When we see this $110 million number, think about it because we’re getting three facilities, not one.”

Demolish and start over?

According to the personnel report council could remove the heritage status of the 96-year-old building, demolish it and start new to save $5 million to $10 million. But staff do not recommend that because it goes against HRM policy, requires a lot of public involvement and would be a ‘reputational risk’.

Smith said deregistering wouldn’t save that much money in the long run because the council would likely have to pay for a new design, plus pay for legal challenges from the public. Construction time would be reduced, but it would take eight months to a year to drop heritage status and demolish, if all goes well.

“The Forum … is falling apart, so the longer we put this off, the more money we’re going to spend to make sure we have a safe building,” Smith said.

The forum has significant leaks, as well as accessibility issues and code violations. Postponing the project will only make it more expensive, Smith said.

But count. Tony Mancini (Harbourview-Burnside-Dartmouth East) said he was scared enough when the project cost $81 million.

“It’s a lot of money, and it’s our job to look at taxpayers’ money and spend it wisely,” Mancini said. “I think we owe it to the citizens of HRM to start the conversation about deregistration.”

There used to be a close vote on the heritage status of the Forum, he said.

“Is that heritage because a particular team played there?”

Details of the project

The current redevelopment design would save the facade while building a new arena behind it. Some of the features are:

• Two ice blocks with a connecting hall.
• A multipurpose space of 14,500 square meters.
• On-site parking would be reduced from 500 to 150 spaces, with more reliance on street parking.
• A new park/communal green.
• It also includes the sale of a large portion of the car park at the corner of Windsor and Young Streets to offset construction costs. The idea is that the land would support a two-tower residential development, and estimates of what it would sell are not publicly available.

Evans said during public consultations the council found there is strong community support for new park, but opinion is divided on reducing parking spaces and most people are not keen on selling the land.

Councilors agreed that something needs to be done quickly as the widely used Forum continues to deteriorate.

‘It’s Forum time,’ Count said. Waye Mason (Halifax South Center). “It is not possible to continue running the Forum. We need to replace the Forum or replace all parts of the Forum elsewhere (on the peninsula).”

The voice

At the end of several hours of debate, the council voted to move forward with a detailed design of the site and facility, as well as plan for future budgets with the $110 million price tag. But the city council voted against the sale of the part of the parking lot.

It is for the council to decide how the heritage value is respected, staff stressed, and there is some flexibility there. This case will be returned to the municipality, which may still decide to deregister and demolish the Forum and sell the part of the parking lot.

“We are going to sell some land; we just have to figure out the most economical and sensible, effective way to do that first,” Mayor Mike Savage said.

Cathie O’Toole, head of administration, added: “We will figure out how the facility will be sited, address the parking issue and then determine what portion of the land will remain available for sale.”