Can you feel the synergy? Technology would transform seats, floors and walls to accommodate a wide range of events.

AuthorMacdonald, Darren
PositionCONFERENCE & CONVENTION

A Sudbury group that has been working out of the spotlight for the last three years has unveiled a proposal to build a multi-use arts and convention centre in Greater Sudbury it says can break even in its first year of operation.

Paul Finley, project manager of the Sudbury Synergy Project, said the group intentionally kept a low profile as it conducted research and marketing plans to determine whether the project was feasible.

"We wanted to stay as low (profile) as we could until we believed that we had a legitimate project, one that can speak for itself, and rationalize itself," Finley said.

A former economic development officer with Greater Sudbury, Finley said the key element of the $65 million project is making use of technology capable of transforming the 127,000 square-foot building from a convention centre to a performing arts centre.

"Through modern day miracles of science and technology, we've come up with a building concept --it's more than a concept, it's a design that is operating in at least 300 other jurisdictions around the world--using transformation technology," he said.

"It's rudimentary technology that they've been using in the automotive assembly filed for 30 years. It's motor-driven, computer operated, setting the building up so that walls, floors, ceilings --everything moves."

Videos linked to the project's website shows how such facilities work.

One video shows the transformation of the Lausanne Swiss Tech Convention Center in Switzerland, as well as the River Rock Gala in Richmond, B.C., and the Mont Jacob Cultural Centre in Jonquiere, Que.

The concept in Sudbury is to develop a facility that can "host a trade show in the afternoon and tonight, at 7:30, the symphony plays in a state-of-the-art facility," Finley said.

So the facility could either be a single room hosting a concert with more than 1,400 people, or become three separate halls holding 400-500 people each. Or it could become just one big room with no seats to host a 1,200-person convention.

The technology works especially well in mid-sized markets, he said, where there is demand for a broader range of venues, but the city is too small to sustain standalone facilities.

"So you have to develop a multi-purpose concept," he said, adding that their market study showed that "we can break even in year one--that's year one.

"Sudbury's biggest challenge right now is that we don't have facilities to host, not only world-class events, but, say, regional tours of...

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