The city of Sudbury will review three rezoning applications for the proposed arena and casino project on the Kingsway, with public hearings scheduled for March 26 and March 28. The plan includes an arena, a hotel and a new Gateway casino, envisioned as a large-scale entertainment destination.
Greater Sudbury’s planning committee has invited the public to the hearings where citizens will be able to speak and ask questions regarding the applications for rezoning the currently vacant land. It is located on the north side of the Kingsway, northwest of Levesque Street in Sudbury. Three rezoning applications have been filed – for a casino, a hotel, and a parking lot, by the owner of the nearly 20-hectare vacant lot, developer Dario Zulich and his partner Perry Dellelce.
The two meetings scheduled for Monday, March 26, and Wednesday, March 28, will be held at council chambers at Tom Davies Square. The public hearing on Monday will review the Official Plan amendment and rezoning for a casino that would be built on a 6.96-hectare parcel of land. It will be developed by the Canadian gambling company Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, which is planning to replace the old slots venue at Sudbury Downs with a $60-million gambling complex.
In addition to the casino and three restaurants within it, the project includes an arena, as well as a hotel tower that, according to Ward 5 Councillor Robert Kirwan, will be home to Sudbury’s largest hotel. It is still unclear which hotel chain would open on the Kingsway property, but the local news outlet Sudbury Star reported on Wednesday that two companies, namely the Boreal Hospitality Group and the Intercontinental Hotels Group, have expressed interest in the project.
Expectations for Positive Impact on the Local Economy
Supporters of the proposed casino complex believe that it will have a positive impact on the local economy as it would provide a diverse offering on a scale Sudbury has never seen before. The hotel is expected to be the largest one in the city, while the long-anticipated arena would attract both tourists and local visitors with a wide range of events. They are all a part of the integrated design of the planned complex, while the casino is seen as the icing on the cake.
According to Rob Mitchell, a spokesperson for Gateway, the casino operator wishes to establish a “state-of-the-art presence” in the city, the Sudbury Star wrote on Tuesday. The gambling venue would be large and along with the gaming floor, it would have three restaurants. It would operate around the clock and is expected to add more than 250 jobs to the 160 that already exist there, Mitchell explains.
Job positions would be made available across the spectrum, ranging from restaurant workers, front of the house employees to casino staff, table dealers, and even IT experts. The high-paying jobs, along with the diverse offering of the complex – accommodation, amusement and event space, are expected to contribute significantly to the local economy.
