Art gallery price tag balloons to $75 million

If the City of Thunder Bay releases its promised $5 million, the building can be made weather-tight pending additional fundraising

The cost of the new Thunder Bay Art Gallery has escalated to the point there is now a funding shortfall of almost $23 million, meaning construction may have to be halted, and leaving organizers to consider a phased approach to the facility’s eventual opening.

While it seeks additional funding sources, TBAG is looking to the City of Thunder Bay to immediately release the $5 million the city agreed to contribute in 2017.

According to a report prepared by city administration for city council, the gallery currently has funding commitments totalling $52 million, but the cost of the waterfront facility has now ballooned from a 2023 forecast of $57 million to about $75 million.

That’s a 50 per cent increase from a projected cost of only $50 million in 2022.

In March of this year, the interim chair of the gallery’s board conceded the cost would “definitely be higher than $57 million,” but said the exact figure wasn’t available yet.

At the time, Lesley Bell cited a variety of factors for the rising costs, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply-chain issues, the availability of trades, and design changes to meet carbon-neutral requirements for federal funding.

She also revealed the completion of the project had been moved back from 2025 to 2027.

In fact, city administration’s report to council indicates the gallery is considering the possibility of completing only part of the building while it pursues funds to finish the rest.

A partially-completed structure would still cost $64 million.

“Without the City’s contribution, the Art Gallery has indicated that construction could be halted as early as October 2025 due to cashflow shortfalls, leaving the asset incomplete and not weather-tight,” the report cautions.

“While release of the $5 million would not guarantee partial opening or full project completion, it would significantly advance construction to a weather-tight and protected stage, providing the Art Gallery with additional time to pursue further fundraising efforts and apply for additional Federal and Provincial funding opportunities.”

Administration is recommending council approve the release of the funds in two instalments, subject to the execution of a funding agreement and completion of land lease amendments.

To date, the federal and Ontario governments have committed $41.4 million to the project, and TBAG fundraising has brought in $5 million. – tbnewswatch.com

article website here

Maybe a point of interest that is not mentioned in the above article is that the original price tag for the art gallery was $33 million. Yes, less than half of the $75 million. A 127% price increase?

The price tag for the new gallery is $33 million, and the gallery is seeking a $5 million contribution from the city. – CBC News – 2016

Compromises Might Be Made For The Thunder Bay Art Gallery

– post website here

I have said it before and I will say it again, the former Eaton’s Building was the perfect place for this. It is a very large building located amongst shops, bars and restaurants. The area is serviced by several bus routes. The waterfront location is serviced by zero bus routes> There is a large parkade less than a block away from the former Eaton’s Building.

A deficit of $23 million at this point in time means that a lot of Persians will have to be sold in order to get this project into the black. Of course, the Art Gallery supporters, many if not all are Liberal supporters, are counting on Hajdu coming through with another $25 million. I hope to God that does not happen. There are a lot of better places that money can be spent right now other than in support of this $75 million and counting White Elephant.

As for the reason for this $75 million surprise:

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply-chain issues, the availability of trades, and design changes to meet carbon-neutral requirements for federal funding.

I call bullshit. COVID-19 and supply train issues are old tried and true excuses that have outlived their usefulness. People are sick of hearing them. They are no longer relevant.

Design changes were made to get some of that sweet, sweet Canadian taxpayer cash. The sweet, sweet Canadian taxpayer cash will have offset the changes made. If not, then it was stupid to go after that money. Spending more money than the funding amount to get the funding amount is really, really stupid but not impossible when you look at the Mensa candidates running this project.

This entire art gallery fiasco was doomed at the very beginning when the decision was made to locate the facility in Marina Park instead of the Eaton’s Building. This is what happens when money does not matter.

Had the art gallery supporters been required to raise 33% or even 50% of the project cost, then things sure will have evolved differently. Budgets will have been much tighter.

I hope a lesson has been learned here by our senior levels of government. Require matching funds. Three to one or even two to one. Force the project supporters to put some skin in the game. It will make a very big difference.

Money and how its spent matters. Even if it comes from senior governments.

PS: Sharon Godwin….not a peep out of her. Why?

Here are some of the news articles over the years having to do with the ‘Mistake-On-The-Lake….