Peel Plaza – city anxious to spend money

To further reassure citizens and taxpayers that the city is intent to aggressively advance the Peel Plaza development even as a number of concerns from citizens and councilors wait to be answered (this is a more polite phrasing of my earlier post due to a reader suggested I was being less than productive with my language choice):

“mayor Ivan Court tells CHSJ News the project is on a tight time line. Court says the province plans to break ground for the new Justice Complex in September -- and -- work on the new parking garage will have to coincide with the province since it will be leasing over 100-parking spaces.”

Let’s hope those spaces are well paying – if they are rented to the province at $110 per month the city can recoup $132,000 per year. The city currently charges $106 for the garage on Canterbury Street. The new parking stalls will be in a brand new facility adjacent to a new major employer (provincial court house), so perhaps $125 per space or $150,000 per year may be a reasonable expectation.

The parking garage could proceed without the luxury (my word) police station on prime land, so there is still hope that the police station project could be delayed, moved, or proven/rationalized before there is a hole in the ground.