Although the controversies about the Kingsway Entertainment District in Sudbury, Ontario, continue, the city has dealt with the last legal challenges in the Planning Appeal Tribunal and can proceed with building the $100 million arena complex, which will include a casino and possibly a hotel. Other details haven’t been finalized.
Robert Kirwan, the city councilor who has been the project’s greatest cheerleader, insists it will be an integrated resort. “Moving forward, the property lines are actually wall lines. There’s no space in between the properties. It’s going to look like one big building,” he commented recently.
Another councilor, Geoff McCausland is doubtful a hotel is in the works. He told CBC: “I haven’t heard anything about a hotel partner, not a name, not an agreement,” and added, “I believe developer Dario Zulich has been representing the hotel aspect, but we haven’t seen anything that looks like a promising development so far.”
Gateway Casinos’ financial woes, which led to a $200 million loan from the Canadian government, worry McCausland. He also worries that the city might be hit if one of the three partners drop the project. He said, “I don’t think there’s anything in black and white right now at all that stipulates that any of them is a must go.”
