St. Catharines Downtown Association

Bottom line: I knew what I was doing calling it the performing arts thingy.

Anyway, don't expect a fancy new name for the St. Catharines arts centre. Indeed, for the time being, it might just be the St. Catharines arts centre.

Long term, though, the plan was always to put the name up for grabs.

Briggs said the city will likely form a fundraising committee early next year, with an eye toward selling the naming rights for individual elements of the centre as well as for the overall facility.

In case you're wondering, the Marilyn I. Walker name only applies to the school part of the joint project.

Not much else to report on the arts centre front. It's mostly boring stuff, like working to further formalize the corporate working relationship between the city and Brock. The two sides are also dotting i's and crossing t's on the contract to hire project manager Prism Partners Inc. Once Prism is officially on board, the process to hire an architect will move full-speed ahead.

There's also been little movement on acquiring the final piece of downtown property for the $100-million project.

Two months ago, the city gave what it characterized as its final offer to the owner of 240-42 St. Paul St. (old albums store, used book shop). While not officially launching expropriation proceedings, the city has recently made the owner aware the process is about to start.

"It never hurts to let them know we're going to move on it, regardless," said Briggs.

He said demolition on some of the acquired properties will take place this summer. The building at the corner of St. Paul and Carlisle, and the old UAW building at the bottom of Carlisle will likely be the first to go

Please see full column by Doug Herod in The St. Catharines Standard at:

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2568817