Grand Trunk community hub could cost between $43M and $126M

The vision for the Grand Trunk superstructure and surrounding site may have to be altered due to the economics of what the community needs, as the ad hoc committee tasked with its renewal is hit with a $43 million to $126 million price tag.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

“It isn’t a feel-good story, but that’s how much things cost,” consultant Joe Svec said after hitting the ad hoc Grand Trunk renewal committee with a price tag between $43 million and $126 million.

Svec, along with colleague Rock Wang, provided their findings at the May 20 committee meeting. The two represented Svec Group, a consulting firm which works with both the public and private sectors to deliver large community projects that fulfill what municipalities need, while grounding the project in what builders are actually able to provide.

The two costs Svec presented represent “bookends” for the price of the Grand Trunk’s community hub, centred around the “superstructure” of the old locomotive repair shop. It doesn’t include the surrounding land of the 18-acre property, which will be developed separately.

The $126 million option would be to construct the various components of the community hub within the superstructure. Because of the lack of a roof and the high costs of installing a custom roof for such a large, outdated building, the spaces would be built as structures within a structure, which presents a significant cost challenge. Because the existing building would impede any developer’s process, the city and any partner it has would have to pay exorbitant construction premiums.

“It's a structure within a structure,” Svec said. “You probably haven't been to a lot of those sites because they generally don't exist, because there's a lot of issues … fundamental issues on why building a structure within a structure is extremely challenging.”

Site remediation would cost $10 million, a new YMCA would cost between $35 million and $70 million, a new library between $13 million and $39 million, a parking structure between $10.5 million and $31.5 million, and additional construction premiums would cost about $16.4 million, equalling out to an average cost of $126 million.

On the other end of the scale, the least expensive option would only cost $5 million for rehabilitation, $25 million for a renovation of the current YMCA building (which would incorporate all of the other aspects of the community hub already discussed within it), and $13 million for the library.

Crucially, that option would be a departure from what has previously been discussed for the site. Before, the general understanding was that the Y would relocate to the superstructure, but Svec said it would be more cost effective to have it remain in its current, uncontaminated building and do a top to bottom renovation.

“Part of the original idea was to swap land with the YMCA,” Svec said. “Give them contaminated land, you take the uncontaminated land, you build housing there. All of this is billions of dollars spent just to trade title. So perhaps a way to do it is to utilize the existing land, minimization of remediation costs, and the efficiencies of combining community assets like a YMCA community facility and a library facility.

“And when you combine those things, it's one desk, it's one set of washrooms, it's one set of community rooms,” Svec went on to say. “You've got a lot of efficiencies by combining two concepts into one, and a ton of structural and environmental efficiency by using something that is currently working today.”

Svec said one option for the superstructure would be to demolish two thirds of it and retain the middle third for an indoor, open-air park or community gathering space. With the space freed up around it, surface parking or a parking structure and more housing could be built.

As Svec said, the two price tags he and Wang presented that day represented two ends of a spectrum. Neither of them were endorsing one particular avenue over another and city council can ultimately decide what exactly needs to be done to the superstructure and surrounding site, including a combination of both options.

In between the two bookends presented that day, there are more options for the committee and council to decide on.

One other detail Svec mentioned during his presentation was that if council wished to demolish the building outright, in theory the cost would be effectively $0. The price of the scrap metal of the superstructure would offset all of the labour costs – though Svec stressed that was just in theory.

Mayor Martin Ritsma, who sits on the committee, stressed that council should be shown these figures as soon as possible and expressed that the findings were “sobering.”

“It's a big shift from what we've envisioned in the past 40 years,” Ritsma said.

While some of the committee members also expressed how sobering the numbers were, there were others who were optimistic about what they mean for the project.

Interim chief administrative officer Adam Betteridge said that from an administrative point of view, the findings Svec and Wang presented were actionable and something that city staff could work with, which is something needed for keeping such a big project on the rails.

“At the end of the day, it might not be what any of us might have been envisioning, and we all have that in our minds, but this is something we can move forward with,” Betteridge stated.

Moving forward, Svec advised that the committee and council should finalize a singular vision for the superstructure so that builders thinking about purchasing and developing the land surrounding it can be assured that there is a timeline and a vision for the major cornerstone of the area.

Put into a four-step process, Svec advised that a development concept be evaluated and selected by July 2025, that the concept is tested and a “go to market strategy” be created by the fall of 2025, that market sounding where selected developers are interviewed is conducted by winter 2025, and that finally a market expression of interest be finally launched in the spring of 2026.