The Cape Breton Regional Municipality owns Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S., but feels it might be time to sell the home of The Eagles, the city's Quebec Major Junior Hockey team.
Construction of Cape Breton's largest entertainment centre began in 1985 to celebrate Sydney's bicentennial and opened two years later.
The building has always been in public hands.
“We're looking for a process to determine the pros and cons of selling or keeping Centre 200. In a cash strapped municipality, the building loses in excess of $1 million a year,” said James Edwards, CBRM councillor.
Privatizing the facility will be on the agenda when CBRM councillors meet Tuesday evening.
Edwards brought the idea forward because he feels the municipality can't continue on its current track.
“I did hear from several people who said it's a good idea and we can't afford to be pumping money into the facility all the time. Perhaps there's a better way of doing business,” he said.
The building is in Councillor Eldon MacDonald's district and has recently served as a warming centre for those affected by post-tropical storm Fiona.
It's been a public gathering place in both good times and bad.
MacDonald feels the facility is an asset for the municipality, rather than a financial liability.
“If it falls into private ownership then you still might have an opportunity to utilize it for those things, but it will come at a price to tax payers for the use of that facility,” he said.
It's unclear who, if anybody, would be interested in purchasing Centre 200.
MacDonald says there was a buyer interested about three years ago, but nothing ever developed.
“I think there is homework to be done on how to make this facility more viable, how to generate more activities, how to do a better job at marketing, even the staffing model for the facility. All of that should be open to question,” said Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak.
The CBRM is scheduled to spend a half a million dollars for upgrades to the building over the next two years.
Capital funding from senior levels of government is currently on hold, while a decision on whether to keep or sell the building is made.
