New hotel and convention centre will ‘attract the world to Mississauga’: mayor

Mississauga is seeking a partner to help build a new hotel and convention centre in the downtown core.

City of Mississauga officials said Monday afternoon they’ve opened a Request for Expressions of Interest “to reimagine the Living Arts Centre and its surrounding lands.”

The plan, they added, is to redevelop the city’s largest performing arts and culture facility “into a multi-functional hub for the arts, culture, tourism, business and events.

“The city envisions transforming the lands surrounding the LAC into a modern and sustainable convention centre and hotel designed to bring even more events for the arts, tourism and business sectors,” officials said in a news release.

Initially visualized as an attraction that would rise up on the southeast corner of the Living Arts Centre site to the immediate north of city hall, a new hotel/convention centre is now a project that will occupy three acres of land to both the east and north of the LAC, Mayor Carolyn Parrish told INsauga.com in a recent interview.

A “transformation” of the Living Arts Centre

The city added the “proposed LAC transformation will help Mississauga further solidify its position as a top destination for business, tourism and culture. This development will help fill a gap in Mississauga’s downtown, offering a much-needed venue for world-class conferences and business opportunities while providing a space for international, national and local events as well as cultural showcases.”

The Request for Expressions of Interest is open to organizations interested in partnering with the city to transform the LAC lands. The process will help the city identify the best potential uses for the site, officials said.

“Mississauga’s downtown is growing rapidly and it’s crucial we keep building spaces that match our momentum,” Parrish said in Monday’s news release. “I want to hear from you, our residents, about what matters most as we reimagine the Living Arts Centre and the lands around it. This project is about creating a space that works for our community, supports local businesses and attracts the world to Mississauga. Together, we can build something that reflects our values and strengthens our city for generations to come.”

Christina Kakaflikas, director of Invest Mississauga, the city’s business arm, said “adding a modern convention centre and hotel with versatile meeting space will enable Mississauga to host international and national conferences, help showcase our vibrant city to the world and facilitate business opportunities and connections.”

An “exciting step for the city”

On the tourism front, city officials say the redevelopment will take Mississauga to another level.

“This redevelopment will not only help to attract top tier events and talent, but also will invite visitors from all over, giving people one more reason to come visit Mississauga,” said Victoria Clarke, CEO of Visit Mississauga. “This is an exciting step for the city as it continues to modernize and innovate as a world-class city.”

In an interview last fall, Parrish told INsauga.com of her vision for such an attraction that would bring more people and energy to the City Centre area.

A new hotel and convention centre at that location is a key part of her big plans for a revitalized City Centre. It’s one of several large-scale projects the mayor hopes will come to fruition sooner rather than later.

The idea, Parrish said earlier, is to bring badly needed vibrancy back to the downtown area of Canada’s seventh-largest city.

Bigger plans to “fix the downtown”

Dozens of highrises, both condos and offices, tower over Square One, the Mississauga Civic Centre (city hall), Hazel McCallion Central Library, numerous restaurants and the LAC.

But something important is missing, observed Mississauga’s mayor, who speaks of her dream to “fix the downtown” by making it a more welcoming destination.

“The downtown is boring. We have nothing exciting going on here until the festivals start (in spring and summer),” she said last fall. “The City Centre has languished for a very long time; nothing’s happened here.”

The city is also moving forward with plans to add some 560 new seats to the Main Auditorium in the Living Arts Centre in an effort to bring bigger and better acts to downtown Mississauga.

As she looks to spearhead a revitalization of the downtown area, Parrish also envisions a 7,500-seat soccer stadium — at an estimated cost of $32 million — and an urban school that would house kindergarten-to-Grade 8 students in the not-so-distant future.