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2022-06-09 Growth Committee Agenda Packet - Open SessionCity of Saint John Growth Committee - Open Session AGENDA Thursday, June 9, 2022 11:00 am 2nd Floor Common Council Chamber, City Hall 1. Call to Order Pages 1.1. Saint John Theatre Company Funding Request Recommendation 1 - 44 _fir17J -HIJ GROWTH COMMITTEE REPORT M&C No. Click here to enter text Report Date June 01, 2022 Meeting Date June 09, 2022 Service Area Growth and Community Services Chair Joanna Killen and Members of the Growth Committee SUBJECT: Saint John Theatre Company Sydney Street Courthouse Project Funding Request AUTHORIZATION Primary Author Commissioner/Dept. Head City Manager Phil Ouellette Jacqueline Hamilton I John Collin RECOMMENDATIONS Staff recommend that Growth Committee adopt the following for Common Council's consideration: 1. The City of Saint John contribute $418,000 from the Discover Saint John reserve fund into the Saint John Theatre Company's Sydney Street Courthouse project (as outlined in Attachment #1 of this report) conditional upon: a. The successful approval of a building permit with the City of Saint John. b. The City of Saint John having the ability to complete a financial audit of Saint John Theatre Company. c. The initiation of Saint John Theatre Company's public fundraising campaign for the Sydney Street Courthouse project. d. Agreement from the Saint John Theatre Company to submit an outcomes report on the Sydney Street Courthouse project and public fundraising program to the City of Saint John by December 2022. e. The City's financial investment to be protected by any significant scope or design alteration to the Saint John Theatre Company's Sydney Street Courthouse project (as outlined in Attachment #1 of this report). f. The City of Saint John is recognized as sponsor to the Saint John Theatre Company's Sydney Street Courthouse project. g. Approval from Saint John Theatre Company and the City of Saint John on a funding agreement outlining the terms of the funding relationship for this project. 1 -2- 2. The City of Saint John contribute a maximum of $100,000/annually starting in 2023 from the City's operating budget to the Saint John Theatre Company's Sydney Street Courthouse project (as outlined in Attachment #1 of this report) conditional on the same conditions outlined in recommendation (1) of this report in addition to: a. The initiation of construction for the Saint John Theatre Company's Sydney Street Courthouse project. b. Agreement from the Saint John Theatre Company to submit an outcomes report on the Sydney Street Courthouse project and public fundraising program to the City of Saint John each year during the four-year funding commitment. 3. Direct the City Manager to draft a funding agreement outlining the terms of the funding relationship for the Sydney Street Courthouse project (as outlined in Attachment #1 of this report) between the City of Saint John and the Saint John Theatre Company, as partially outlined in recommendations (1) and (2) of this report, and to seek adoption of the funding agreement with Common Council. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On April 261h, 2022, the Saint John Theatre Company ("SJTC") submitted a package of information to Common Council, which outlines their Sydney Street Courthouse expansion project and an economic impact assessment from Envision Saint John (see Attachment #1). The SJTC is requesting $1 million from the City of Saint John to support their approximate $20 million project. To facilitate the Growth Committee's consideration of the SJTC's financial request to the City of Saint John, staff facilitated an initial discussion with Growth Committee to collect initial feedback on the project and its association with Council Priorities 2021-2026. While Growth Committee, and Common Council, should balance the financial request from SJTC with the various other priority investments on this Council's horizon, this report recommends a total investment of $818,000 to the SJTC project. Staff's assessment of the SJTC proposal incorporates three evaluation categories, including: strategic alignment, economic impact, and community impact. Staff's assessment concludes that there is important value in the City's financial support to this project. Staff's recommendation to fund this project acknowledges the uniqueness of this important project which differentiates it from other community projects, including: 1. The City has a one-time funding envelop from the termination of Discover Saint John which aligns with the outcomes of the SJTC project. K -3- 2. The development of the SJTC's Sydney Street Courthouse project supports the fulfillment of various municipal strategies and plans. 3. The City's investment will not only kick-off SJTC's public fundraising campaign, but also help unlock the completion of this project and the over $17 million in successfully or tentatively fundraised contributions. As a courtesy, the recommendation and assessment outlined in this report was shared with the leadership of SJTC. Feedback received from SJTC was used to refine the recommendations found in this report. PREVIOUS RESOLUTION On May 2nd, 2022, Common Council referred a package received from Saint John Theater Company to Growth Committee for its evaluation and recommendation. REPORT Background On April 261h, 2022, the Saint John Theatre Company ("SJTC") submitted a package of information to Common Council, which outlined the details of the Sydney Street Courthouse expansion project. The package also included a financial ask to the City of Saint John and an economic impact assessment from Envision Saint John. Common Council referred the package to Growth Committee and invited the SJTC to present directly to the Committee on May 101h, 2022. To facilitate the Growth Committee's consideration of SJTC's financial request, staff has prepared an evaluation of the opportunity and a recommendation for the Committee's consideration. Overview of Project The Sydney Street Courthouse project was the first tier three heritage infill project approved by Common Council under the new Heritage Bylaw. The quality and thoughtfulness of the design also recently received a City of Saint John Heritage Award, which celebrated the design's ability to conserve existing architectural features all while introducing new modern design. The project will seek to update the existing courthouse building in addition to building a primarily glass addition on the east side of the existing building. As described in the attached SJTC package, the project envisions the introduction of a "250+ seat state-of-the-art performance venue" and to "support world -class talent to perform and create in our community fuel economic growth in our community." There are several reasons to pursue such a project according to SJTC, including that "there is a critical gap in the cultural infrastructure of our city for hosting mid -size theatre productions in our uptown core". The project is estimated to cost $20 million, which SJTC has successfully or tentatively fundraised through private sector, public outreach, federal and K3 -4- provincial funding. According to their package of information, SJTC is experiencing a $1.5 to $3 million shortfall to achieve their fundraising objectives. The City of Saint John has received a request to invest $1,000,000 in the project, with an opportunity to contribute incrementally over three to five years. The financial contribution from the City of Saint John is expected to kick-off SJTC's public fundraising campaign to raise the last remaining shortfall for the project. Project Evaluation To build a recommendation, staff has decided to use three broad categories to evaluate the merits of the project and whether it should be considered for City of Saint John funding. The three categories are: strategic alignment, economic impact, and community impact. STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT The first critical consideration in evaluating the merits of this project is to demonstrate that the project aligns with the City's pre-existing strategies and plans. This project has strong linkages to three of the core categories from Council Priorities 2021-2026, including: 1. Grow — This project (as will be reviewed more thoroughly in the economic impact section), is designed to contribute to labor market, GDP growth and direct economic impact for local business and hotels, in addition to the City's broader efforts to attract and retain visitors and residents. 2. Green — One of the most effective ways of reducing our communities carbon footprint is to seek creative re -uses of unused buildings and repurposing them to offer new value to the community. The construction plans for this building is to achieve net -neutral carbon emissions, which is a significant undertaking and hold the potential of being a catalyst for other developments to do the same in our community. 3. Belong — Saint John continues to expand on its quality -of -life offering and the introduction of an expanded SJTC facility will invite a new level of arts and culture integration into our community. The project also places considerable linkages to the Secondary Plan for the Central Peninsula ("SPCP"), which was adopted by Common Council in 2020. The SPCP identifies handful of key "growth concepts" for the Central Peninsula, which are identified as catalytic areas for development, and one of those areas identified in SPCP is the King Square area where the old courthouse is located. The old courthouse has remained a vacant building for several years, and SJTC's decision to introduce new investment and new use to the building upholds the broader vision of the City's community planning strategies to introduce creative re -use of existing buildings, preserving existing character, and welcoming new value to the community. In fact, the SPCP identifies the courthouse as an "iconic and historic building" that support the framing of the square, and policy U-1 of the SPCP calls CI -5- on Council to "reinforce King Square as the heart of the Central Peninsula," which includes "filling in the gaps and encouraging redevelopment." As it relates to the heritage facets of this proposed development, the SPCP calls for "prominent heritage buildings to inform new, contemporary built form elements and infill opportunities." In policy BD-16 of the SPCP, Council is called - upon to "protect the communityvalue of built heritage through administering the infill development process outlined in the Heritage Conservation Areas By-law ensuring development is compatible with the existing character of heritage areas while providing flexibility for high quality, modern architecture." The quality of design proposed through the Sydney Street Courthouse, mixing the conservation of the existing facility, and introducing modern infill design for the east portion of the property would be a testament to the City's commitment to heritage preservation and the progressiveness of our new heritage infill standards. This project is also highly aligned with Plan SJ, the City's municipal plan, including the following sections: • Policy AC-5: "Encourage the concentration of arts and cultural organizations, venues and facilities in the Uptown while providing for community -based arts and cultural activities and events in all areas of the City." • Policy AC-11: "Facilitate and promote the provision of a range of local venues, facilities and events that support a flourishing arts and cultural sector." • Policy AC-35: "Support the recognition, protection and promotion of important cultural landscapes, historic sites, designated heritage places, aboriginal sites, and archaeological resources, in partnership with the Government of New Brunswick, through the tools enabled by the New Brunswick Heritage Conservation Act and through working with other levels of government to improve public access to and awareness of these community assets." • Policy LU-18: "Ensure the Uptown is a vibrant urban environment that welcomes entertainment, dining opportunities, arts and cultural venues and events, and other people -oriented uses." • Policy LU-20: "Ensure new construction in the Uptown is sensitive to its historic surroundings and neighborhood context; however, modern expressions of architecture in the Uptown will also be encouraged." In addition to the above -mentioned plans and strategies, the proposed Sydney Street Courthouse also aligns with the current draft of the City of Saint John Strategic Plan, which sets a goal to "value a city that pulsates with life through 61 -6- arts, culture, recreation, education, employment, innovation, diversity, and population growth." Further, the current draft Strategic Plan identifies the following strategic objective: "foster new partnerships to ensure Saint John remains an arts and culture destination." The Sydney Street Courthouse projects demonstrates very strong linkages to the City's major strategies and plans, and in some cases, would directly contribute to desired outcomes from these strategies and plans. This project could not score much higher on the broad outcomes sought -out for the Central Peninsula, arts and culture, new urban offerings in the City's commercial core, green construction and building meaningful employment for the City's creative class. COMMUNITY IMPACT Before proceeding with an assessment on "community impact" it is important to acknowledge that the ability to evaluate quality -of -life offerings is not as streamlined, defined and evident as evaluating strategic alignment and economic impact. This is not restricted to this project, as the City of Saint John itself struggles to inform the public of the value and impact of its own quality -of -life offerings and services, as the determination of such value and impact require a comprehensive analysis and clarity on what precisely is meant by community value (which falls outside the scope of this assessment and report). According to the documentation shared by SJTC, the Sydney Street Court House project is expected to offer new community value, offerings, and contributions to "Saint John residents and visitors, including: • Host over 1000 performances and special events in the new Facility in the first 5 years. • Host between 200-300 master classes with visiting and local artists in the new Facility per year. • Host over 100,000 visitors from across Atlantic Canada and beyond per year. The project is expected to enhance the development and delivery of "outreach programming to schools and community groups across New Brunswick, contributing to school curriculums and enhancing the cultural infrastructure and offerings in communities across New Brunswick through both in -person tours of ARC and SJTC productions, as well as livestreaming into classrooms, churches, community centers and private homes." This includes a partnership with UNB Saint John for two accredited courses. The development of the Sydney Street Courthouse expansion project will offer a tremendous contribution to new and enhanced arts and culture offerings in the Saint John community, both for those who participate in delivering arts and C.1 -7- culture programming and for those who value such offerings as participants and spectators. The proposed expanded programming from SJTC would contribute to the City's overall quality -of -life offerings, which in turn builds on the bond and connectivity between participants and the physical, cultural and artistic places found within the City. As mentioned previously, an important facet of the SJTC project is to achieve net - neutral carbon emissions, which also contributes to the project's "minimum" impact on the community in terms of its carbon footprint. The decision for SJTC to pursue such environmental standards is part of the broader value proposition of this initiative and highlights how additional programming can be offered through a lens of environmental sustainability. In turn, this project seeks to creative re- uses of an existing vacant building, instead of seeking to demolish and rebuild a new building, which further minimizes the environmental impact of this project. There are some hints of the City's own characterization of community value and impact through its own programs and services. Through the City's recreation user fees, PRO Kids, Community Services offerings, among others, the City does identify seniors, youth and marginalized residents as individuals that require more tailored services, and in some instances, additional municipal subsidization. While still a work -in -progress, the City also acknowledges that there are needed improvements in our collective efforts towards equity, diversity, and inclusion, including our collective efforts towards Truth and Reconciliation. According to the submitted documentation from SJTC, the organization reserves and distributes several complementary tickets "through a network of community partners to children, students, and marginalized members of our community," including: the Crescent Valley Tenants Association, the Saint John Learning Exchange, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, and AIDS Saint John. Accordingly, SJTC is seeking to expand on these opportunities with its new facility. The SJTC also "collaborate directly with specific community partners at least twice per yearto put on specific educational productions about our community's history or social issues, including the following past partnerships: the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum, the SJ Free Public Library, Saint John Pride, the ALS Society, Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Red Cross 'Beyond the Hurt (anti - bullying) program." Summary of Assessment: COMMUNITY IMPACT The community impact of the Sydney Street Court House project is an important factor in determining the City's commitment towards the project. This project will enhance the City's overall arts and culture landscape, including those employed in the field, additional events, educational opportunities, and a unique service offering for Saint John, the region, Atlantic Canada and visitors. SJTC has a track record of supporting marginalized communities through its programming, and the plans presented through the Sydney Street Courthouse project continues with this commitment. From staff's perspective, the r� -8- introduction of the SJTC's project will inject new life in the arts and culture community and the overall vibrancy of the City of Saint John. ECONOMIC IMPACT According to the economic impact assessment completed by Envision Saint John and the documentation shared by SJTC, this project is expected to yield the following outcomes: • Construction will represent a $18-20 million injection into the local economy over the next two years. • Over 200 jobs will be created (through construction and once operations begin). • Over $9.5 M of labor income impacts from construction. • Over $1.2 M of annual labor income impacts from operations. • Over $15 M GDP impact from construction. • Over $1.5 M annual GDP impact from operations. In addition, based on a 100,000 visitor per year assessment, with 5% of said visitors seeking overnight room rentals, it is projected that the average spend with overnight stay is approximately $937,500/annually. In addition, it is expected that the remaining 95%of visitors (who will not seek room rentals) will inject additional spending in Saint John for pre- and post -event activities, including drinks, meals, additional events, etc. These 95% of visitors are expected to invest an additional $4.75M/annually towards local businesses. The documentation submitted by SJTC identifies a variety of other economic impacts of this project that are much more difficult to evaluate, including population growth, large scale events and spin-off benefit from the concentration of arts and culture organizations in the City's Central Peninsula. As mentioned previously, staff agree with SJTC's claim that this project will contributor to the City's ongoing efforts to build a strong value proposition for visitors and residents, which will in turn support, to some degree, broader efforts around population retention and recruitment, and spin-off economic activity. Most importantly as it relates to the City of Saint John, this project is not expected to yield any new tax base growth, as it is a facility that the Government of New Brunswick exempts from property taxation. This points to an important balance for the City of Saint John, as tax base growth is without doubt the most tangible economic indicator for Canadian municipal governments (as most of their revenue is derived from tax base growth). However, the City also places considerable value on community impact and alignment in its evaluation of community investments, but community impact and alignment are more difficult to measure and evaluate compared to economic impact. Summary of Assessment: ECONOMIC IMPACT E:3 -9- The Sydney Street Courthouse projects demonstrates weaker direct financial benefit to the City of Saint John but does point to some modest economic gains achieved by local businesses because of construction, visitors and future operations. This project can be expected to contribute to the broader effort of population recruitment and retention and invite spin-off benefits, but the extent to which this project will do so is not fully defined at this time. Expenditure Considerations City staff did engage with the SJTC over the past weeks and months on their proposal, and staff shared that a request of $1 million to the City of Saint John was too ambitious of a financial commitment when considering the City's current financial capacity and the volume of its possible financial investments. For these reasons, staff's preliminary recommendation to Growth Committee earlier in 2022 included a proposal that the City contribute $400,000 to the project, versus the $1 million requested by SJTC. However, the feedback received from Growth Committee members highlighted the importance of this project as it relates to, among others: the fulfillment of Council Priorities 2021-2026, the importance of arts and culture for the community, and the potential of spin-off benefits associated with this significant addition to Saint John. This additional arts and culture program offering in Saint John would further the City's reputation as the arts and culture destination in Atlantic Canada. Growth Committee's feedback invited a reconsideration of the initial staff recommendation, which equated to a larger proposed financial contribution to the project. One of the important considerations in the City's evaluation of this project is the Council approved Capital Budget Policy that restricts the City of Saint John's ability to fund capital projects that are not owned by the City of Saint John. The City's financial support to this project could however occur through an Operating Budget grant towards SJTC. The City does have a long history of offerings grants to non- profit organizations in the community to improve on their ability to deliver new and improved services to the Saint John community. Staff has reviewed various internal funding options to support this project, and propose the following: Discover - The City holds $418,000 in operating Saint John reserves from the wind-up of Discover Saint Reserve Fund John. - When Envision Saint John was conceived, the City undertook a wind-up exercise of the prior local economic development agencies, including Discover Saint John, which in turn, required these organizations Staff believe this is the best financial option when considering the SJTC's proposal. -10- to return any unspent funds to the funders of their organizations. - These funds would have historically been used to support destination marketing, place branding and strategic tourism projects to support the volume of visitors and the broader appeal of the City of Saint John (for residents and non-residents). - There are no existing parameters or criteria established to inform the distribution of this reserve fund, as it only recently was received by the City of Saint John by the now terminated Discover Saint John Board of Directors. Operating - In addition to an investment from the Staff believe Budget Grant Discover Saint John reserve fund, the City this is the best should consider making additional smaller financial option annual contributions to the project over when various years, to meet an overall larger considering the contribution to the project, without having SJTC's proposal. to make a more significant investment over one fiscal year. Recommendation After assessing SJTC's proposal across the three assessment categories of alignment, economic and community impact, and investigating various funding mechanism within the City, staff believes there is value in the City of Saint John to make a contribution of $818,000 to SJTC's Sydney Street Courthouse project. While staff acknowledge that the projected economic impact of this project is modest, the strength of the project's alignment with the City's long-term strategies and plans is impressive. The overall community impact remains difficult to fully evaluate, however, it is fair to conclude that this project will have a lasting impact on the arts and culture landscape in Saint John and will contribute to the additional offerings in our community and the City's overall vibrancy. Staff acknowledge that this funding request and the City's contribution to this project is a unique scenario, which differentiates this community funding request from others that have been received in the past and those funding requests that will occur in the future. The reasons SJTC's funding request is unique include: 1. The City has a one-time funding envelope from the termination of Discover Saint John which is currently being held by the City to support transformational investments to support tourism and destination marketing. 2. The development of the SJTC's Sydney Street Courthouse project supports the fulfillment of various municipal strategies and plans, including: iM -11- Secondary Plan for the Central Peninsula, PlanSJ, the draft City of Saint John Strategic Plan, and Council Priorities 2021-2026. 3. The City's investment will not only kick-off SJTC's public fundraising campaign, but also help unlock the completion of this project and the over $17 million in successfully or tentatively fundraised contributions to this project from private sector, public outreach, federal and provincial donors. Staff recommend that the City of Saint John make an immediate commitment of $418,000 from the Discover Saint John reserve fund into the SJTC's Sydney Street Courthouse project in order to help kick-off SJTC's public fundraising campaign. This initial commitment is conditional on the following (all of which will be integrated into a funding agreement between the City of Saint John and the SJTC): • The successful approval of building permit with the City of Saint John. • The City having the ability to audit the books of Saint John Theatre Company. • The initiation of SJTC's public fundraising campaign. • The submission of a project outcomes report to the City of Saint John by December 2022. • The project scope and design has not changed significantly from those shared with the City in May 2022. • The City is recognized as a sponsor in the project. • Approval from SJTC and the City of Saint John on a funding agreement outlining the terms of the funding relationship for this project. Staff are also recommending contribution of a maximum of $100,000/annually from 2023 until 2026 from the City's annual operating budget. The same conditions for the initial $418,000 also apply to the $100,000 in annual funding, in addition to the following (all of which will be integrated into a funding agreement between the City of Saint John and the SJTC): • The initiation of construction for the SJTC's Sydney Street Courthouse project. • The submission of a project outcomes report to the City of Saint John for each year of the four-year funding commitment. STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT See "Report" section. SERVICEAND FINANCIAL OUTCOMES See "Report" section. 11 -12- INPUT FROM OTHER SERVICE AREAS AND STAKEHOLDERS This report was supported by the City Manager's Office, the General Counsel's Office, and the Growth and Community Services team. ATTACHMENTS Package submitted by Saint John Theatre Company and included in the May 2nd Common Council open session agenda packet 12 S A I N T-'&V41 0 H N THEATRE COMPANY April 26, 2022 Mayor & Common Council The City of Saint John Dear Madam Mayor & Councillors, As many of you know, for more than 30 years, the Saint John Theatre Company (SJTC) has served as an arts and culture catalyst, community educator, and creative hub in the Greater Saint John Community, across Southern New Brunswick, and more recently on the international stage. Driven by our mission to support and grow the theatre industry and the arts and culture sector in our city, in our Province, and across Atlantic Canada, we took our mission further in 2018, by founding the Atlantic Repertory Company (ARC). The ARC has been developed to create meaningful employment and developmental opportunities for young theatre -makers with ties to Atlantic Canada. Our search for a permanent home for this growing educational and professional development arm of SJTC resulted in the transfer of ownership of the Sydney Street Courthouse to the SJTC, and five years of planning to restore this 200-year-old iconic building and transform it to become a much needed, mid -sized theatre venue, and multi -level arts and culture hub in Uptown Saint John. Much has evolved in this project over the last five years. To follow you will find a snapshot of our detailed vision forth is new facility, along with the projected cost of this landmark initiative. Now that this innovative design, blending contemporary design and historical architecture, has been approved by the City's Heritage Board and Common Council, and our designs have even been awarded a Tier 3 Heritage Award by the City, we are ready to move forward with the planning and preparation of the public launch of a Capital Campaign to raise the funds required to build this new facility. As detailed in the enclosed, the total cost of the project was estimated to be $17.9 million when the designs were completed in 2021. However, due to increase in construction costs, and supply change demand, over the last year, our latest estimates have increased by approximately 10%, to bring us closer to a total project cost of between $19.5 — $20 million. So far, $7 million has been secured from various federal and provincial grants, as well as private donations. The remaining Campaign goal is targeted to be between $12.5-13 million, of which $11 million is in proposal to two national corporate brands as well as Infrastructure Canada. We expect to hear on the outcome of these proposals in the coming weeks. As such, we anticipate having approximately $17-18 million of the required $19.5-20 million project cost secured by the fall of this year and are preparing to publicly launch the Capital Campaign at that time, breaking ground on the next phase of construction at the same time. 0 It is worth noting that over 80% of the funds secured and in proposal for this project are from sources outside New Brunswick. Leadership support from the City of Saint John at this critical juncture will confirm that this is a priority project for our community: strengthening our case for support; sending a positive message to potential contributors; and ensure our public launch of this Campaign in the community is an assured success. For this reason, it is our hope that City of Saint John and this Council will consider making an investment of $1,000,000 in the project, pledged overt he next 3 to 5 years, to kick-off our public fundraising effort. We would like to present this proposal to Council in a public session at your earliest convenience. We recognize this level of support would bean exceptional step fort he City, however, pursuant tothe conversations we have had with individual Councillors and Envision Saint John about this project over the past few months, we believe this project is directly aligned with the strategic priorities set forth by the Common Council (summarized below) and will directly help this Council realize its goals set forth in the Growth Committee's Roadmap for Smart Growth. For this reason, we hope you will consider this monumental community project worthy of this level of extraordinary investment and leadership from the Council. IMCI 111611i1I1101M01119:t61M 91INIIA First and foremost, we believe this project is directly in line with the Common Council's priority to grow the population of Saint John, develop and reinforce a strong brand for Saint John, and work with partners to create opportunities that attract and grow businesses in the uptown core. As explained further in the attached, this project will complete the development on the City's historic King's Square. Turning a vacant, abandoned heritage asset into a cultural destination for members of the Saint John community, New Brunswickers, and the rest of the world to enjoy. Based on our initial business planning, once opened in the Fall of 2024, we expect to do the following over the first 5 years of operations: • Host over 1000 performances and special events in the new Facility in the first 5 years. • Host between 200-300 master classes with visiting and local artists in the new Facility per year. • Host over 100,000 visitors from across Atlantic Canada and beyond per year. There are significant direct and in -direct economic benefits of this activity for the City of Saint John and businesses in the uptown core and beyond. First of all, the construction project will represent a $18-20 million injection into the local economy over the next two years. The result of this will draw tens of thousands of visitors, locally, and from beyond Saint John, into our uptown core becoming patrons of retailers and restaurants and creating a vibrant feel to the square. As outlined in Envision Saint John's presentation on the economic outputs of this project, we are estimating at this project will result in: • Over 200 jobs being created (through construction and once operations begin). • Over $9.5 M of labour income impacts from construction. • Over $1.2 M of annual labour income impacts from operations. • Over $15 M GDP impact from construction. • Over $1.5 M annual GDP impact from operations. -2- In addition, the new cultural amenity in the uptown core will make the City of Saint John increasingly attractive to young professionals seeking an urban lifestyle. With the increasing shift to remote work, Saint John has become an increasingly attractive option for migrating professionals to consider and adding to the cultural amenities in the uptown core will only increase our city's attractiveness to this population group; as migrating professionals see that our city will offer the same access to arts and cultural as available in the larger urban centre, but with a superior quality of life. 2. CREATING A VIBRANT CITY, CULTIVATING COMMUNITY PRIDE, AND BELONGING We also believe this project is in direct alignment with Common Council's priority to create a vibrant city and cultivate community pride by promoting and investing in beautification projects, arts, culture, and heritage. The unique design of this facility— restoring and showcasing a designated National Historic Site of Canada, blended with a state-of-the-art contemporary design that pays homage to the original neo-classical design of the courthouse, will catapult the City's streetscape to a new level of architectural modernity and showcasing. The new cultural asset will also usher in a new wave of artistic collaborations in the city and across Atlantic Canada. Right now, there is a critical gap in the cultural infrastructure of our city for hosting mid -size theatre productions in our uptown core. This gap will be filled by the new venue. In addition, there is a critical gap in stable employment opportunities for theatre makers and performing arts professionals (set designers, technicians, sound engineers, actors, writers, etc.) in New Brunswick. Discussions are already underway with the Imperial Theatre and Theatre New Brunswick about how this new Facility could partner with them to fill that gap, providing short-term and long-term employment opportunities for local professionals that would otherwise need to migrate to larger city centres like Toronto and to pursue their craft. And finally, this new facility will provide a home base and production studio for the growing educational arm of the SJTC to continue to develop and deliver its outreach programming to schools and community groups across New Brunswick, contributing to school curriculums and enhancing the cultural infrastructure and offerings in communities across New Brunswick through both in -person tours of ARC and SJTC productions, as well as live - streaming into classrooms, churches, community centres and private homes. As you will read in the attached information about the SJTC's 30-year track record in Saint John, we believe the Theatre Company exists to serve the people of Saint John. As such, with every performance we reserve and distribute a number of complementary tickets through a network of community partners to children, students, and marginalized members of our community. In recent years (prior to COVID-19 disruptions) this has included: the Crescent Valley Tenants Association, the Saint John Learning Exchange, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, and AIDS Saint John. This community outreach program will only grow with the opportunities presented by the new facility. We also collaborate directly with specific community partners at least twice per year to put on specific educational productions about our community's history or social issues. Past partners have included: the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum, the SJ Free Public Library, Saint John Pride, the ALS Society, Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Red Cross 'Beyond the Hurt (anti -bullying) program. Relative to the Courthouse Project, the team has created a committee tasked with First Nations Consultations. Meetings with First Nations Leaders throughout NB are ongoing as we work to find ways to include Indigenous voices in the facility. -3- 0 Examples from this season include: • We Were Here: developed by Artist in Residence, Clyde A. Wray. This project highlighted the lives of leading members of the Saint John Black Community. PRUDE and the Black History Society were instrumental in facilitating the research for this project. First performed in February of 2021, this project was live streamed via CBC Gem, CBC Atlantic, and the SJTC digital broadcast networks. In 2022, this project was re -broadcast directly into school classrooms throughout NB and was viewed by over 5000 students. • D.Ramadan: highlighting aspects of the local Islamic Community in partnership with YMCA Newcomer Connections . Originally scheduled for March 2022, this project was delayed by COVID-19 and will now be showcased in May at the BMO Studio Theatre. • The Normal Heart: will form the basis of our annual Pride Community Partnership which has been ongoing since 2008. This project, which deals with the early days of the AIDS crisis, will be presented at the BMO Studio Theatre in June in partnership with Chroma NB. These are just a few highlights of the extraordinary benefits this project has for the City of Saint John and alignment with the Council's outlined priorities. To give you a sense of enthusiasm and support already garnered for this project, you can view a video we have put together to describe the project at: https://youtu.be/9uxc7girxEU. At this stage we believe it is vitally important that the City of Saint John publicly demonstrate that this project is a priority for the city; by making a leadership investment and paving the way for other local philanthropic leaders to support this ambitious community initiative. We hope you see that this monumental project, leveraging our rich architectural heritage, to re -ignite creativity, community pride and economic vitality in our great City and Province, especially after such a challenging two years, is worthy of this level of extraordinary investment and leadership. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss this request with the Council, in person, at your earliest convenience. 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