Council revisits Festival Plaza project options as costs balloon to $67M

A staff report highlights that costs have doubled for the Festival Plaza design pitched in 2021, while the architect hired for the project says some stakeholders do not trust the city will be able to build or operate a project this size. 

Windsor council will be asked to decide how the asphalt-covered event space that sits between the Detroit River and Caesars Windsor will be re-imagined on Monday. 

The Festival Plaza site sits vacant for most of the year, with plans to redevelop the space to attract more visitors and events dating back to 2013.

Council most recently paused a pitch to put a canopy over the site along with upgrades to the stage and surrounding area in 2021.

That project came with an estimated cost of $32.5 million that has now doubled nearly three years later. 

A new report to council outlines preliminary cost estimates for three options at Festival Plaza that include:

• $67.2 million to build a permanent canopy that towers 14 metres above Riverside Drive and would accommodate 5,000 people for events along with modular structures for food and retail vendors. It would also include lighting features.
• $48.1 million to build half the canopy to accommodate 2,500 people without modular structures.
• $17.3 million to improve the plaza with green space, lighting and facilities that could support modular structures.

The city has spent a decade working on various plans and conceptual designs for the Festival Plan with a tent-like structure concept approved by council in 2017.

City staff are recommending council go with the third option based on public feedback report prepared for council last February.

That feedback report, completed by the project's architect Partisans, was built off interviews with dozens of community groups as well as a surveys completed by 257 people. 

People don't think the city can deliver the project

The report highlighted that there are community groups who don't belive the city can get the promised project completed and that whatever is completed won't be properly maintained or operated.

"There are a number of concerns about existing maintenance and upkeep of parks and parks facilities today and that the proposal for Festival Plaza would be either subject to similar issues," the architect group wrote in its final report.

Stakeholders told the group that they felt "duped" by the city on previous promises related to the Festival Plaza, including a promise to install a green roof on the theatre which the report says is a feature that was cut from the final project. 

People were also critical of the current Festival Plaza, which sits on the riverfront and features a stage installed in 2011 that faces an open asphalt area two football fields long.

That large area is one of the difficulties with the site, according to the feedback report, with organizers saying that it makes events feel underwhelming or poorly attended if the space isn't filled with people. 

Fees associated with hosting an event at the space were called barriers by stakeholders.

Festival Plaza costs $1,956 a day with a two-day minimum for the prime season between June and October.

It also requires organizers to bring and set up their own washrooms, generators and tents, which can require time to set up preventing one-day events from taking place at the site, according to the report. 

Canopy seen as 'crucial' piece by stakeholders

The lack of green space at Festival Plaza creates a heat island that event organizers say limits the amount of people who go to events. 

A key component of the project's pitch in 2021 was the canopy infrastructure that event organizers highlighted as "crucial" according to the report, because it reduces weather-related risks. 

Rain insurance, according to the feedback received by the group, can increase hosting costs by 35 to 40 per cent.

There are fears from organizers that without the canopy, the event schedule at Festival Plaza would remain the same, according to the report. 

Hart Plaza an example to follow, says councillor

Downtown councillor Renaldo Agostino runs an events company called Element Entertainment and highlighted activating the space as a priority before being elected last year.

He echoed the concerns raised in the report. 

"I may be the person that has used that facility more than anybody else," he said, adding that a "phenomenal" stage pairs with a back drop of Detroit for one of the best venues anywhere. 

"But it's located outside of a parking lot. There's so much more we could do."

He doesn't think the canopy is necessary because appropriate landscaping with large trees would be a more cost effective option.

"All you've got to do is go over to Hart Plaza in Detroit and see what they've got going on there," he said, throwing his support behind option three.

People surveyed highlighted other ideas beyond event based programming, including:

• Fire pits with Muskoka chairs.
• Food trucks.
• Holiday markets.
• Art fairs.

Council will consider the report on Monday at 10 a.m.