Downtown Plaza gets another $250,000

At a special early-morning meeting today, the board of Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. voted to contribute $250,000 to the downtown plaza initiative.

Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services, says $956,000 has been raised so far, with additional prospects on the horizon.

Vair will be at Monday's City Council meeting to provide an update on the project.

He tells SooToday he'll present councillors with three options:

• continue the project as originally designed, with City of Sault Ste. Marie injecting additional cash to make up for funds denied by Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp.
• scaling the project back if needed funds can't be found through fundraising
• a hybrid approach involving removing some components and decreasing the budget

"We started the campaign on Sept. 8," says Vair.

"We have requests out there and conversations going with different companies and individuals."

"Also, there's a smaller funding pool that we'll ask council for approval to apply to through the province, up to $250,000," Vair said.

On Thursday, Soo Mill announced a $50,000 contribution to the plaza project.

Williams and McDaniel Property Management has promised $200,000.

To contribute or learn more about the project, please click here.

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.