VIDEO: Our $11.6M downtown plaza has no name

EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article originally appeared on Sootoday on Aug. 12. It is being republished here — along with drone footage of the soon-to-be completed plaza — for readers who may have missed it.

Construction on Sault Ste. Marie's controversial downtown plaza is nearing completion, but so far it has no name.

"I was just wondering if we can look at some sort of title sponsorship for the plaza, for a naming thing as either funds generation or a longtime maintenance contract?" Jacob Rendell asked at a meeting of Downtown Association directors this week.

"I know a lot of other nonprofits, when they build new facilities, do that type of thing," Rendell said.

"At this point there is no name for the plaza so far," said Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo.

"It's still being referred to at city hall as the plaza, so the downtown plaza, but I wouldn't be surprised if in years to come, in a bit of time, that changed," Caputo said.

Caputo said she asked senior city staff whether a naming sponsor had been found.

"The direction I received was that we may want to wait to see who uses it, what the city does with the plaza before we jump into naming it ahead of completing it."

"That being said, I'm not certain that we're looking for a title sponsor. But I don't think that's off the table," Caputo told the meeting.

Paul Scornaienchi, the association's vice chair, said the city hasn't been seeking sponsors for individual features of the plaza like benches.

"I'm not sure if there's anything that says that you can't, but I do know most investors are not interested in doing that anyway.

"They're looking at the volume of individuals that they know the plaza will attract and how they could they could make that whole experience that much better with what they can offer," Scornaienchi said.

Director Angela Romano said the word 'plaza' is sometimes confusing people who associate that word with shopping plazas.

"People think automatically shopping only," Romano said. 

"And I think we should really point out that it's meant to be a gathering space.... I think we almost need to move away from that concept per se."

Other members suggest the word 'piazza' might be a better fit.

City council is expected to receive an update on the expected completion date of the plaza construction at its next meeting on Aug. 28.