MARATHON – The estimated cost of a Marathon Active Living Centre has increased due to “soft costs,” Mayor Rick Dumas said Monday.
Total cost of the multi-use facility always was “a moving target,” he said, adding that the soft costs include design engineering, the tendering process and consultants.
The estimated total capital cost is now $77.5 million instead of $65 million, but “that’s reality today because of the cost of everything,” he said.
“That (earlier estimate) was not including all those outside soft costs, and we’ve also built the contingencies in there.”
He said the town is “hoping to bring that (total cost) down with the overall package tender and see what it looks like in the new year.”
Marathon likely will submit an application for provincial infrastructure program funding “sometime this week,” Dumas told Newswatch.
An application to the federal Green Municipal Fund for $35 million was sent last month.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu told Newswatch last week that Marathon has her support as it seeks federal funding.
“I’ve been working with the mayor of Marathon on a potential route towards getting some of the shortfall covered through federal investment,” Patty Hajdu said Friday.
Dumas said the project also has the support of Lise Vaugeois and Kevin Holland, the members of provincial parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North and Thunder Bay-Atikokan respectively.
Holland, a member of government caucus and cabinet, has been valuable in “bringing our message to the provincial government,” Dumas said.
The town “will continue to work with those people and see if we can get some major traction over the next several months,” he added.
Designs for the two-storey Marathon Active Living Centre building include a lap pool, a leisure pool, a hockey rink, changing rooms, a gym, a seniors room, bowling lanes and gallery exhibit space.
Space for pickleball, basketball, a playground and other features is allocated for exterior grounds.
A former mill property on the shore of Lake Superior has been designated as the facility’s future site.
The town hopes to have construction begin next year for completion in 2028.