New Name for Centre

PORT of NANAIMO CENTRE

The love it or hate it convention centre is being given a new name as the result of a $1,000,000.00 gift from the Port Authority. The centre will now be named the Port of Nanaimo Centre. The gift is given to the city from the Port Authority in differing amounts over a ten year period. The claim is that the money does not come from Ottawa, but from the Port Authority to show their support for this project. In related news, apparently the city has entered into yet another agreement with Suro/Millenium to build a hotel adjacent to the centre. This is a scaled down version from the previous 30+ storey tower, to a more modest 20 storey building. The city seems satisfied that entering into another agreement with this same company, which failed in previous bids due to lack of financing; is the best deal available at the present time. Does that sound like a ringing endorsement to you?? Perhaps this is the 'only' deal available at this time. Oh well, love it or hate it, the city of Nanaimo is definitely going to have a convention centre downtown and now it has a new name.