The year 2025 marked the year the event centre and Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square projects finally hit a point at which it’d be extremely unlikely they did not proceed to completion.
It was also the year the city approved a sanctioned encampment at Energy Court in downtown Sudbury and several new managers joined staff at city hall.
Although the old hospital on Paris Street is located on private land owned by Panoramic Properties, city council approved the rezoning for a residential development on the property, incentivized the company to tear down the crumbling building and Mayor Paul Lefebvre publicly called for its demolition. As such, we consider it another city council news highlight from 2025.
The following is a breakdown of the top few Greater Sudbury city council news stories from 2025, as selected by Sudbury.com.
Event centre and Cultural Hub projects break ground
With various contracts signed and groundwork underway, the city’s $200-million event centre and $65-million library/art gallery projects both kicked off in earnest this year.
Although both projects were approved by city council in past years (the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square in 2023 and the events centre in 2024), 2025 marked the probable point of no return.
This, after almost reaching this stage with previous arena and library/art gallery proposals.
City council members have approved past library and events centre plans, only to yank said approvals at the 11th hour. In the case of the Kingsway Entertainment District (prior event centre proposal), the previous city council went as far as to greenlight site preparation work, which was paused at the last minute after partners pulled out council cancelled funding.
In the case of the library/art gallery project, the previous city council approved the $98.5-million Junction East project in 2022, only to have a newly elected city council change course by shaving $33.5 million from the budget in early 2023, which effectively killed the project as proposed.
With a new downtown events centre to replace the Kingsway Entertainment District proposal, and the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square replacing Junction East, the current city council set a new course for both projects.
The difference this time around is that both projects have broken ground, and there’s little chance either does not proceed to completion.
In September, schematics were released for the downtown events centre, at which time Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti said it’s “full steam ahead.”
The area has since been fenced off and groundwork is underway, with foundation work anticipated to begin this winter “a substantial amount of steel” should be in place by this time next year to create the building’s frame, city Strategic Projects lead Tony Cecutti told city council members in September.
Although Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc has stood up as the lone city council member now opposed to the event centre project, and has pledged to make it a campaign issue in advance of the Oct. 26, 2026, civic election, pulling out of the project at that time would be a costly course of action (city spokespeople declined to give Sudbury.com any indication regarding how much pulling out at that stage would cost, but that $2.2 million had been spent by Aug. 31, plus approximately $20 million on land and building demolitions).
As for the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square project, PCL Construction was selected as the construction manager in June, and on Oct. 20, city council and committee meetings shifted from council chambers to the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda to make way for construction.
(PCL Construction is also leading the event centre build.)
The Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square is anticipated to open in late 2027, while the event centre is expected to open in 2028.
The Cultural Hub project consists of relocating various municipal offices from 200 Brady St. to the upper floor of the adjoining 199 Larch St. to the north, to make room for a new main branch library and other community services at 200 Brady St. A new Art Gallery of Sudbury would fill out the bottom four storeys of 199 Larch St.
The event centre is to be located directly east of the existing Sudbury Community Arena (which it will replace and potentially trigger the demolition of), with fixed seating for 5,800 people (a boost for the Sudbury Community Arena’s current 4,470).
Sanctioned encampment downtown
Homelessness and the city’s largely unfunded $350-million plan to end homelessness by 2030 were ongoing topics of discussion around council chambers throughout the year, as they have been for the past few years, and are anticipated to continue to be.
The big change this year was city council’s decision to allow a sanctioned encampment site to take shape at Energy Court in downtown Sudbury.
It’s been accompanied by a 24/7 warming shelter with washrooms, using the old supervised consumption site whose municipal operations ended last year after the province declined to step forward with funding.
City council members had been long-cautioned against allowing a supervised consumption site to take shape, with an October 2021 Greater Sudbury Encampment Response Guide compiled by OrgCode Consulting Inc. highlighting some potential pitfalls.
These included their expense, the difficulties associated with communal living and potential difficulties in bringing the encampment to a close.
“I agree with everything that was in that report and the criticisms of going with this strategy,” city CAO Shari Lichterman told Sudbury.com in October. “It’s just that right now, the urgency of the day is outweighing those potential pitfalls."
She also described “crisis mode” as spurring the action – “a stop-gap measure to deal with the crisis.”
Greater Sudbury Police Service joined the effort, including a monthlong crackdown on open drug use in November and a subsequent pledge to maintain a presence downtown.
Meanwhile, area residents expressed concern for the safety of people staying at Energy Court during the winter months, and front-line workers have been critical of both the sanctioned encampment and police involvement, arguing that “mayhem” will reign.
Although the 40-unit transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street is nearly full and 48 scattered units of provincially funded supportive housing units are currently filling up, city staff have determined there’s a need for more affordable housing to help bring a functional end to homelessness.
“More transitional and supportive housing is needed, not just today but yesterday,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre told Sudbury.com earlier this month. “This is an urgent need, but when all three levels of government come together, real change can happen quickly.”
Despite this established need and Ontario Big City Mayors (including Lefebvre) calling on the province to declare a state of emergency to shore up funding in a “community safety and humanitarian crisis,” the city is waiting for senior levels of government to step up.
Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Victor Fedeli told Sudbury.com in early December that the province was in pre-budget consultations, and the province is applying for a share of the federal government’s $1.5-billion Canada Rental Protection Fund.
Management shift at city hall
Following last year’s city council decision to dismiss city CAO Ed Archer, the city's elected officials used the opportunity to rejig city management.
Although much of this work used existing resources, it also resulted in the creation of two net new positions at a total annual cost of approximately $525,000.
At the top, Shari Lichterman was hired as the city’s new CAO, whom Ontario Municipal Administrators Association executive director Scott Vokey described as “highly regarded in the sector.”
Previously serving a similar role at the City of Mississauga, Lictherman told Sudbury.com, “We are in the middle of a housing crisis, climate crisis, and I want to have a role in helping to address some of those problems and being able to oversee human services,” describing it as “a good challenge.”
A key change in the city’s emergency services management, with separate chiefs hired for Fire Services and Paramedic Services. These two roles were previously filled by since-retired Chief Joseph Nicholls.
Rob Grimwood, formerly deputy chief of the City of Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, was hired as chief of Fire Services, pledging an early focus on health and safety and volunteer firefighter recruitment. The union representing volunteer firefighters expressed optimism regarding Grimwood’s early days, which they described as including “really good and meaningful” engagement with members.
Former longtime paramedic and, most recently, Greater Sudbury Long-Term Care Services director Aaron Archibald was hired as chief of Paramedic Services.
Various other notable hires and promotions took place during the year, including Strategic Initiatives and Communications director Brigitte Pilon, Planning Services director Melissa Riou, Community Services general manager Ken Stuebing, city Finance executive director and CFO Margaret Karpenko, Community Infrastructure general manager Antti Vikko, Community Well-Being general manager Tyler Campbell and Planning and Growth general manager Kris Longston.
Meanwhile, the city is currently hiring for a new city director position to meld homelessness with housing and plan on having someone lined up by early February.
Old hospital building finally torn down
The long-vacant old hospital building on Paris Street which Panoramic Properties has owned since 2010 was finally torn down this year.
Mayor Paul Lefebvre joined Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier and Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh in hosting a media event outside the hospital in early August to announce that a demolition permit had been issued to tear it down.
Called an eyesore by some, the old hospital building has come up repeatedly in recent years, including every single one of the town hall-style meetings Lefebvre hosted throughout the municipality during his first full year as mayor in 2023.
The city’s elected officials have long maintained that the building was on private property, so there wasn’t much they could legally do.
In 2024, Panoramic Properties applied for $1.7 million in municipal incentives toward the redevelopment of the Scotia Tower building in downtown Sudbury, which the company also owns.
Lefebvre introduced a successful motion at the time for the $1.7-million to only be delivered in the event the 83-unit residential complex at the Scotia Tower building is fully realized and the old hospital is torn down.
On May 22, the day after a suspicious fire broke out at the old hospital building, Lefebvre publicly urged Panoramic Properties to take “immediate, urgent action” to tear down the building.
With Panoramic Properties proceeding with both the tear-down and redevelopment of the Scotia Tower building, they appear to be eligible for the $1.7-million.
Although Lefebvre said Panoramic Properties officials indicated they’d proceed with a 530-unit residential project consisting of three towers at the old hospital property next spring, he also clarified that it’ll be up to them.
Sudbury.com has sent repeated requests for comment to Panoramic Properties officials in recent years, but they have consistently declined to respond.
What’s ahead for 2026?
Earlier this month, city council greenlit a 3.9 per cent tax levy hike for 2026, plus a 4.8-per-cent water/wastewater rate hike and double-digit municipal tipping fee hikes.
Staff will hash out a tax plan in the spring which will determine how it affects individual property owners, which city council will vote on whether to approve.
The city’s two major projects are anticipated to continue being built downtown, and staff are anticipated to provide city council members with updates on both Energy Court and their bids for transitional housing funding early in the new year.
A civic election is scheduled to take place on Oct. 26, meaning candidates will soon begin making themselves known.
In the 2022 mayoral race, then-mayor Brian Bigger announced his candidacy in early January, followed shortly after by former Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac.
Sudbury.com has reached out to all 13 members of city council to see whether they’re seeking re-election, and will publish the results of this inquiry early in the new year.
As with every year, Sudbury.com will be following the municipal election cycle closely and will report on candidates as they announce their campaigns.
For Sudbury.com’s 2024 city council year in review story, click here. For 2023, click here. For 2022, click here, and for 2021, click here.
This year’s city council year in review signalled a break from the previous four years, in that city council members (allegedly) behaving badly was not a highlight.
There were no integrity commissioner reports filed publicly in 2025. City council members voted 7-6 to fire their previous integrity commissioner, David Boghosian, in 2024, and hired Toronto-based Principles Integrity earlier this year to replace him.
The saga surrounding Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc’s alleged breaches of election finance rules in the 2022 civic election are ongoing.
Leduc attempted to sue both the city and resident Anastasia Rioux, who submitted a complaint about his election finances to the Election Compliance Audit Committee, but it was dismissed after a successful anti-SLAPP motion was filed. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and is defined in Rioux’s statement of defence as, “aimed at chilling public discourse generally by discouraging, intimidating, and silencing the defendant and those like her, from exercising their legal right to free speech and lawful public participation on matters of public interest.”
On the hook for legal fees, Leduc at the latest update was striving to hold his lawyer liable after his lawyer allegedly ghosted him.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.