A casino, hotels, water park, convention centre, sportsplex, sports field and commercial buildings would fill out much of the Kingsway Employment District.
At least, if developer and landowner Dario Zulich’s fresh vision for the property stretching north of The Kingsway from Levesque Street is fully realized.
A road stretching from The Kingsway to the north edge of Zulich’s property line was recently completed (Vanguard Drive), which Zulich said signals, “We’re ready for business and let’s get things going.”
Since every project needs a vision, Zulich said an image was created to display his plan using artificial intelligence and accurate dimensions for such things as a swath of commercial-use properties to the east, a stormwater management area and car parking counts.
“It’s built within the zoning requirements, including the casino, hotel and possible convention centre,” he said.
The image includes a road stretching west near the top of Vanguard Drive which loops south to The Kingsway, opening up the balance of the land for the development.
Zulich said he anticipates breaking ground on this loop road later this summer.
Gateway Casinos is working on their site plan, several hotels have expressed interest and some companies have signalled proceeding with industrial uses along the north of the property, Zulich said. Meanwhile, Waste Management Inc. is anticipated to proceed with their waste transfer facility now that Vanguard Drive has been completed and opened up the land they’d secured.
Decades in the works, Zulich said, “The stars are finally aligning.”
While he described some components as near-guarantees and others as likely, including a commercial portion just off of The Kingsway at the east side of the property to include such things as gas bars and restaurants and hotels, Zulich also included a sportsplex, outdoor event venue and sports field in the image.
The recreational centre could include such things as a gymnasium to accommodate basketball, volleyball, pickleball, a soccer stadium and/or two to three ice pads; “It can fit in the venue ladder we have in the city,” Zulich said.
Unlikely to get these sports facilities built on his own, Zulich said they’d likely require a public-private partnership to get done.
He views the potential for these lands as complementing the municipal event centre taking shape in downtown Sudbury.
That said, much of this is merely a vision at this stage, and Zulich is marketing it as such.
But, with roads now opening the land, he said his updated vision has become more realistic.
“This is really happening,” he said, describing his vision as encapsulating his “happy place.”
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc represents the area on city council and was also provided the artificial intelligence-rendered visual representation of Zulich’s vision.
Where Zulich foresees the development as complementing the municipality's downtown event centre project, Leduc sees it as a deterrent, drawing investors attention to The Kingsway.
This is in keeping with Leduc’s long-established opposition to the downtown event centre and his belief it should be located on The Kingsway as part of Zulich’s development. Leduc is currently the lone member of city council to oppose the downtown event centre.
The Kingsway Employment District site is perhaps best known for the years it spent as the preferred location for a new municipal event centre to replace the Sudbury Community Arena. This project, dubbed the Kingsway Entertainment District, effectively died in mid-2022, when city council pulled funding.
The city later shifted their efforts toward a downtown event centre for which ground work is currently underway.
With the event centre land on The Kingsway returning to Zulich after city council scrapped the event centre plans, the developer fell back on a plan for the land west of the Sudbury Landfill Site called the Jack Nicholas Business and Innovation Subdivision.
Worked on in the background during the years following city council pulling away from the event centre project, a series of announcements took place last year which signalled a project freshly renamed the Kingsway Employment District was finally moving forward.
In April, a 9-4 vote of city council members approved an $8.6-million contribution toward a road opening up the site, including $2.9 million in reimbursements to the developer upon substantial completion and $5.7 million in transferable development charge credits.
The road stretches Levesque Street northward and will eventually stretch farther north to Lasalle Boulevard and is part of the city’s Official Plan. It will also connect to a ring road opening up the lands to the west where it will reconnect with The Kingsway.
Road construction started last summer, and Waste Management of Sudbury was announced as the site’s first client. Their plan is to open a new office, depot and maintenance centre.
In June, Gateway Casinos purchased land at the KED site.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.