Casino Nova Scotia’s downtown Halifax location is being sold and the province says it has signed an agreement with casino operator Great Canadian Entertainment to build a new location across the harbour in Dartmouth Crossing.
Great Canadian Entertainment will still own, operate and maintain the new casino, which will be built near the IKEA store. Construction is slated to be finished in 2029.
The current property on the Halifax waterfront will be listed for sale in the coming weeks, according to the province. Operations will continue in the existing spot, which opened 25 years ago, until the new facility is built.
Acting Finance and Treasury Board Minister Timothy Halman said the new establishment will be a “modern casino” and be ideally located.
“Certainly you have accessible highways going into Dartmouth Crossing. You have many hotels, you have many restaurants, businesses, the land that’s available,” he said.
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“Times change. It’s not the 1990s. Many folks who participate in gambling, they have many options.”
Halman said selling the downtown property on the Halifax waterfront will also create new opportunities for development in the area.
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“We’ll be looking at all options as we move forward, but at the end of the day, the decision will be made on what the best value is for that property,” he said.
Paul MacKinnon, CEO off the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, said it’s a bittersweet decision.
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“The casino has been in downtown Halifax for a long time, has been a great venue both for casino use and entertainment use. So it’s sad to see them leave,” he said.
“Hopefully, this is a business decision that will work out well for them and they’ll find a great new home at Dartmouth Crossing.”
But he said there’s also a great deal of potential for the former site.
“These kinds of opportunities don’t come up every day and so there’s all sorts of opportunities that could happen with that site,” MacKinnon said, adding that the commission had discussions a couple years ago about some of the venues downtown Halifax needs.
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“Things like an expanded Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, a 1,500 seat performing arts centre. There’s actually limited space downtown where things like that could go and an aquarium is an idea that gets talked about a lot.”
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In a statement, Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore called the casino an “important economic generator for our downtown” and said he expected the move to Dartmouth will continue to support jobs and attract visitors.
He said the vacant casino site will now become an “extraordinary opportunity” to redevelop.
“This opportunity site opens onto the redeveloped Cogswell District, connecting it to beautiful open spaces, integrated transit offerings, and thousands of new residents,” said Fillmore.
The province noted the Sydney casino will remain at its existing location and that the two casinos brought in $41.6 million last year.
–with files from Angela Capobianco
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