{"id":551142,"date":"2026-03-21T12:18:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551142\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:18:03","slug":"edmonton-city-council-approves-levy-funds-to-finish-winspear-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551142\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton city council approves levy funds to finish Winspear expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extra money from the City of Edmonton means the Winspear Centre expansion won\u2019t remain half-built for the next five to 10 years, its CEO says.<\/p>\n

The construction project, in the heart of downtown, has run over-budget with pandemic-driven cost pressures. But on Wednesday, city councillors committed to getting it over the finish line, releasing an additional $33.4 million from the Downtown Community Revitalization Levy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard not to be emotional about it. It was a pretty big deal,\u201d Winspear president Annemarie Petrov told CBC News.<\/p>\n

The Winspear\u2019s expansion, reaching to the back of the building along 97th street, is creating a new 550-seat acoustic hall theatre, new spaces for educational programming and indoor and outdoor public space.<\/p>\n

The project was granted $11 million in the recent provincial budget<\/a>. Those dollars, plus money from the federal government, were contingent on raising the remaining amount, Petrov told councillors Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Funding the gap with the CRL \u2014 which lets the city borrow money from the provincial government against future property tax revenues \u2014 means it will take another year for the fund to break even in 2038, city staff told councillors.<\/p>\n

Only Ward Sspomitapi Coun. Jo-Anne Wright voted against releasing the money. She questioned why the Winspear couldn\u2019t fundraise the full amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s easier for you to do fundraising than for the city to do fundraising to cover costs,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

Initially, the Winspear anticipated the CRL funds wouldn\u2019t be enough to meet its shortfall \u2014 estimating that it would need another $6 million to $7.5 million. But Petrov said the venue was recently able to fundraise that amount.<\/p>\n

She said the music venue could raise the $33.4 million, but it would take upward of a decade.<\/p>\n

The levy \u201cis allowing us to open immediately, as opposed to having to continue to keep the building shell while we do the fundraising work,\u201d Petrov said.<\/p>\n

The Winspear, she added, is continuously fundraising and proactively mitigating costs by procuring new contractors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not be here today had it not been for the pandemic. I just really want to underscore that,\u201d Petrov said. \u201cThat was really something that was way beyond our control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coun. Anne Stevenson, who represents Ward O-day’min, where the Winspear is located, said the project is a valuable investment for downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do so much more for our community, far beyond music and arts, and I think are particularly well-aligned with our strategic goals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving more people in the downtown \u2014 particularly in the evening hours when it can be quieter, on the weekends \u2014 that goes a long way toward supporting safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday marked the second time this year the municipal government approved more money for the music venue.<\/p>\n

In January, council gave the Winspear a one-time lump sum of $6.5 million to recoup lost parking revenue, driven by parking spaces lost<\/a> to the city\u2019s district energy hub system going into the music hall\u2019s underground parkade.<\/p>\n

Petrov told CBC construction had been paused since the end of December, while the centre waited to secure funds to start the final phase of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really the main thing that needed to transpire \u2026 to know that all systems were a go,\u201d Petrov said.<\/p>\n

Now, she said, construction for the inside of the music box will begin, with an anticipated opening date in fall 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Extra money from the City of Edmonton means the Winspear Centre expansion won\u2019t remain half-built for the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[214129,49,48,23752,214128],"class_list":{"0":"post-551142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-annemarie-petrov","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-edmonton","12":"tag-winspear-centre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}