City approves Performing Arts Centre final project designs and costs

On June 12, 2023, Fredericton City Council approved the final designs and associated cost of the Performing Arts Centre project. With this decision, site preparation on the corner of King and Regent Streets will begin in late 2023, with construction anticipated to begin in 2024.

After extensive stakeholder consultation and public engagement, feedback was incorporated into the final designs of the building and spaces. Council’s decision to approve the designs and cost was based on the funding information presented below. An extensive value engineering process was adopted to keep costs down while also providing the best venue for our needs. An analysis of the building’s proposed features, systems, equipment, and materials ensure that the costs are as low as possible while still ensuring quality, reliability and safety.

Fredericton Playhouse Inc. has committed to contributing $8M toward the capital costs of the building, and to do that means we will be launching the largest community fundraising campaign in our history. We will be asking donors and businesses in our community to help us raise the $8M for capital plus an additional $2M so we can expand our needed and effective community access programming when we move to the larger venue. Already, leaders in the community have come forward with legacy gifts to the project, and there has been 100% donor participation from FPI’s board and staff. 

Funding Source	Amount	Percentage of Total
Other levels of government	$46,600,000	57.04%
City of Fredericton - borrow	$22,600,000	27.66%
Fredericton Playhouse Inc. – campaign contribution	$8,000,000	9.79%
Divesting of Playhouse	$2,300,000	2.82%
Town of Oromocto	$100,000	0.12%
TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED:	$79,600,000
Spent to date	$2,100,000	2.57%
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET:	$81,700,000

Watch for more on the Encore! community campaign coming soon.