The front entrance of TD Station in Saint John. (Image: Brad Perry)
The City of Saint John may sell or lease TD Station to an outside operator.
On Monday, the city government issued a request for expressions of interest in the purchase or lease, and related operation of the facility, home to the Saint John Sea Dogs and multi-purpose event venue.
“There are a number of potential types of partnerships whereby the importance of the facility to the Region could be protected but perhaps with reduced overall costs,” said Saint John Mayor Don Darling in a release.
“At this point, we are in the early exploratory stages to find out what they might be. Deliberations and a decision to proceed with any interested party will only be made once options are explored and City staff report to Common Council with a business case.”
Finding a private operator for TD Station was one of the initiatives presented to Common Council in 2019 as it seeks to solve the city’s fiscal challenges.
The city recently adopted a restructuring plan that includes a review of the operations of city-owned facilities like TD Station. The goal is to reduce the city’s overall financial commitments to these facilities.
“With a strong partnership in place, we could maximize value for taxpayers and secure a bright future for TD Station in an environment that is becoming more and more competitive,” said Darling.
“The private sector has a proven track record of handling large-scale facilities like TD Station very successfully in communities across Canada. For the benefit of Saint John, we want to know if the same type of partnership could work here.”
Potential proponents would have to honour two agreements in place at TD Station: a five-year agreement with TD Bank for the naming rights of the facility and a five-year agreement with the Sea Dogs.
Expressions of interest must be submitted by February 14.
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an online business news publication based in Saint John. Huddle is an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
