Halifax Convention Centre still has no lease only days before opening

Nova Scotia has yet to finalize a lease for the Halifax Convention Centre — despite its opening ceremony being only a week away.

“We don’t have the lease,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Lloyd Hines on Thursday. “The lease is still not finalized, (the convention centre) is subject to substantial completion.”

READ MORE: Much-delayed Halifax Convention Centre to officially open Dec. 15

According to Marla MacInnis, a spokesperson for the department, the issue of substantial completion pertains only to the convention centre, and not the complete Nova Centre project that the convention centre is a part of.

“Substantial completion is a technical, legal term and refers to a variety of financial and administrative issues aside from only construction,” MacInnis said in an email, using long-term financing as an example of one of the issues holding up the lease.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Substantial completion is a technical, legal term and refers to a variety of financial and administrative issues aside from only construction," MacInnis said in an email, using long-term financing as an example of one of the issues holding up the lease.

Last month, the province announced that the centre would host an opening ceremony on Dec. 15 and begin community events and public tours of the space on the weekend of Jan. 12 – Jan. 14, 2018.

Hines said that they hoped to have the details on the lease finalized by “the end of January.”

The convention centre, part of the million-square-foot Nova Centre project, is years overdue.  Its original completion date was set for January 2016.

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According to the centre, 90 events have been booked for the facility’s first year of operations. The first client event will be the Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championships on Jan. 20, 2018, followed by Brides 2018, the Halifax Business Awards and the National Franchise Show.

The centre estimates the events will bring in 75,000 delegates during that first year and bring in more than $50 million to the province.

— With files from Rebecca Lau