$2.5B downtown hotel-convention centre vision plunges Mississauga council into debate, decades after Hazel McCallion’s failed plan

More costly white elephants in Ontario’s fourth largest city; or a dynamic vision to finally give Mississauga a true identity?

Mississauga Council has given early approval to explore a sweeping new vision for a parcel of City-owned properties in the downtown core, proposing a 5,000-seat entertainment venue, convention centre, hotel, residential tower and “Sky Park”.

It would be one of the biggest projects in Mississauga’s history, and would be built on land that belongs to taxpayers.

The $2.5 billion proposal, if greenlit, would mark the most significant development the downtown core has seen in decades, and completely transform approximately 12 acres of public property immediately surrounding Mississauga City Hall.

“We don't know what the cost is. We don't know if there's going to be a burden on the property taxpayer…we need to have guardrails that protect the property taxpayer,” Councillor Dipika Damerla said, fearing the project could become another “white elephant” for Mississauga. Damerla was the only council member who abstained from voting to move forward with a staff analysis of the vision.

“We support the arts and things, but the convention centre, it's a very risky thing,” she added.

In many ways, it mirrors a highly controversial plan that divided the city almost 30 years ago, when the late mayor Hazel McCallion tried to force through a similar hotel-convention centre vision, before she was stopped in her tracks by the woman who is now mayor, Carolyn Parrish.

It is a “once in a generation opportunity” City officials declared in their report to council Wednesday. Parrish, decades after challenging McCallion for alleged backroom dealing in a similar plan that involved her son, who stood to gain a significant financial benefit, was thanked by her fellow council members for doing work to bring the plan forward.

Parrish, known for her bold leadership, has long championed affordable housing in the city and other major investments in line with the vision she is now trying to push forward.

The majority of council members voiced support for the idea—while Mayor Parrish said nothing final has been decided yet. She repeatedly defended the idea and asked her colleagues to have some faith, despite the glaring lack of information to support a $2.5 billion dream, which was eventually moved forward in a unanimous vote, clearing the way for staff to begin detailed feasibility work to determine if the project will ever see the light of day. 

The approval came after tense debate over the potential impact the project could have on Mississauga taxpayers.

Concerns were raised that the staff report was brought forward without any public engagement and no financial or other analysis on the impacts of the project.

“I think we know we’re just voting on the vision (right now),” Councillor Alvin Tedjo said. “Are we going to be able to look at financial impacts the next time around?” 

He suggested it is difficult to properly endorse the vision without answers to the most critical questions. 

Other members of council wanted to know if a potential project using public lands would be a public-private partnership, despite cost-overrun problems and crippling delays such arrangements have often created.

Regarding most of the major work that needs to be done, including a city-wide public engagement to find out if the vision aligns with what taxpayers want the public lands downtown used for, staff said consultants would be hired, regularly reporting back on what they learn. 

The sudden emergence of such a massive redevelopment plan also raised eyebrows for its timing—about seven months before the municipal election this October—and its eerie resemblance to the previous hotel and convention centre plan pushed by the late mayor McCallion. When connections to McCallion’s son were exposed, it sparked a judicial inquiry that eventually found she was not in a conflict of interest, but did violate principles of common law by pursuing a deal involving her son without proper disclosure. 

Eventually, McCallion’s legacy project was scrapped.

The new plan includes remodeling of the existing Living Arts Centre (LAC) and nearby parking lots with a goal to make the area a hub for entertainment and drive economic growth.

It includes several major elements:

• A 400,000 to 500,000 square-foot convention centre
• A new 400-room hotel
• A state-of-the-art concert venue and music hub that would accommodate up to 5,000 people (the current Living Arts Centre on the site has a capacity of 1,300), along with a recording studio and music school
• A 20-storey rental apartment building and a nine-storey office tower
• A Sky Park (an elevated green space) and improvements to Community Common park with up to 3,000 underground parking spots
• Widening Princess Royal Drive to make it more pedestrian friendly

According to the staff report, once completed, the new venues and commercial establishments could boost employment by creating 6,000 to 8,500 permanent jobs.

It also highlights how tourism keeps taxes lower for residents by an average of $1,100 per household. In 2024, visitors spent roughly $2.3 billion in the city creating $3.6 billion in total economic activity and supported more than 21,400 jobs. The activity also generated $493.6 million in all levels of government revenue, with $86.3 million going directly to the City of Mississauga. The hope is the hotel, convention centre and entertainment venue could drive that number up.

Critics, however, point to similar venues across the country and Ontario that sit mostly empty and cost local taxpayers a small fortune—the white elephants Damerla warned of. 

TOP: Rendering of the plans the City of Mississauga unveiled this week to drastically change the downtown core. 

BOTTOM: A view from above of the lands the City of Mississauga owns and have plans to drastically change in the next 15 years.

(City of Mississauga)

Parrish acknowledged the 30-year-old LAC has been a burden for years. 

“It's dark all week, and on the weekends, it lights up a bit,” she said. 

“Right now, it’s a bit of a white elephant.”  

According to staff, upgrading the facility to increase the types of events and concerts it could host would cost at least $120 million. The LAC costs Mississauga taxpayers upwards of $3 million each year just in maintenance and state of good repair work.

Critics have complained for decades that Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre is not well utilized, costing taxpayers millions every year.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

The price tag for construction of the plan is estimated at $2.5 billion, but financing and poor market conditions have sent Ontario’s construction industry into a tailspin.

“People are using this proposal as a big vision for the city, a convention center, a hotel, performance venue, entertainment district that could raise the city's profile and attract more visitors. But many residents see this differently,” local resident George Tavares told councillors. “They see it through the reality of their daily lives. Higher taxes, higher costs of housing, higher everyday expenses. Proposing a project of this scale raises serious questions about timing and priorities…Is this a core service?”

He implored council members not to move forward with the plan, at a time when so many residents are struggling. 

Mayor Parrish assured residents that costs would not all fall to taxpayers, claiming there would be “much interest” from the private sector to get involved. 

For some councillors, the investments support the ongoing effort to provide the amenities and city lifestyle Mississauga's growing population demands and would further the work of shifting the city out from under Toronto’s long shadow. 

“We have a city centre, we don’t really have a downtown,” Councillor Stephen Dasko said. 

For Councillor John Kovac, the plan is “an exercise in future thinking”. 

“We do nothing, it's going to grow,” he said of the city. “That's just what it is. You need to manage the growth, and we need to manage it here in the city.”

Kovac has concerns  about the impact the plan could have on the current parkland available to residents in the downtown, particularly Community Common. He’s hopeful that if the existing parkland is impacted by the future plan, the City will be compensated with parkland elsewhere. 

“For those who are paying attention, this is 15 years in the future,” he said “Even if we're potentially going to be losing some of what we have, we're going to be getting back more, not just more parklands, also more green space parklands.”

The large-scale downtown project, while still years away if it is ever approved, comes at a time when the City of Mississauga’s budget is already being strained by several other multi-million and multi-billion dollar projects. 

There is the significant investment into infrastructure to support the 16,000 units being constructed at Lakeview Village in the coming years, and Brightwater communities along the waterfront; the long delayed Hazel McCallion LRT project which will require City investment to not only create the transit links to make the high-order LRT feasible for residents, but the potential millions in operational costs; and the $390 million local share needed for the construction of the multi-billion dollar Peter Gilgan hospital. Taxpayers will be hit with a 1 percent levy starting in 2029 to collect the local share. Any investment needed to support this downtown vision will only add further pressure to local taxpayers, many of whom are already feeling the effects of consecutive above-inflation municipal budget increases. 

Several councillors were heavily opposed to the idea of significant public funds being poured into a project of this size, entirely for reasons Tavares discussed—taxes continuing to go up for residents.

“[My] biggest concern is not knowing what the financial impact is going to be. We don't want this project to indebt the city for generations,” Councillor Tedjo said. “You heard me raise a few concerns around the financial pieces to it, the communications pieces to it, meeting the consultation with residents, work plan and viability. It's so early that staff didn't have any of those answers, but especially when it comes to the finances, we don't want to put two and a half billion dollars on property taxpayers—that would be obscene, and I would not support that.”

Tensions were raised during Wednesday’s meeting over the future funding of the massive plan. Parrish and Ward 6 Councillor Joe Horneck clashed over whether the City should define limits on public spending. Horneck raised concerns about how much the municipality should be willing to spend or borrow to support the initiative, asking council to consider clear thresholds for funding. 

“What are our cutoff points where we say, what is the limit of public funding willing to develop this?” Horneck said, adding he simply wants the city to be transparent about “what would be our limits on wanting to spend money.”

Parrish pushed back, emphasizing that decisions about funding would come before council publicly as the project evolved. She said staff will bring the matter into the public spotlight for consultation, and that oversight would remain in place. 

“The public is now watching, and they know what we’re doing,” Parrish said, assuring that any major milestone would return to council for debate and approval.

Horneck persisted, suggesting formally including spending limits within council’s recommendations, prompting Parrish to say she found the suggestion “mildly offensive”. 

Parrish ultimately voiced her opposition to the idea of establishing a cap at this stage, telling council, “We can’t set limits at this point,” while Horneck maintained that clarifying potential limits would help communicate financial expectations to residents.

The convention centre was a particular sticking point for Damerla, who said the proposal seemed outdated. She attempted to have staff ensure that any financial burden from the future convention centre portion of the project did not fall on local taxpayers. 

Her suggested amendment was voted down with only Councillor Horneck and Tedjo in support. 

The decision to leave out clear financial guidelines for staff at this stage came after council, just last week, voted down a motion from Councillor Damerla to establish an auditor general office in the city. 

“Mississauga Council today let down its residents by voting against transparency and safeguards against waste and fraud at City Hall,” Damerla said in a statement sent to The Pointer after last week’s meeting. “Residents deserve the highest level of transparency and accountability when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent.”

The historical context surrounding the potential project could leave many Mississauga residents concerned. 

Critics warned that McCallion’s vision was nothing more than a political legacy project to cement her influence on the city, with fears that a giant convention centre would become a giant white elephant.

Councillor Tedjo asked for firm timelines to be established with any consultants. It’s unclear if there will be an open bidding process and an RFP to select external firms for the critical work.

Staff said details for further study and public consultation would come back to council in June. If the plan is eventually approved, City staff could start more detailed work to get the project off the ground in early 2027.

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