Seven years after a fire devastated the popular Centre culturel La Ronde, construction is expected to start on a new building this week.
Today, Agnico Eagle donated $750,000 to the group, bringing its fundraising campaign for the new building up to $6.2 million.
The new centre will be built on the site of the former facility at the corner of Mountjoy and Algonquin Boulevard. The previous building suffered irreparable damage in a 2015 fire and was demolished in 2017.
In the next few days ground should be broken on the construction project to rebuild the francophone centre, said La Ronde executive director Lisa Bertrand. It's expected to be finished by late spring or early summer next year.
While the fundraising campaign was set at $6.5 million, La Ronde will still need to raise more cash. The rapidly rising inflation impacts and material prices have added to the price.
“Now this is just covering the building so we still have to furnish it,” said Bertrand.
Agnico Eagle CEO Ammar Al-Joundi is proud to help sponsor the building. He said the organization's board should also be proud of what they've accomplished.
“It’s not easy to raise this kind of money. You heard the emotion in Lisa’s voice, this is a big project, you’ve done a really fantastic job and you really should be proud because this is something that is going to be for the francophone community for generations and generations,” he said.
