SUDBURY -- Including the Sudbury Multi-Cultural Centre and the Sudbury Theatre Centre in the downtown Junction project could add between $2.5 million and $3 million to the project's roughly $42 million budget, city council will hear next week.

That's on top of between $5 million and $8.5 million that will be needed to build either an underground or above ground parking facility to accommodate the new art gallery and library, as well the parking needs of the $65 million performing arts centre.

Plans call for the library and art gallery – known as Junction East – to be built in the area around Shaughnessy Street, where the multicultural centre and the STC are currently located. The project will remove existing parking spaces, making a parking structure necessary.

An underground structure would cost about $50,000-$60,000 per space, for a total of $7 million to $8.4 million, said a staff report headed to city council Aug. 12.

"Alternatively, the replacement spaces could be constructed in a surface structure, located on municipal property, for approximately $35,000 each, resulting in a rough estimate of $4.9 million," the report said.

And tying in the theatre and multicultural centre will require adding a new building or renovating an existing one.

"Based on analysis of existing space at the Sudbury Multi-Cultural Centre and the opportunity to tie the new building into a portion of the Sudbury Theatre Centre, there is a need to construct or renovate 5,000 to 6,000 square feet for a total estimated cost of $2.5 to $3 million," the report said.

"Costs for property acquisitions are not detailed in this report as negotiations continue and the discussions and associated values are confidential."

Initially, the plan was to build the Junction in space vacated by Sudbury Arena, which council voted in 2018 to move to the Kingsway as part of the Kingsway Entertainment District.

However, legal appeals trying to stop the KED delayed the construction of the new district, prompting council to find a new site for the Junction to minimize any construction delays.

A decision in that case is expected within a month from the Superior Court, ahead of a two-day hearing beginning Sept. 17 by the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal.

The Superior Court decision will rule whether council was biased when it approved the project in 2018. If the court rejects that argument, the LPAT hearing will go ahead. However, if the court rules the city was biased in approving the KED, the future of the project would be in doubt.