Saturday, September 28, 2024 
Saturday, September 28, 2024
May 5, 2020
The largest construction project on the books in London is back on track after a seven-week COVID-19 shutdown, but questions remain over when the next-biggest project will resume.
Call it a tale of two industries: food processing and gaming.
Food giant Maple Leaf Foods is resuming work on its $660-million London plant now that Ontario has eased restrictions on essential construction projects.
But casino colossus Gateway Casinos and Entertainment says it does not know when it will go back to its $75-million gambling complex in London.
“We are pleased to resume work at the London site on our world-class poultry plant. Make no mistake, the safety of our people is our first priority. Together with our construction firm, we have a thorough startup plan ready to go that includes a comprehensive COVID-19 program,” Janet Riley, spokesperson for Maple Leaf, said in a statement.
Maple Leaf is building a state-of-the-art chicken processing plant at Highbury Avenue and Highway 401, a 60,000 square-metre-plant on 40 hectares of land it hopes to open in 2022.
At Gateway, work had just begun on 10,000-square-metre facility, scheduled to open in 2021, when it was halted. Casino officials are not sure when the project will begin again. The site at 3334 and 3354 Wonderland Rd. S. has been cleared, a former cement company building has been demolished and boarding is set up, said Gateway spokesperson Rob Mitchell.
“Gateway’s casinos remain closed across the country and without money coming in, it is premature to begin building,” said Mitchell.
“We have no revenue. We are not open anywhere. We have had no income for seven weeks and we do not know how much longer we will be closed. It could be weeks,” he said.
Mitchell declined comment on the future of the gaming industry, both when casinos can open and whether customers will return to toss dice in a pandemic era.
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