The Halifax Convention Centre will not open as scheduled on April 1. A new opening date has not yet been established, but at least seven national and international conventions that have been booked into the convention centre are affected — Trade Centre Limited representatives are working for alternative arrangements, including rebooking the conventions into the existing convention centre.

Completion of the convention centre was delayed once before. In December 2014, developer Joe Ramia announced that the scheduled January 1, 2016 “substantial completion” date of Nova Centre would be pushed back to September 30, 2016, with the convention centre component ready by January 1, 2017. That date was subsequently revised to April 1, 2017.

I walked around the building yesterday and realized that with winter weather approaching and much of the exterior of the building still open to the elements, there is no way construction could be finished by April.

Besides the convention centre, the hotel component of Nova Centre is also behind schedule. An operator of the hotel still hasn’t been announced, and it strikes me as unlikely that an operator could agree to a lease and get the hotel operational in less than six months.

I’ve asked Trade Centre Limited for comment, and will speak with councillors and city staff at today’s city council meeting.

More to come.

Updated, 11:50am:

I’ve received the following response from TCL spokesperson Suzanne Fougere: