The City of Mississauga is renaming the Paramount Fine Foods Centre and “unilaterally” terminating its contract with the building’s namesake, Paramount Fine Foods, due to a $1.6 million debt, the city told the Star Tuesday.
The centre is a large complex spanning four buildings, with indoor and outdoor facilities for sports, recreation, and large events. It is also home to the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League.
Mississauga will be pursuing legal action in the coming weeks to recoup the money, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement, and more information will be available then.
“The City’s primary goal is protecting taxpayer dollars,” the statement read.
When asked what payments were missing, the city told the Star that Paramount had “failed to pay the City of Mississauga what it was owed over a prolonged period of time as per the contract terms.”
The statement added that the city tried “its best” to work with Paramount but was “unable to reach a resolution and receive payment.”
Earlier Tuesday, Mississauga announced in a press release that it is ending its naming rights and concession agreement with Paramount Fine Foods for the centre after eight years.
Mohamad Fakih, Paramount’s founder and president, said he was disappointed with the city’s announcement because he was already working on an agreement with the City of Mississauga that involved repayment and “mutually” surrendering the naming rights.
“Paramount Fine Foods at no time refused to pay,” he told the Star on Tuesday.
“We have a lot of respect for the leadership of the city of Mississauga,” Fakih said. “We’re a bit disappointed on rushing to put something like this out to the public when the deal is fully confidential and should have remained fully confidential.”
In a video posted to Instagram on Monday, Fakih said Paramount was concluding the sponsorship and redirecting its “community investment toward new initiatives” in Mississauga.
“We’ve done it for many years and it (cost) Paramount millions and millions of dollars. There was no profit in it,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “We did it because we love the city.”
As of June 1, the facility will be renamed the Mississauga Sports and Entertainment Centre until the city finds a new naming partner.
The city will take over the food operations, which have been operated by Paramount, on the same date.
The city added the changes will not affect scheduled programs, bookings, rentals or events.
