Developer going all in on new downtown Hamilton arena

https://shawglobalnews.files.wordpre...trip=all&w=720

Vrancor Group is offering to 'reinvent' Hamilton's FirstOntario Centre. Rick Zamperin/900 CHML

There appears to be a white knight for Hamilton’s downtown arena.

Vrancor Group has provided the City with a term sheet which outlines the company’s intent to “redevelop Hamilton’s entertainment and convention properties.”

The $200-million proposal says Vrancor will “fully reinvent FirstOntario Centre into a state of the art and technologically modern facility,” while not requesting operating subsidies.

The plan also calls for the expansion and modernization of the Hamilton Convention Centre by doubling its hosting capability and adding a new four-star hotel in the downtown core.

The term sheet also says the City will continue to own the arena and FirstOntario Concert Hall and that Vrancor would be the operator.

The company has been behind the construction of new hotels, commercial and residential buildings in downtown Hamilton over the last 15 years.

On Wednesday, Hamilton councillors rubber-stamped a decision to not pursue a new arena project at Limeride Mall that had been spearheaded by Hamilton Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer and Cadillac Fairview.

Andlauer had offered to spend $30 million on the project that included a 6,000-seat arena and parking garage at the mall.

Key points in Vrancor Group’s term sheet:

Vrancor will not request operating subsidies for any of Hamilton’s entertainment/convention properties
The City will continue to own FirstOntario Centre and FirstOntario Concert Hall, Vrancor would operate the facilities through a long-term licensing arrangement
Vrancor will not ask the City to borrow any money, or draw upon any reserves to contribute towards the development
A new four-star hotel will be constructed in downtown Hamilton to serve an expanded Hamilton Convention Centre

^Exactly what I would do if I was a rich local developer. We are lucky to have Vranich.


Even tho there's nothing wrong with Copps. Just do the maintenance.

I figured this article would be worth quoting again....

$200 million is just about right to renovate First Ontario into a modern state of the art arena.

The city should just dot the i's and cross the t's already with Vrancor. He has a good record.

So he plans to renovate it while keeping it the same size?

That $200 million is also "doubling the convention centre hosting capability", and building a hotel. I'm curious what the actual plan for the arena is.

Sounds like someone who understands good business and has the city and its core at the top of his list... I hope this guy prospers and the city honours him in some way ... This is a win win win for everyone involved ... especially the citizens of Hamilton....

New arena proposals land in Hamilton council’s lap, part of major venue overhaul plans
Two local development groups are suggesting pumping private sector money into renovating FirstOntario Centre.

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...verhaul-plans/

Forget for a moment recent proposals for a new arena at Lime Ridge Mall or a 10,000-seater downtown to replace the aging FirstOntario Centre.

Two local development groups are bringing an entirely different idea to the table for city council's consideration.

And the best part is, neither appears to involve significant tax dollars.

In completely separate proposals, the developers are suggesting pumping private sector money into renovating FirstOntario Centre.

Both groups are suggesting transforming the city-owned facility into a state-of-the-art venue which would utilize a sectioned-off lower bowl for smaller events but be capable of expanding to its full 17,000 seat capacity for larger shows.

But retrofitting the existing arena forms only part of the two competing proposals. Both also include redeveloping the Hamilton Convention Centre and upgrades to the FirstOntario Centre concert hall.

One of the proponents is the Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group, the consortium led by the Carmen's Group which now includes Paletta International, LIUNA Pension Fund, Fengate Capital, Meridian Credit Union and Jetport Inc.

The other proponent is the Vrancor Group, Darko Vranich's firm, one of the largest development companies in Hamilton.

Both proponents recently submitted high-level, non-binding "term sheets" to the city's economic development department, setting out conditions for negotiating an agreement.

City staff is slated to bring council up to speed on the proposals at a Feb. 5 committee meeting, most of which is expected to take place behind closed doors.

"Our partners are certainly motivated and big on Hamilton so there's certainly no shortage of interest in deploying the capital for the right projects," says Carmen's CEO PJ Mercanti, speaking on behalf of the Urban Precinct Group.

For his part, consultant Mario Frankovich, who is advising Vranich, calls the Vrancor proposal a "reinvention" of the three city-owned facilities.

Frankovich says Vrancor has been working on the proposal since June and is ready to explore what council is looking for in a deal.

There are clearly similarities between the proposals, but also differences.

First some similarities.

Both proposals involve hundreds of millions of private sector dollars but mainly in-kind contributions from the city.

The developers are using Coun. Sam Merulla's motion of a few years ago as a jumping off point. Approved by council, the motion called for exploring the sale or lease of the city's downtown entertainment and hospitality venues to spark redevelopment of the aging facilities, end taxpayer subsidies and generate new property taxes.

Frankovich says the essence of the Vrancor offer is to privately fund the redevelopment of the arena, convention centre and concert hall. The city would retain ownership while Vrancor operated the arena and concert hall.

"We will not be looking for any ongoing subsidies and will not be asking the city to either borrow money or draw on reserves to participate in that."

For its part, the Urban Precinct group is looking to the city to bring to the table the land the sites sit on and regulatory authority, not municipal cash.

Besides sharing the same vision of an expandable arena both groups are keen to connect with Hamilton Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer — if, in fact, he's ready to move beyond his proposal to build an arena at Lime Ridge Mall now that council has rejected the idea of spending $96 million on the plan.

In addition, they also agree that the concert hall requires some upgrades but not a major overhaul.

Now some differences.

The Urban Precinct Group hopes to build a new convention centre at the site of the Hamilton City Centre and use the existing site for a new hotel, residential and commercial complex.

Hamilton City Centre owner Darryl Firsten has signed a letter of intent with the group to explore the concept.

"We think it's a great idea. If the money is there and we can make it fit our site, we'd love to be part of it," said Firsten, who's planning a $780 million project with five 28-storey towers for the 3.4 acre site.

On the other hand, Vrancor wants to double the capacity of the Hamilton Convention Centre on its existing site and construct a new hotel in the core to serve it.

Clearly we're at the very early stages of both proposals. Merulla says he expects council will get the "lay of the land" as far as what's in it for all parties at the Feb. 5 meeting.

But the key goal for him remains the same: for any proposal to go forward, it must save the city facility capital and operating dollars, and generate new revenue.

Just an FYI, Jetport Inc is well was owned by Ron Joyce. I'm guessing his son now owns it now, Steven Joyce.

Awesome - privately funded is the way to go. Hope one of them pulls through!

Interesting choices here, on one hand you have Vrancor, who basically gets things done without fanfare, has hospitality experience and appears to have deep pockets, while on the other hand the consortium looks to have a whole bunch of advocates / captains at the wheel or a very connected ship. Almost wish the proposals were reversed, as I think a singular leadership effort is much easier to steer, but really like the idea of having hotel replace the EFB and building new conference centre as part of Hamilton City Centre rebuild.

Damn, Vrancor just went into beast mode. Given their hospitality experience and proven track record with getting projects done in the last decade, I think the city would be stupid not to work with them on this.

Imagine if these two developers could work together and get like $500m invested downtown. That would be huge.

On its face, both of these seem like way better deals than Limeridge, both way better deals for the City in terms of City building, but also in terms of reducing the taxpayer burden. Also nice to see theyre willing to work with Andlaeur who may still be willing to throw in some money. And best part, city doesnt need to spend $60m on a parking garage in a mall parking lot, while still keeping a venue larger than 10k.

This is what needed to happen. A complete overhaul of entertainment facilities, especially increasing the size of the convention centre. It was so short sighted for some to think the City were idiots for walking away from the terrible limeridge deal.

I wonder what Andlauer is going to think of all this. Doesn't he have a pretty sweetheart deal at FOC now? What are the odds that will remain under a private company trying to make money on the operations of the arena? And it's still a 17,000 seat building, no matter what kind of different system they put in place to close off the upper level. If he was willing to put $30 million on the table at Limeridge, I wonder if he still would with another city nearby to get the kind of building he wants.

A private company (core entertainment) already runs the arena. Having a new private company come in to run things wouldnt change much. I doubt there are any cities nearby who would put up another $60m to get an arena built.

Whatever they do to renovate FOC, I really hope they put some money aside for the exterior. It's such an eye-sore and is pretty embarrassing. While a little boxy, I'd still love to have it look like the render a few posts up.

Isn't the city currently spending money to operate FOC? I don't remember the numbers from some report last summer or fall, but it seemed like while the Bulldogs were the largest draw, they paid very little, if any rent to play there. These proposals being presented now sound like these companies, as part of their deal to spend so much money to upgrade the facilities, want to manage them and since they won't ask the city for an annual subsidy like they pay now, obviously they are going to be targeting their main attendance draw (and lowest revenue generator) to pony up some cash. Didn't Andlauer also recently float the idea of if the Limeridge deal fell through, he would entertain options to move the team, with Burlington being floated once again?

Yes the new operators may ask for increased rent, but they cant ask for too much or else they will be left without a main tennant.

With regards to Burlington, yes he said that. Doesnt seem like Burlington has any appetite to spend public dollars on an arena though. Especially with the mayor now being so against the idea of a publically funded ticats stadium as a Councillor 9 years ago. So doubt that goes anywhere. Probably just a negotiating tactic to leverage against Hamilton during the Limeridge debate. But with two new deep pocketed players, Andlaeur lost a lot of leverage.

Some of those comments from 2011

“It’s the costs,” she said, adding residents are concerned about the possible operating costs, capital costs and the lost opportunity cost of losing 10 acres of prime commercial land for a stadium use.

Meed Ward said no one is clamouring for a stadium. Burlingtonians want council to finish its capital projects and keep taxes low.

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/2...ngton-stadium/

The thing about FOC's current main tenant is that anything else they book does far better: 85% better attendance for non-sport bookings was E&Y's finding, and that appears to be just turnstile numbers, so once you factor in the free ticket bloat it's possibly even more stark. Losing the Bulldogs would mean that calendar space would be freed up for other bookings. If venue operators lost the OHL tenant and its 34 game days and managed to book an additional 18-20 non-sport dates a year, they would basically be where they are now, or possibly in a better space.

As far as the Burlington scenario goes, the notion of CF & Andlauer partnering on an arena at Burlington Centre is a head-scratcher. Andlauer may live in Burlington but CF doesn't own Burlington Centre.

I'm sure the appetite is low, as it is anywhere, to spend tax money on sports facilities. But I think her comments are easily brushed aside by comparing a stadium getting used very few days a year for large crowds and other times for next to no crowds, to an arena that will be used many nights a year. And she did say last summer in this Spec article that, while not actively trying to lure the Bulldogs, the city is open for business (based on a lot of "ifs", granted).

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...the-bulldogs-/

Andlauer also isn't interested in waiting a ton of time for Hamilton to figure things out. And to be honest, given Hamilton's OHL history, I don't think there is a big appetite for the city to work with him. Even looking at the comments on this board, the citizens aren't willing to give up their NHL dreams and build a useful OHL arena. Will be interesting to see how deep into his deep pockets he wants to actually dig. I mean, he can probably stroke a check and put his own arena up across the road from FOC if he wanted. But rich people prefer others spend their money for them, so it will be interesting to see what he does if the only option facing him in Hamilton is to still be in an NHL-sized arena, drawing 3800 a game, that he also now has to actually pay real money to be in.

Ah, yes. Scott Radley, keeper of the junior hockey flame.

OHL hockey in Burlington?
(Hamilton Spectator, Scott Radley, Jan 20 2015)

A local businessman says the pieces may be falling into place to bring an Ontario Hockey League team to Burlington.

Is he right?

Burlington business owner Tim Wilson says he's aware of an out-of-town buyer with deep pockets — he only knows the man's first name — who likes the city as a hockey market and is interested in bringing a major junior team there. Meanwhile, he says a local builder he wouldn't name, but knows personally, is ready to begin work on a new 7,500 to 9,000-seat arena, financed entirely with private money….

There's little doubt a new arena that size — and an OHL team occupying it — would have an impact on the Golden Horseshoe entertainment market. Many of the smaller concert offerings that presently perform at FirstOntario Centre might look there instead. And a building that size could be enticing to more than one team.

Back when Paletta threw out his idea four years ago, Hamilton Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer said if a 9,000-seat arena suddenly opened in this area, he'd at least consider putting his team there. It would certainly be more appropriate for an AHL franchise than where he is now.…

This isn't the first time there's been interest in the market. Even recently.

"About a year ago, we were visited by a gentleman who had plans for an OHL club and an arena," Ward One Coun. Rick Craven says.

The man — who was only identified as a builder — was apparently interested in the land off the 403 by the Aldershot GO station owned by Burlington businessman Angelo Paletta. Craven directed the interested man to the city manager who arranged a meeting with the mayor.

"It didn't go very far," Mayor Rick Golding says, mainly because the man wanted the city to pay for most of the project. And Goldring says he sees little to no likelihood of Burlington paying for most of a $50-million-or-so arena project any time soon.

Read it in full here.



Municipalities routinely describe themselves as "open for business". As practical positioning, however, it is borderline meaningless, and in this particular case, developers might scoff.

Even aside from the Ticats' stadium canard, Meed Ward has a history of cost-cutting in service of lower taxes. The 2011 Aldershot stadium debate partly hinged on the highest use of employment lands in a city running out of places to site jobs, a concern that the then-councillor identified ("My focus is on ensuring the long term prosperity of Burlington," she said, “including attracting high-paying jobs and investment, and keeping our city finances healthy"). A publicly owned facility of any kind sited on prime employment land displaces private investment and undermines tax base growth. Meed Ward seemed unconvinced by talk of the stadium's promised $1.4B in regional economic activity spin-off from a 60-year-old pro sports franchise, so it's unclear how much more lucrative a five-year-old OHL team with dramatically lower attendance would be perceived.

I'm pretty sure there's no one on this board who still has hopes of Hamilton getting an NHL team. Wanting to keep an NHL sized arena has nothing to do with an NHL team.

Agreed. That ship has sailed. Call it a “major event size arena”.

One of the city's biggest developers says he has a $200-million plan to redevelop Hamilton's aging downtown entertainment facilities, and build two new office buildings to boot.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...ncor-1.5443446

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c9b21535_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 01 by R L, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b10ef636_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 02 by R L, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d2091d4b_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 03 by R L, on Flickr

YES PLEASE!!! but include more digital screens outside

It looks better but will it still stink like ten thousand asses stinks?

Looks good to me. Adding a third level of suites in between the existing first and second level as well as adding new access points probably sheds capacity to around 15k like Winnipeg which isnt all that bad for us. Lower bowl probably in btw 7 and 8k.

The exterior looks a lot better than how it currently looks, but the renders are pretty basic so it could still be a disappointment... hard to tell.

I like their approach to blocking off the upper deck. Better than using big curtains, and definitely better than some arenas that just cover the seats.

Looks great and it will offer a very intimate scene. But the lower bowl legroom is still going to reek.

What exactly is being proposed to block off upper decks? It's not extremely clear from the photos.

Looks like something similar to what they use in Atlanta(Mercedes Benz Stadium) to switch from NFL to MLS.

Yes, you can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9tmjluKoBw

Although I think it'll look better at FOC with a very light colour which may be reflecting some light to eliminate a dreary look. In the BOOM 101.9 radio interview the other day they mentioned that they'd be using "technology and visual effects to shrink the appearance of the size of the arena". Not sure exactly what technology is involved, but I do like the effort they intend to put into it.

I'm curious to see Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group's plans, they have some of Hamilton's heavy hitters part of the group, LiUNA, Paletta International, Joyce family, etc.

However, at the same time, Vrancor has a great record and I'm not worried if Darko was awarded the deal that he won't sit on it for long. Hell, he'll probably erect a crane within five months lol

I wonder how Vrancor intends to expand the Convention Centre at its current location, it's already a tight spot.

A cool idea that I thought about would be to expand over the MacNab terminal, the terminal would now be underneath the Convention Centre. Sort of like the St Catharines terminal.

He could bridge over MacNab onto the old Robinson Royal Bank site where they could add a hotel and condo tower.

This would be brilliant!

If Second Real Properties were inclined to sell off the Robert Thomson Building, that would yield up to 143,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space next door to the Sheraton and above underground parking, potentially in addition to the 52,000 square foot HCC, which is puny (the Sheraton itself offers 18,000 square feet of meeting and convention space).

Not sure if it was engineered to offer the potential for vertical expansion, but doubling the capacity of the convention centre, as Vrancor has pledged, would require adding 2-3 additional storeys to the existing complex. Doubling size sounds like an epic target but the HCC is remarkably tiny. In 2011, HECFI's auditors noted that it was "Ontario's smallest convention centre".

Typically when a Convention Centre are expanded, it's not to add another floor to the existing building, its to add more floor space within the same floor.

So I imagine Vrancor would plan to go over the MacNab terminal and right up to the Church. Another example would be the Winnipeg Convention Centre, which was recently expanded.

https://lmnarchitects.com/wp-content...80-960x660.jpg
https://lmnarchitects.com/project/rb...ntre-expansion

Typically, sure. But since this is mostly beat reporters paraphrasing proposals that have yet to be formally articulated, there is room for interpretation. The plan will be more apparent once the details of the proposal are made explicit, at some point following council's Feb 5 in-camera session.

The way the Vrancor proposal is being spoken of now, it sounds like a $200M pool is funding a state-of-the-art arena reno, a new hotel and an extra 50K sq ft of convention centre space. If that's the case, we can expect efficiencies.

Winnipeg's 2015 expansion, for example, cost $180M, which works out to around $195M in 2019 dollars — but since that project added 10 times the square footage Vrancor is proposing (at 43,000 square feet, the street-spanning City Room is 4/5 the size of the entire HCC), we can expect it would come with a fraction of the price tag.

A 2016 report to council weighed two reno options for FOC: a $68M partial upgrade (adding modern boxes and concessions to the lower bowl) or a $252M blue-sky upgrade to NHL-grade venue criteria. Presumably it'd be closer to the first option, but with a bit more razzle-dazzle.

Building a hotel to the specs of the 182-room Homewood Suites would run around $40M, but it's possible that the facility in question is already in the works.

Adjusted for inflation, the HCC cost $47M in 2019 CAD. Expanding it could conceivably represent around half of the $200M, a rational and self-interested investment given that the HCC's primary reason for existing is to fill hotels, of which Vrancor controls most of the downtown hotel universe.

More pictures from Vancor.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...79761978_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 05 by R L, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7050518a_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 04 by R L, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0c537792_z.jpgVrancor vision of the new FirstOntario Centre 06 by R L, on Flickr

Love the idea of using that space up top as a "Jurassic Park" style plaza

I also love the idea of turning that area into a Jurassic park style area, only thing is that it would rarely be used.

Doesnt look like hes adding a second concourse for the upper level which all the new arenas have. Guess when you only use the upper level once a month its not really needed.

Where would you put that? At the very top of the upper level? The current concourse is generally where the upper level concourse would be in those new arenas. Those arenas also have club or suite levels in between lower and upper levels. You would need a lower level concourse added about midway up the lower bowl (in order to still have the dressing rooms and service areas under it) and I'm not sure there is the room for that. Ideally the upper concourse would be a few rows up the upper level as well, which allows the space. You would basically need to rebuild the entire building to make that happen I think.

LOVE the entrance from the Jackson Square food court! Opening it up to the mall would be a boon for business especially the food court before & after events! This could finally bring extended hours to parts of the mall instead of most everything closing at 6pm!!!

Right on top of the current concourse. Look at an aerial of the arena. It was literally made to stack right on top with cut outs to enter into the upper deck. Right now the upper deck you have to walk down to the lower deck. A stacked concourse on top of the current means you would walk laterally to the new upper concourse from the upper deck.

At other arenas you walk laterally into the upper deck, not up a flight of stairs which begins flush with the lower level. See Pittsburgh’s arena or Quebec City.

See below images courtesy of the spec which show the stackable concourse area.

https://dynamicmedia.zuza.com/zz/m/o...r_Portrait.jpg

https://dynamicmedia.zuza.com/zz/m/o....4_Gallery.jpg

It's been forever since I've been in there so I don't remember it well. I just remember it being the worst arena to get in and out of with that single concourse. But I guess it was the budget way to do things 35 years ago with no guarantee of a pro team. If a new concourse can be built above the current one, that would be ideal. Would also create more washroom and concessions space. Not sure how that fits in the budget or as you said, if even needed given the upper level usage.

Then there were three: New plan rolls in as City of Hamilton weighs downtown venue options
Private sector investors offer millions of redevelopment dollars

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...venue-options/

Just as Hamilton council is set to consider two multimillion dollar redevelopment proposals for its aging downtown venues, a third business group has stepped up to the plate.

The city has received an expression of interest to build a new luxury hotel, state-of-the-art convention centre and potentially a new arena from an investment consortium led by Ancaster-based Pearle Hospitality.

Pearle is best known locally as the owner of the Pearle Hotel and Spa and Spencer's restaurant, both on Burlington's waterfront, and the Ancaster Mill and Elora Mill eateries.

Its proposal lands as council is slated to receive a closed-door staff presentation Wednesday on offers to redevelop the FirstOntario Centre, Hamilton Convention Centre and FirstOntario Concert Hall from the Vrancor Group and Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group.

For its pitch, Pearle is partnering with Society Developments and Ironpoint Capital Management, but the lead role belongs to Pearle president Aaron Ciancone, who happens to be Coun. Lloyd Ferguson's nephew. The director of the project is Aaron Waxman, grandson of the late Chester Waxman, the storied scrap metal magnate and community volunteer.