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DCL has little interest is selling the Commodore site to the city...

Halifax looking at wrong site for stadium, Dartmouth Crossing owners say
December 8, 2011 - 6:55pm / Chronicle Herald

The owners of Dartmouth Crossing Ltd. want a new stadium built at a major intersection near the Empire Theatres complex and not at the Commodore Drive site favoured by the project’s advisory committee.

“We did not talk to the consultants about the site favoured by the advisory committee,” Ann-Louise McKinnon, general manager at Dartmouth Crossing, said Thursday.

McKinnon said it is the so-called quarry site, north of Wright Avenue and near the theatre complex and restaurant district, and not the Commodore Drive site favoured by the committee, that Dartmouth Crossing Ltd. prefers for a proposed new stadium.

“The quarry site is at a superior location, at a major intersection within Dartmouth Crossing and immediately adjacent to the Highway 118 intersection,” said McKinnon.

“It is fully serviced with sewer, water and vehicle access. It is the best location for handling large volumes of traffic for stadium events and more compatible with existing development than is the case with the Commodore Drive site.”

If there is a perceived problem with the quarry site, it is that it is quarry land that would require clearing if a stadium is constructed.

“Removing some rock is not a huge problem,” McKinnon said. “Much of Dartmouth Crossing was quarry land before it was developed.”

She said she did not want to speculate on the variance in values of the quarry site compared with the Commodore Drive location, which is level and clear and ready for development.

She said it would be up to officials with North American Development Group, the developers of Dartmouth Crossing, to determine any eventual selling price of either of the properties.

Glenn Munro, North American Development Group’s managing partner for Eastern Canada, said Thursday the group is working on some preliminary plans for commercial and retail development at the Commodore Drive site, and for that reason, it pitched the quarry location for a stadium to the consultants.

Provincial property records indicate the quarry site has an assessed value for tax purposes of about $4-million, about double the value of the assessed value of the Commodore Drive site, but Munro said it is too early to speculate on how much land would be required for a stadium if it is built or what the land would cost.

“This was a consultative process only and not a full-blown negotiation on a price.”

Halifax Regional Municipality was urged to proceed with a bid for a stadium, and to break ground at the Commodore site, located at the intersection of Commodore Drive and John Savage Avenue, in a report from the project’s advisory committee.

That recommendation was based on information provided in the $275,000 assessment of stadium options prepared for the city by Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell Ltd.

The Commodore site received top marks but was not put forward as a potential site for a stadium by the landowners, according to a Dec. 6 report presented by staff to regional council.

“The rating of that site reflects its desirable qualities and does not reflect any conversation (about the) desire of the landowner to participate,” said the report, available on the municipality’s website.

“It was considered as a result of its proximity to the existing municipal artificial turf facilities in that area.”

The municipality owns a big sports field and an adjacent Commodore Drive property.

A municipal analysis suggested capital costs of a stadium will begin at $55 million and will be affected by size and seating variations and location.

Four sites made it to the shortlist: Commodore Drive was first; Shannon Park second; Dartmouth Crossing quarry site third; and a Burnside Park location fourth.