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.
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