TD Coliseum | ? | 4 fl | Under Construction

[ScreamingViking]

Some pics from a Spec story today (and confirmation that the "Hamilton arena" will sport a new corporate name). Also notes some design details, like how the private box situation is planned to change, and that things are still on-time for a late-2025 completion and still meeting the $280M budget.


A first glimpse at the inside of the downtown arena renos
By Scott Radley
The Hamilton Spectator
Sept. 16, 2024

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-re...f2c89e9-186e-5390-8090-5bd2161a7c9b.html









Video:
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews...f34-cead307dfe4f/66e88c2bdf8fb.video.mp4


The seats are all out. The private boxes are gone. The stairs you’d use to exit from the concourse onto York Boulevard are no more. The scoreboard is wrapped in plastic. And finishings have been removed from every corner of the place.

Four months after renovations began at the building formerly known as FirstOntario Centre (we’ll get to what that means in a second), the place looks like you’ve never seen it before.

“For people who see the outside facade and think nothing’s happening,” says Oak View Group vice-president of communications Teri Washington, “it is.”

...

Had you ever taken the escalator near the box office to the lower level, you’d be aware of the huge open space that typically was used for not very much. It’s now going to be the main concession area for those in the lower bowl.

“This all used to be storage,” Young says. “This will all be a new concourse.”

There will be a number of clubs down there as well. Plus 10 unique private boxes running the length of the arena (this means the arena’s unique retractable seats that allowed the floor to be expanded for certain events will be no more) to go along with 10 suites higher up on the old concourse that’ll be on the other side.

The stage will remain at the east end where it’s always been. But it’ll now be cut into the stands which will set it back and allow for more seats during a concert. Roughly 15,000 for a typical show. During a sports event, those will be filled with new retractable seats that’ll complete the bowl.

One other major change comes with the modernization of a 40-year-old arena that was built for life in the 1980s.

“One of the things we do now that, quite frankly, didn’t even exist then was the technology infrastructure,” Young says. “This building basically had none.”

In order to have good WiFi, solid cell service, tap-and-go pay systems, modern HVAC and smoke systems, and other things, a ton of adjustments and additions are required.

Does all the endless concrete make that a challenge?

“It does,” Young says. “Concrete and cell service doesn’t go together.”

...

What’s most striking is how open the building feels with the suites around the concourse gone. There’s so much more light inside as a result. We’ll see if that remains once everything is done. But even beyond all the other stuff, it’s made the Hamilton Arena feel so different.

Yes, the Hamilton Arena. Throughout the tour, those involved continually called it that. We’ve heard that name used here and there for a while now rather than the name we’ve known it as for a decade. It’s on the construction helmets and the OVG website and other official items.

Is that significant?

“We are actively talking to several sponsors,” says Oak View Group Canada president Tom Pistore, who says an announcement should be coming by March.

Does that mean the place will soon have a new name?

“Yes.”

Just when you finally got used to calling it FirstOntario Centre instead of Copps …