Northlands signals desire to be an even bigger player
Gary Lamphier
The Edmonton Journal
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Northlands opened its new downtown office -- on the second floor of the World Trade Centre -- with a splash Wednesday.
Roughly a hundred business and political leaders jammed a sixth-floor reception room to celebrate the launch, hobnobbing over nibblies and drinks as board chairman Andy Huntley sang Northlands' praises, and a juggler on stilts wowed passing office workers on the street outside.
While the non-profit organization's new downtown beachhead on Jasper Avenue is largely symbolic -- after all, its 65-hectare home base is just two LRT stops away -- the move signals Northlands' intent to play an even bigger role in the city's entertainment scene in the years ahead.
Clearly, it has the chops to do so, Huntley says.
Northlands' facilities -- including Rexall Place -- currently host more than 2,500 events and four million visitors annually, with about 25 per cent of all patrons travelling to Edmonton from outside the city.
That generates about $355 million in direct spending, and roughly $1 billion in spinoff economic activity throughout the region and the province, Northlands estimates.
The emergence of Rexall Place as a top-tier venue for concerts and other events -- Pollstar magazine ranked it 12th worldwide in 2007, in terms of ticket sales -- has helped Northlands cement its status as one of the country's premier players in the entertainment and trade-show business.
Once it completes a $150-million expansion of the AgriCom later this year -- boosting the amount of contiguous space available for trade and consumer shows to 500,000 square feet -- Northlands will be able to compete with any Canadian facility outside of Metro Toronto.
Although trade shows don't generate the same kind of buzz as Edmonton Oilers hockey games, big-name concert acts, the Canadian Finals Rodeo, Capital Ex or the Rexall Edmonton Indy, they're also big money spinners.
"Just to give you a sense of the true impact of these shows, the Alberta Gift Show attracts over 34,000 retailers each year to Edmonton, while generating in excess of $300 million in wholesale spending, and $70 million in direct economic impact -- impressive numbers," Huntley says.
"When we're not driving economic growth for Edmonton, we're delivering a non-stop stream of exceptional experiences, in keeping with our reputation as Edmonton's centre of entertainment and excitement."
Huntley also underlined the success of the Rexall Edmonton Indy. Northlands figures the summer race generated more than $80 million in related regional spending, while showcasing Edmonton to a global television audience of 350 million homes in more than 180 countries.
"It's enormous, the reach that (event) has on television," Huntley says.
"Operating the Indy has also demonstrated our ability to execute events off our site, and we saw firsthand just how busy downtown hotels, shops and restaurants can really be. It's the tip of the iceberg."
Although Huntley didn't utter a word about the prospect of a new downtown arena eventually replacing the aging and undersized Rexall Place, he didn't have to. It was on everyone's mind, including that of Oilers president Patrick LaForge.
"I'm not the downtown development guy, I'll just be a tenant if it happens," he told an inquiring business columnist.
"I know that our lease is up in 2014. That doesn't mean Rexall is going to get knocked down that day. But it is, in my mind, a goal-line I've thought about for a long time. So I hope progress is made, but you're asking the wrong guy in terms of when and where and how it gets built."
For his part, Huntley says he expects some kind of concrete proposal for a new downtown arena to emerge later this year. Northlands is keenly interested in managing it, no matter where the facility is located, he stresses.
"Given our experience and history, we're really confident we'll have a role. Northlands clearly has the core competency."
The organization has held "very preliminary" meetings about the proposed project with other key parties -- notably Katz Sports Group, part of Oilers'owner Daryl Katz's corporate empire -- but Huntley says it's too early to say what will emerge from those discussions.
"It's just been a get-to-know-you peek at this point. If we had something to say, we would. It's really been very preliminary," he says.
"The Katz Sports Group has been excellent in just assuring our involvement. But who is going to do what, and how it shakes out -- that's all for another day."
When asked when that day may arrive, Huntley offered this: "I am really throwing darts in the air here, but I'd say in six months, you'll see something start to (take shape). That feels like the kind of time-frame where you may start to hear a more definitive proposal."
Meanwhile, LaForge says Jim Balsillie's latest bid to purchase an NHL team and move it to southern Ontario -- the co-CEO of Waterloo, Ont.-based tech giant Research In Motion has launched a $212.5-million US bid to acquire the financially strapped Phoenix Coyotes -- would be great news for Canadian hockey fans.
"There's no question in my mind that southern Ontario is a great hockey market, and probably underserved. You've got to say eventually, even the largest Starbucks in the world gets another Starbucks beside it."
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© The Edmonton Journal 2009
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