New Downtown Calgary Arena

[Stang]

Seattle is a good example of two big stadiums, downtown, near transit, and no giant sea of parking nearby.

[polishavenger]

In my mind any new arean should essentially be surrounded by a mall incorporating CRU's and entertaiment establishments, hotels, convention space, and residential. this model would work great in the west village with the stadium component built right next to the C-Train Station. There needs to be activity around the clock in a place like this, not just during game days.

[Innersoul1]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

That's definitely not the model I'm advocating. a small arena district surrounded by an ocean of parking is just a horrible use of land.

Yeah, not advocating that kind of development either. I think that the olympic way redevelopment will help to create a bit of a district. Adding the new Cowboys aspect to the Casino and potential hotel will surely add to all of that

Originally Posted by bigcanuck

How about the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre area of L.A. (called L.A. Live)? Lots of restaurants, a courtyard, 2 world class hotels and not a whack of parking lots surrounding the area. Not immediately on the subway line though.

I like LA Live but I don't find it as inviting from the street. In fact, given that the conference centre is right next to the Staples Centre there is certainly not a lot of traffic but if you look at Google Streetview the streets around the Staples Centre are not inviting at all! THat being said, the Staples Centre and Nokia centre are nothing short of amazing.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by freeweed

The parking is definitely because it's in the middle of nowhere, plus American sports facilities just have SOOO much more on average than we do. I've actually been to baseball games where you can park well over half a kilometer away, on contiguous asphalt.

Kansas City's parking lot is ENORMOUS. The Saddledome (or McMahon) has practically no parking by comparison.

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Oh absolutely the US facilities have more, the minimum size for an NFL stadium is around 80 000 people! that's McMahon (with extra seats), plus 2 Saddledomes!

The area around Staples Centre is more in line with what I was thinking.

Just compare Kansas city's parking lot to Barcelona's. link. Nou camp has a capacity of almost 100K. Almost no parking.

[kw5150]

I really hope the best for this. Many arenas around the world are dead space unless a game is going on. Be careful what you wish for.

[kw5150]

Originally Posted by fusili

Just compare Kansas city's parking lot to Barcelona's. link. Nou camp has a capacity of almost 100K. Almost no parking.

very cool. Love Barcelona. maybe I am just being harsh on Calgary. In reality, thousands of people take transit to get to games. I am actually quite impressed.

[Innersoul1]

Originally Posted by Stang

Seattle is a good example of two big stadiums, downtown, near transit, and no giant sea of parking nearby.

Amazing bars and restaurants around both stadia as well.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by fusili

Just compare Kansas city's parking lot to Barcelona's. link. Nou camp has a capacity of almost 100K. Almost no parking.

European cities do it right, but they have the population density in the area immediately surrounding the stadium to have most people actually walk to the game. Transit is far ahead in Europe too, once again because of the density of the city.

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by polishavenger

In my mind any new arean should essentially be surrounded by a mall incorporating CRU's and entertaiment establishments, hotels, convention space, and residential. this model would work great in the west village with the stadium component built right next to the C-Train Station. There needs to be activity around the clock in a place like this, not just during game days.

Isn't this kind of what we have with the Saddledome, once Stampede Trail is built out? They are putting a hotel in I believe, we have the convention space with BMO centre, and all the condo towers surrounding it are built (or being built, as in Epic and Nuera 2 and Keynote 2).

All these wish lists sound very similar to what we will soon have. Problem is not enough box seats in the saddledome. I don't think that is a big enough problem to justify a huge layout of tax payer dollars.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Isn't this kind of what we have with the Saddledome, once Stampede Trail is built out? They are putting a hotel in I believe, we have the convention space with BMO centre, and all the condo towers surrounding it are built (or being built, as in Epic and Nuera 2 and Keynote 2).

All these wish lists sound very similar to what we will soon have. Problem is not enough box seats in the saddledome. I don't think that is a big enough problem to justify a huge layout of tax payer dollars.

We will have that, unfortunately the dome is supposed to be demolished within 5 years, so it is kind of a moot point (unless the new arena goes on that street or very near by).

[Barnes]

Columbus has a pretty neat arena district with a ball park that I wish we could have in Calgary.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Don't forget the zombies. Anyone able to dig up that pic from the WLRT days?

All I can find is this

[DizzyEdge]

Oh here we go:


my pic

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

We will have that, unfortunately the dome is supposed to be demolished within 5 years, so it is kind of a moot point (unless the new arena goes on that street or very near by).

Where did you hear this?!?

[polishavenger]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Isn't this kind of what we have with the Saddledome, once Stampede Trail is built out? They are putting a hotel in I believe, we have the convention space with BMO centre, and all the condo towers surrounding it are built (or being built, as in Epic and Nuera 2 and Keynote 2).

All these wish lists sound very similar to what we will soon have. Problem is not enough box seats in the saddledome. I don't think that is a big enough problem to justify a huge layout of tax payer dollars.

Close, but Im talking integrated with the stadium structure itself. When games are out, nobody is using the building or the concorse areas. If the concourse was part of an active mall, then there would be no reason the building would be dead during the day.

[suburb]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Isn't this kind of what we have with the Saddledome, once Stampede Trail is built out? They are putting a hotel in I believe, we have the convention space with BMO centre, and all the condo towers surrounding it are built (or being built, as in Epic and Nuera 2 and Keynote 2).

All these wish lists sound very similar to what we will soon have. Problem is not enough box seats in the saddledome. I don't think that is a big enough problem to justify a huge layout of tax payer dollars.

The problem with the BMO centre and the immediate stampede visinity are several:

1. It can't be used for most conventions because there are very few rooms required by conventions. There are the exhibition halls and a couple very small rooms. So it is not a convention centre but more an exhibition centre. There is a difference.
2. There are no, or not enough, hotels within walking distance. That's the other reason that the BMO centre, even if it had additional break out rooms, is not great for conventions.

With respect to the Staples centre example, I've been advocating for that all along. We need to integrate major projects - and we already have a convention centre expansion or re-do in the works. I haven't heard thoughts around the convention centre planning, but there is no real room around the existing one. Maybe the whole thing can be moved and placed in an integrated site big enough for a new arena and all the stuff we love to see around it to make it lively, exciting and the place to be.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

We will have that, unfortunately the dome is supposed to be demolished within 5 years, so it is kind of a moot point (unless the new arena goes on that street or very near by).

It will be very close based on discussions I've had with people who work for the firm doing the plans for the new arena for the Flames. Though theres nothing saying the Dome will be demolished in 5 years, the Flames lease is up in 3 though.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Where did you hear this?!?

The Flames want to demolish the dome when they build a new arena, that way the new building won't have to compete with the dome for revenue.

I've said it before, I think they should keep the dome and demo the corral.

[MalcolmTucker]

Yeah, have a contract that limits the dome to 10,000 seats or maybe the lower bowl (or number of seats equivalent so could still use 'auditorium set up'), low enough that it isn't in direct competition, but high enough to generate enough revenue to keep up maintenance. If the economics don't work after 5 years the city could re-evaluate, but there is little point in destroying civic infrastructure before its possible shelf life is up.

Could always rework the bowl to make it entirely retractable seating to have a nice flat pad for trade shows aswell (not sure on the engineering feasibility of this, but I doubt the seat supports in the bowl support much other than the seats themselves, while providing amentity space below).

Vancouver gets by with both GM Place and Pacific Coliseum, and Salt Lake has (or had) two large arenas for when they hosted the Olympics.

[albertantraingeek]

Originally Posted by kw5150

We dont need two dead spaces in the downtown area (stampede)

I like your thinking! That would be