New Downtown Calgary Arena

[speedog]

Originally Posted by bt04ku

It's no Firepark, though.

And your point is?

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by outoftheice

Some interesting tweets from Rogers Place in Edmonton last night complaining about the length of the lines for the bathroom. https://twitter.com/OilersNation/status/852381693717618688

After attending a concert at Rogers Place that had me waiting 15 minutes in line to get through security at the main entrance and ten minutes in line to access the second bowl (one of the two escalators was broken and they wouldn't let people use it as stairs) this doesn't surprise me one bit.

Thing is the NHL and the Flames keep pointing Rogers Place as the shining example of everything Calgary hopes to gain compared to our tired old Saddledome. All I saw was a shiny new arena with a large number of private boxes suffering from the exact same problems fans complain about at the Saddledome except the Saddledome offered far better concession options. If this is what progress looks like at the cost of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars the Flames can forget it.

The bathroom lines aren't that bad. Sure they are longer than what they were before, but because you now have 25 pissers rather than 7 or 8, the lines move very fast. With that many, the line is basically a slow constant moving march.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by craner

But no replacement for McMahon.

That will happen. I think that's the project it makes sense to combine, leave the arena as a separate building. If they are smart, they will accommodate for a new baseball stadium along with a new football stadium and fieldhouse.

[tomthumb2]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

That will happen. I think that's the project it makes sense to combine, leave the arena as a separate building. If they are smart, they will accommodate for a new baseball stadium along with a new football stadium and fieldhouse.

I don't think so. Under this new plan, McMahon only gets some renovations.

[Rollerstud98]

Anything out yet on this?

[Bigtime]

Nope, Council pushed it back until after lunch to give themselves time to talk. Should be coming up shortly.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by tomthumb2

I don't think so. Under this new plan, McMahon only gets some renovations.

They will have to replace McMahon at some point, like the Saddledome it misses out on a lot of revenue from concerts and shows that can't be held there currently. Is that new report out yet?

[MalcolmTucker]

know full well that the economics essentially never works for public money to be put towards an arena like this

Depends what you mean by economics! Profit, economic activity boost, sure.

As for your other thoughts, funny you should mention that. Just a happy accident.

[Bigtime]

New Arena is the top building centre of the image.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

New Arena is the top building centre of the image.

Interesting discussions. Are you there Aaron? I'm in red.

Anyway, key points in my view include:
- West village / stampede integration into an entertainment district, leveraging existing assets such as NMC, BMO Centre, and growing collection of hotel options north of the 4th street underpass
- Leveraging to build out Olympic Way into a "high street" entry to the stampede grounds, with restaurant, service and entertainment options
- Building on strength IE making a successful BMO Centre better and stronger, building out hall F and leveraging with arena
- Leverage green line
- No toxic clean-up required
- No major roadworks required
- No using prominent riverfront for a super large building

[EDIT]

Wonder if there is any thought around improving access to 4th street from the Reconciliation Bridge, so that from memorial it is a clear entry to Olympic Way avoiding McLeod completely. I get that Reconciliation access could create challenges up-stream at Memorial, but just throwing it out there. Clearly a direct path via the 4th Avenue connector would be best as it is free-flow at Memorial, but that is more substantial infrastructure.

Irrespective, I'm hopeful that going forward, more people choose LRT for events going forward. Fact that this site would be serviced by both the Green and Red lines is huge.

[UofC.engineer]

Thanks fellas!

please keep the updates coming

[Bigtime]

Nope I'm not there, just casually following along via twitter.

[Rollerstud98]

Any information on the arena itself? Capacity and things like that? Coral going to be torn down with this plan?

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

Any information on the arena itself? Capacity and things like that? Coral going to be torn down with this plan?

I don't think any of those need to be nailed down for this phase.

The $500M redevelopment / expansion of the BMO Centre was mentioned as part of this proposed master plan, and that includes zapping the Corral.

Unfortunate about the coral bleaching issues in Australia though.

[patm]

Why keep CalgaryNext alive?

Short of the Flames deciding to pay for way more of it than they originally proposed, is there anything that could happen to make it viable? I thought it was essentially dead at this point. Weird vote. Even Nenshi voted to keep it alive.

I wonder if it's a bit of lip service to the Flames?

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by patm

Why keep CalgaryNext alive?

Short of the Flames deciding to pay for way more of it than they originally proposed, is there anything that could happen to make it viable? I thought it was essentially dead at this point. Weird vote. Even Nenshi voted to keep it alive.

I wonder if it's a bit of lip service to the Flames?

Because it is always good to have multiple options in a multi option analysis.

[Coldrsx]

Excited for you guys.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

As much as I don't like the public funding as proposed by CalgaryNext, I also don't like taking options off the table. If the Flames kicked in MUCH more money, it might start to make more sense...?

I think what the mayor has said is that in its *current* form it is dead. So yeah, if the Flames decided to kick in more, perhaps it becomes a viable option again. What we do know is that it is not viable in current form. If not viable, let's not waste time on it.

With Big Red, however, I'm sensing that this is a political maneuver. Anything to bog down Nenshi and ensure there is limited movement on all files.

Frankly speaking, if the Victoria Park option is the better plan, best to put all horses in front of this wagon and get it done. I really like that it will leverage the BMO expansion and redevelopment, and together that will be a fantastic facilities complex. Two train lines servicing it makes it hugely appetizing also.

[Just Build It]

Thank gif they've finally turned their attention to Victoria Park, it was the logical choice all along.

[PPAR]

Two questions
Is the plan to keep the Saddledome as an operational facility, and potentially related, is there any talk of how this development could tie into an Olympic bid?