Ah, yes. Scott Radley, keeper of the junior hockey flame.
OHL hockey in Burlington?
(Hamilton Spectator, Scott Radley, Jan 20 2015)
A local businessman says the pieces may be falling into place to bring an Ontario Hockey League team to Burlington.
Is he right?
Burlington business owner Tim Wilson says he's aware of an out-of-town buyer with deep pockets — he only knows the man's first name — who likes the city as a hockey market and is interested in bringing a major junior team there. Meanwhile, he says a local builder he wouldn't name, but knows personally, is ready to begin work on
a new 7,500 to 9,000-seat arena, financed entirely with private money….
There's little doubt a new arena that size — and an OHL team occupying it — would have an impact on the Golden Horseshoe entertainment market. Many of the smaller concert offerings that presently perform at FirstOntario Centre might look there instead. And a building that size could be enticing to more than one team.
Back when Paletta threw out his idea four years ago, Hamilton Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer said if a 9,000-seat arena suddenly opened in this area, he'd at least consider putting his team there. It would certainly be more appropriate for an AHL franchise than where he is now.…
This isn't the first time there's been interest in the market. Even recently.
"About a year ago, we were visited by a gentleman who had plans for an OHL club and an arena," Ward One Coun. Rick Craven says.
The man — who was only identified as a builder — was apparently interested in the land off the 403 by the Aldershot GO station owned by Burlington businessman Angelo Paletta. Craven directed the interested man to the city manager who arranged a meeting with the mayor.
"It didn't go very far," Mayor Rick Golding says, mainly because the man wanted the city to pay for most of the project. And Goldring says he sees little to no likelihood of Burlington paying for most of a $50-million-or-so arena project any time soon.
Read it in full
here.
Municipalities routinely describe themselves as "open for business". As practical positioning, however, it is borderline meaningless, and in this particular case,
developers might scoff.
Even aside from the Ticats' stadium canard, Meed Ward has a history of cost-cutting in service of lower taxes. The 2011 Aldershot stadium debate partly hinged on the highest use of employment lands in a city running out of places to site jobs, a concern that the then-councillor identified ("My focus is on ensuring the long term prosperity of Burlington,"
she said, “including attracting high-paying jobs and investment, and keeping our city finances healthy"). A publicly owned facility of any kind sited on prime employment land displaces private investment and undermines tax base growth. Meed Ward seemed unconvinced by talk of the stadium's promised $1.4B in regional economic activity spin-off from a 60-year-old pro sports franchise, so it's unclear how much more lucrative a five-year-old OHL team with dramatically lower attendance would be perceived.
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