[St. John's] Convention Centre Expansion

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

That being said we HAVE come a very long way, attitudes are changing even if it's bit by bit.

Look at the airport they are going to DOUBLE the size.. I think that's going to be a good forward thinking project .. it's also difficult when you are using public money like for the convention centre, the public outcry all the time about anything being spent above the perceived "need".

However I hope they have an idea of how they will expand it more in the future (no more room) .. maybe they will be able to go up and add move floors? I dont know but give it ten years after it's complete and we'll be crying for a new one

I say enough catch up -> time to start shooting for the moon

edit:
This is why we need more young people with fresh ideas helping shape our city

Prime Example.....MileOne.....was good back when, but nowadays its getting too small for the area.

[jeddy1989]

Hey do you guys think that it would be possible to expand Mile One? by like adding a second level of seating?

Maybe if they do a design fanning out as it rises .. keeping the footprint not as large as it is higher up the building??





There's a bit of space around it but there isnt much ... we could demolish city hall and use that land too ... build a new city hall in the west end DT JK


maybe in a creative design they could expand right to new gower street and have the bus area on top of the stadium from the street behind (an advantage of the elevations)

[statbass]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

Hey do you guys think that it would be possible to expand Mile One? by like adding a second level of seating?

Maybe if they do a design fanning out as it rises .. keeping the footprint not as large as it is higher up the building??

There's a bit of space around it but there isnt much ... we could demolish city hall and use that land too ... build a new city hall in the west end DT JK


maybe in a creative design they could expand right to new gower street and have the bus area on top of the stadium from the street behind (an advantage of the elevations)

To create an upper bowl you would probably have to expand outwards as well as upwards. I don't think it'll be a problem on the front-end of the building, but the back-end is extremely close to the hill and could pose a problem. If the need is there I'm sure a viable solution could be found!

[crackiedog]

Originally Posted by statbass

To create an upper bowl you would probably have to expand outwards as well as upwards. I don't think it'll be a problem on the front-end of the building, but the back-end is extremely close to the hill and could pose a problem. If the need is there I'm sure a viable solution could be found!

I may be wrong but I seem to recall reading when Mile One was under construction, that it was designed in such a way to facilitate future expansion.

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by statbass

To create an upper bowl you would probably have to expand outwards as well as upwards. I don't think it'll be a problem on the front-end of the building, but the back-end is extremely close to the hill and could pose a problem. If the need is there I'm sure a viable solution could be found!

The need is there now. When you have (according to the Ice Caps) approximately 2500 on the wait list for season tickets and 95% of concerts (even 2nd and third shows) sell out very quickly then it is not rocket science to realize Mile One is too small for the area.

[jeddy1989]

What do you guys think mile one centre capacity should be if expanded?

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

What do you guys think the convention centre capacity should be if expanded?

Hockey -------13500
Concert/events Depends on how the stage is set up.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by christopher_chafe

Hockey -------13500
Concert/events Depends on how the stage is set up.

and by convention centre I ment mile one centre

[statbass]

Originally Posted by christopher_chafe

Hockey -------13500
Concert/events Depends on how the stage is set up.

I'd say at least 10,000 for hockey games. It currently holds approximately 6500 and, like Chris mentioned, there seems to be a big enough demand for it.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by statbass

I'd say at least 10,000 for hockey games. It currently holds approximately 6500 and, like Chris mentioned, there seems to be a big enough demand for it.

I'd say at the very least 10,000 maybe up to 15.000

With the Airport upgrade and a larger stadium where an artist could do one show and get the amount of people they would for 2 and a half shows then be able to rely on getting in and out of the city.. I could see am increase in larger performances

[crackiedog]

A little bit of news on the convention center front. Looks like they are about to award the primary contract. Hopefully council doesn't balk at the increased cost.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...ender-401.html

St. John's city council has been told that the cost of building a massive expansion to the city's convention centre will be significantly higher than previously thought.

In a memo to council for Monday evening's regular meeting, city engineer Walt Mills recommends that councillors accept the lowest bid for the job of expanding the St. John's Convention Centre, off New Gower Street.

Pomerleau Inc. had bid $52,695,420.52 for the work.

In August 2011, officials outlined a $45-million plan to expand the convention centre, with $15 million each coming from the city, the federal government and the Newfoundland and Labrador government.

The expansion will nearly double the amount of floor space available for trade shows, meetings and conventions.

City Council believes the expansion will allow it to compete for conventions considered too large for the current facility.

Three other companies — Bird Construction, Olympic Construction and Marco Services Ltd. — had higher bids on the project.

[jeddy1989]

here's another article about it with renderings


Convention centre expansion to cost almost $10 M more than estimated

The City of St. John’s has awarded the main construction tender for the expansion of the St. John’s Convention Centre.
Pomerleau Inc., a company headquartered in Quebec, submitted the lowest bid amongst four received by the city, at $52.7 million. When first announced by the city in August 2011, the expansion had an estimated cost of $43.2 million.
Both the federal and provincial governments are each set to kick in $15 million for the project. While the tender awarded may exceed the initially announced figure by $9.5 million, Coun. Sandy Hickman says taxpayers will not be burdened by its cost.
The city’s $22.7-million share will be covered by an accommodation tax of four per cent that is applied to every hotel room in
St. John’s.
“The taxpayer of St. John’s will not be paying for the expansion of this building — that’s very critical to point out,” said Hickman, who is city council’s liaison on the convention centre project committee.
“This flexibility has allowed us to take a larger expansion than we may have, and indeed take care of some rising costs that have happened, naturally, over the last couple of years.”
Council voted unanimously to approve the tender at Monday’s public meeting.
Several properties have since been purchased and torn down in anticipation of construction work on the expansion.
Hickman said the full cost of the project — including design, demolition, street realignment and land acquisition — should fall in the range of $60 million to $62 million. That means the city’s full share
of the project will exceed $30 million.

According to Hickman, work should commence soon on the construction phase.
A tentative date for the completion of work to expand the convention centre is scheduled for December 2015, and Hickman said the site should be ready to host events the following spring.
The city is hoping increased capacity at the convention centre will enable St. John’s to attract larger events. It will have an overhead walkway connecting the site to the Delta Hotel, and 1,300 people will be able to dine in a new main ballroom. A junior ballroom will acc-ommodate 400 people.
At present, the site can handle conventions with 400 to 600 attendees.
The city says the expanded centre will have the capacity to host conventions with 600 to 800 guests.
“It will certainly work well for hosting a large convention or even two smaller conventions at the same time,” said Hickman.
The current convention centre is scheduled to close in the fall of 2014 to accommodate further construction.
Ward 2 Coun. Frank Galgay noted there are a number of hotel projects in the city at various stages of development. He said those endeavours will help support the expansion of the convention centre.
“I’m very pleased to see this very significant development,” he said.
According to a news release issued by the city on Monday, the St. John’s Convention Centre generates $35-40 million in annual revenue.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...an-estimated/1

[crackiedog]

Based on the article they are increasing the convention capacity from a maximum of 600 guests to a maximum of 800. Seems like a lot of work and expense for a 25% capacity increase. It is good that they are expanding it but I think this is a waste of a huge opportunity. They should have increased the capacity to 1000 at the very least and looked at including a hotel on the site, as has been mentioned here before.

[mrjanejacobs]

Originally Posted by JCE

Taken from the provincial gov. new release posted September 2012
http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/...ewsArticle/154

Wow - this design is tacky.

And more pedways? Fantastic.

But I think many commentators are right - the City is not aiming high enough with this expansion. Nevertheless, the design is pretty uninspiring. As is often the case, our City's contemporary architecture is poorly thought out and poorly designed.

--

There will not be any expansions to Mile One any time soon - the City subsidizes Mile One upwards of 1 Million per year (it used to be closer to 2-2.5 Million before the ice-caps resurfaced).

And do we really want a bigger stadium that accommodates 'concerts' with twice as many people? The ones that are already there are pretty lousy because the performer is so far away. Bigger doesn't always mean better. Perhaps an outdoor venue could be designed for larger performances...

[Copes]

Definitely more could have been done with the Convention Center. While its great to see the size increasing, and our potential to host conventions increasing, I feel like the potential just isn't being met. I don't hate the design too much, if all they want to put there is a one or two story space that can accommodate an extra 200 people. What I hate is that such a small increase in capacity is all they want to put there.

[crackiedog]

Originally Posted by Copes

Definitely more could have been done with the Convention Center. While its great to see the size increasing, and our potential to host conventions increasing, I feel like the potential just isn't being met. I don't hate the design too much, if all they want to put there is a one or two story space that can accommodate an extra 200 people. What I hate is that such a small increase in capacity is all they want to put there.

What also gets me is the cost is going to be around 60M. That seems pretty high for the added value of 200 people. I have to wonder what the incremental cost would have been for another 200-400 people.

As for the design. It really does nothing for me. I think they were trying to incorporate a "traditional" downtown St. John's feel with the colored portions but to me it looks like it wouldn't be out of place out on Stavanger Dr.

[mrjanejacobs]

Originally Posted by crackiedog

As for the design. It really does nothing for me. I think they were trying to incorporate a "traditional" downtown St. John's feel with the colored portions but to me it looks like it wouldn't be out of place out on Stavanger Dr.

I think you're exactly right. The design looks, in fact, quite cheap (very Stavanger Drive-esque - particularly with reference to these pier-like elements protruding outward along New Gower). I also have a problem with these attempts of using different colours and 'rainbow' like colour schemes to try to give the design a local feel. We're seeing it more and more often. It's so literal and uncreative. It's just like 'hey, our town has houses that are different colours, so let's use different colours in our design!'... good grief - very superficial designing. Easy fail in Architecture school. There are also no windows and apertures in the entire New Gower façade (other than what appears to be a massive vent?).

*Shudders* this design looks so ghetto. Embarrassing. Civic buildings are supposed to be inspiring...

[Architype]

Originally Posted by mrjanejacobs

I think you're exactly right. The design looks, in fact, quite cheap (very Stavanger Drive-esque - particularly with reference to these pier-like elements protruding outward along New Gower). I also have a problem with these attempts of using different colours and 'rainbow' like colour schemes to try to give the design a local feel. We're seeing it more and more often. It's so literal and uncreative. It's just like 'hey, our town has houses that are different colours, so let's use different colours in our design!'... good grief - very superficial designing. Easy fail in Architecture school. There are also no windows and apertures in the entire New Gower façade (other than what appears to be a massive vent?).

*Shudders* this design looks so ghetto. Embarrassing. Civic buildings are supposed to be inspiring...

The same architectural devices are purportedly being used in the design of the Steele Hotel according to the following quote; this design technique needs to be used with more care and discretion rather than as a quick band-aid solution for otherwise banal architecture.

The outside façade will be reminiscent of its colourful downtown surroundings, and incorporate bus shelters as well as public art.

http://downtownstjohns.com/news/2256-2/

[Copes]

I'm continuing to assume that the white rectangles underneath all the black brick are windows, simply because I'm trying really hard to like the design.

[kwajo]

I'm going to have to agree with the sentiment that the rendering is of an very uninspired building, not at all befitting a landscape as dramatic as St. John's or Newfoundland as a whole. The island and city have a very good reputation, and should be able to capture a huge convention centre business, but you need a signature, world-class building design to drive home the message and get signatures on the dotted line.