[Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed - Page 30

MonctonRad · #**581** Posted **Apr 30, 2015, 2:17 PM**

Economic arguments aside, what this really boils down to is "what sort of city do you want Moncton to be". NBNYer nicely encapsulated this in a post a couple of pages back.

Moncton will survive without the events centre, but would do so as a miniature version of Detroit, with everyone living in the suburbs and conducting their lives in various power centres and business parks. Almost nobody would venture downtown, and only then if they work there or have appointments necessitating that they go there. That's pretty much the way that I function now. I can go months without taking a walk on Main Street, but I find that rather sad.

A city without a solid core in many ways has no soul. It makes it hard to define what the city is all about and without a definition of what the city is, it makes it difficult to attract new people to move here, especially bright young professionals who could move almost anywhere they want. These are the types of people that we need to attract if we want to remain vibrant.

The choice is ours. Do we want to be a miniature Detroit or a miniature New York City? I don't mean to be grandiose, but I think you get my drift here.......

Sunnybrae · #**582** Posted **Apr 30, 2015, 2:17 PM**

So the 12-15 million is more or less new money... wow. The old coliseum/agrena stays and provides trade shows with a venue. Can the new arena also be used for trade shows? Would there be a hotel attached? Yah I know, asking a lot of questions. Just want to wrap my head around this without being too influenced by either the yays or the nays. And yes, unless you have a major sports franchise with luxury boxes and such, your not going to generate profits from a sports arena. Most don't even in big cities.

NBNYer · #**583** Posted **Apr 30, 2015, 10:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

So the 12-15 million is more or less new money... wow. The old coliseum/agrena stays and provides trade shows with a venue. Can the new arena also be used for trade shows? Would there be a hotel attached? Yah I know, asking a lot of questions. Just want to wrap my head around this without being too influenced by either the yays or the nays. And yes, unless you have a major sports franchise with luxury boxes and such, your not going to generate profits from a sports arena. Most don't even in big cities.

The Events Centre would also include meeting space and could accommodate conventions and trade shows. Here's a quote from Councillor Dawn Arnold about some of the required components for a bid:

"Components of each bid we know must include: public plazas, must tie into the existing streetscape, 20,000 sq ft of meeting space, flexible concert space, a master plan (for the interface between the site and the other 11 acres), a gameday restaurant, and the building itself must be LEEDs certified and architecturally significant."

I've not heard of a hotel component before, but the owners of the Crown Plaza have hinted several times that they have plans for a major revamp of the hotel and development of the whole block that the building is located on.

A major investment would make sense for them as they would be directly across the street from a major venue. Now, as it stands, they are directly across the street from a huge ugly hole in the ground. I wouldn't blame them for not going ahead with their plans.

NBNYer · #**584** Posted **May 1, 2015, 12:56 AM**

Recent article on Radio-Can about the apparent discrepancy in governmental funding of major infrastructure projects between major maritime cities and how Moncton is severely trailing the pack.

http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlan...rastructures-iniquite.shtml?isAutoPlay=1

Analysis from the article shows cumulative major infrastructure project funding from federal and provincial partnerships for maritime cities for the past few years:

447 millions de dollars à Halifax
237 millions à Saint-Jean, au N.-B.
un peu moins de 100 millions à Fredericton
pour Moncton, 0

This seems by no means a scientific analysis, but the authors seem to point the finger to a lack of cooperation and petty politics as being major stumbling blocks.

Nashe · #**585** Posted **May 5, 2015, 2:47 PM**

Fairly impassioned pleas for the center last night in the public Moncton City Council meeting. Did anyone watch it?

Taeolas · #**586** Posted **May 5, 2015, 3:51 PM**

The CBC had an article about it.

And of course the CBC comments are unreadable.

Nashe · #**587** Posted **May 5, 2015, 3:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taeolas

The CBC had an article about it.
And of course the CBC comments are unreadable.

Yeah, I try not to look a them. The trollage is... incredible.
I've gradually gone from "YES!" to "maybe..." to "maybe not..." back to "yes" on this one. DT really needs a shot in the arm and this is the second chance (Casino was first) to do that.
These are the kinds of things (services, really) that paying taxes for is... for. IMHO, I believe the majority of Monctonians want it, too, even if they do think it's expensive.

tmacdougall · #**588** Posted **May 5, 2015, 4:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

Fairly impassioned pleas for the center last night in the public Moncton City Council meeting. Did anyone watch it?

I attended last nights council meeting with the expectations of hearing the city manager, Jacques Dube give a presentation on the DT centre. Unfortunately, Mr. Dube was involved in a hit and run accident a couple of nights ago. Fortunately, he is not seriously injured. They will postpone the DT Centre presentation to the 19th of May.

That being said, I was thoroughly, THOROUGHLY impressed with the presentation Adam Conter, Senior Sales Associate at CBRE gave. The presentation was to take 5 minutes but ended up approx. 35 minutes in length. He and Counselor Hicks exchanged barbs several times with Adam providing the most appealing of arguments.

Kevin Arsenault, another concerned citizen also provided solid points on why he believes the DT Centre is a piece in bigger puzzle, which is our downtown. Mr. Arsenault suggested the council must remain vigilant with their decision to support the project and that a public opinion poll is strictly a waste of time.

I would fully recommend watching the first 40 minutes of this meeting. Counselor Arnold was having a difficult time keeping the smile off her face.

Nashe · #**589** Posted **May 5, 2015, 5:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmacdougall

That being said, I was thoroughly, THOROUGHLY impressed with the presentation Adam Conter, Senior Sales Associate at CBRE gave. The presentation was to take 5 minutes but ended up approx. 35 minutes in length. He and Counselor Hicks exchanged barbs several times with Adam providing the most appealing of arguments.

I heard this from someone who attended as well. It was practically a debate and Conter came out very, very well.

PS: Didn't they already take an opinion poll (given: a sampled one) a while back, with 60% approval, 28% disapproval? Or was that too far before NB's financial problems?

NBNYer · #**590** Posted **May 5, 2015, 6:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmacdougall

I would fully recommend watching the first 40 minutes of this meeting.

Is this posted online somewhere?

Nashe · #**591** Posted **May 5, 2015, 6:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Is this posted online somewhere?

Here:

Rogers

MonctonRad · #**592** Posted **May 5, 2015, 7:58 PM**

Thanks for the link.

I occasionally used to watch Moncton city council meetings on Roger's TV, but now that we have Fibre op, that wasn't an option any more. I didn't realize that this was available for free viewing on the interweb.

I'll have to check on this from time to time now.......

BlackYear · #**593** Posted **May 5, 2015, 9:21 PM**

WOW! Very impressive Mr. Conter.

Sometimes it takes the voice of an outsider to completely change things around.

I can only wish the see Mr. Aquilini up on deck.

habskilla · #**594** Posted **May 6, 2015, 1:12 PM**

Thanks for the link. Well worth the viewing. I'd recommend everyone to view Mr. Conter's presentation and especially the 40 minute debate.

Monctoncore · #**595** Posted **May 6, 2015, 6:21 PM**

All I can say is wow and if he was in politics I would vote for him!

habskilla · #**596** Posted **May 7, 2015, 11:38 AM**

I sent him a email to say how much I enjoyed his presentation.

adam period conter at cbre.com

pierremoncton · #**597** Posted **May 7, 2015, 2:12 PM**

Joe Oliver does not confirm federal cash for Moncton centre

Quote:

[...]

The federal government will not directly fund sports centres, but Goguen has said Ottawa would be willing to pay for infrastructure projects in Moncton that would then free up $23.5 million for the city to spend on the downtown centre.

[...]

But the finance minister did not confirm whether Ottawa would hand over any cash as Goguen has promised.

[...]

Despite Goguen's optimism over federal funding for the downtown project, ACOA's Moore was also less direct when asked about the centre last week.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...ederal-cash-for-moncton-centre-1.3064611

What a circus.

MonctonRad · #**598** Posted **May 7, 2015, 4:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

What a circus.

Indeed. All Joe Oliver is doing is encouraging Brian Gallant to be even more obstinate on this project than he already is.

The feds won't commit until the province is on board and the province won't commit unless the feds are on board. The situation is even further complicated by the impending federal election and the poliitical maneuvering between Dominic LeBlanc and Robert Goguen.

Nothing is going to happen until after the federal election and by then, it will all be too late.

I think it's time to fire up the paving machine and start building that shiny new parking lot where Highfield Square used to be......

Mattyyy · #**599** Posted **May 8, 2015, 2:32 PM**

I feel like the CBC just put the nail in the coffin on the events center.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...ineligible-for-federal-funding-1.3065455

mylesmalley · #**600** Posted **May 8, 2015, 4:54 PM**

There's nothing new in that article that we haven't known for a year. The whole point of what they were trying to do was get fed funding for other projects that would qualify so that the city could divert the money they would have spent to the Centre.

I just wish the CBC here would stop beating around the bush and run a headline like "CBC Officially Opposes Moncton Event Centre".