Hamilton Arena Project | ? | 4 fl | Under Construction

[king10]

Does the writer know we built a world class veledrome in milton?

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by king10

Does the writer know we built a world class veledrome in milton?

And does he realize we hold events that require 10,000-18,000 seats?

The article is basically "Toronto did this and it worked for them - we should do it too"... ignoring the fact that Toronto has other venues for larger scale concerts/events.
The arena was never just about the NHL.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Berklon

And does he realize we hold events that require 10,000-18,000 seats?

The article is basically "Toronto did this and it worked for them - we should do it too"... ignoring the fact that Toronto has other venues for larger scale concerts/events.
The arena was never just about the NHL.

Ya. That was a poorly written article. If he wants a veledrome, lawn bowling facility, 5000 seat arena etc. It would make more financial sense to sell the land the arena is on and build those faciltiies from scratch elsewhere rather than do a frankenstein retrofit of FOC.

[NortheastWind]

I welcome anything that brings people into the city, including competitive sports, but if we are going to re-purpose First Ontario Centre it needs to be for the masses not a select few.

[BCTed]

That article was not stellar.

Hamilton makes decent use out of Copps and its size. Kevin Hart just played a sold-out show in late April. The Stars on Ice will play to a sold-out audience this weekend. Tickets for three shows for the K-pop band BTS will pretty much certainly sell out when they go on sale next week. The only other cities currently lined up for that tour are Seoul, LA, Oakland, Fort Worth, Newark Chicago, London, Amerstdam, Berlin, Paris. Pretty cool that Hamilton is in such company.

[NortheastWind]

I drive by FOC every day on the way home from work and the building is looking pretty tired. Hopefully a plan is in the works.

[SteelTown]

Carmen’s teams up with L.A. powerhouse in venues bid
Carmen’s-led consortium to pitch entertainment ‘Precinct Plan’

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...in-venues-bid/

The Carmen's Group is upping the ante in its bid to manage the three city-owned downtown entertainment facilities formerly known as HECFI.

The Hamilton hospitality company has notified the city that its proposal to operate and potentially redevelop the aging arena, concert hall and convention centre now includes working with the Oak View Group (OVG), a heavyweight Los Angeles-based venue management, event booking and development company.

In a letter to the mayor and city councillors, Carmen's CEO PJ Mercanti flags OVG's participation in an offer from a Carmen's-led consortium to provide greater financial savings to the city and a forthcoming unsolicited offer to create a "Precinct Plan" for the "next generation" of sports, entertainment and convention facilities in the core.


"The fact that OVG is attracted to the vision that the local group is presenting and want to be a part of that speaks to what we're trying to bring to the table," Mercanti said in an interview.

OVG was founded in 2015 by Tim Leiweke, former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Irving Azoff, former chair and CEO of Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment.

Its executive team includes Peter Luukko, executive chair of the NHL Flordia Panthers and former CEO of Spectra, the company currently contracted by the city to run FirstOntario Centre (formerly Copps Coliseum) and FirstOntario Concert Hall (formerly Hamilton Place).

OVG was recently selected to build a new home for the NHL New York Islanders and is spearheading the $600-million renovation of the KeyArena in Seattle. This is its first prospective management foray into Canada.

Mercanti's letter follows one in February in which Carmen's first pitched taking over operations of the city venues in partnership with Scott Warren, former general manger of FirstOntario Centre and FirstOntario Concert Hall. Warren ran both venues on behalf of Spectra before leaving the company last December.

Spectra's five-year management contract with the city expires at the end of 2018.

Carmen's already operates the convention centre. Its contract also expires at the end of the year.

While Spectra is talking to the city about the possibility of a new contract obviously Carmen's is hoping to displace and replace the company as arena and concert hall manager.

In response to Carmen's first letter, council directed staff to explore broader private sector interest in managing and redeveloping the venues. Staff have yet to report back on options, but Mercanti says Carmen's will participate in any process council chooses.

Mercanti declines to say how Carmen's proposes to find more savings for the city but clearly he's hinting at the possibility of reducing if not eliminating the city's operating subsidies for the venues.

Carmen's got rid of its operating subsidies for the convention centre this year. Spectra receives about $1.4 million. Both companies have saved taxpayers millions of dollars since taking over from HECFI.

OVG reportedly reached out to Scott Warren after learning about his partnership with Carmen's via a Hamilton Spectator article. That led to company reps touring the city and nailing down an agreement.

Warren, who knows some of the OVG players from his time at Spectra, says the company brings a lot of muscle to the table. "They have this huge wealth of industry knowledge and clout."

Doug Higgons, OVG senior vice-president of facilities, says his company is "very bullish and excited" about the future of Hamilton after spending several months studying the market and its potential opportunities.

"We were looking for the right opportunity for the proper entrance into Canada and Hamilton fits that specifically," Higgons said.

Higgons says OVG, if given a chance, is specifically interested in working with the Carmen's consortium on the entertainment venues.

That consortium includes billionaire Ron Joyce, FirstOntario Credit Union, LiUNA and Fengate Capital.

They first came together with Carmen's to fund a consulting report on options for overhauling the 33-year-old arena, a study stickhandled by lawyer and consultant Jasper Kujavsky, who is now advising the group.

Kujavsky is especially keen on Carmen's idea for a comprehensive precinct plan.

For his part, Mercanti says it's premature to go into details but he hopes to bring a proposal shortly to council for exploring a sport-entertainment-commercial precinct in the core which could harmonize with a potential bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

[Sehnsucht]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Carmen’s teams up with L.A. powerhouse in venues bid
Carmen’s-led consortium to pitch entertainment ‘Precinct Plan’

https://www.thespec.com/opinion-stor...in-venues-bid/

The Carmen's Group is upping the ante in its bid to manage the three city-owned downtown entertainment facilities formerly known as HECFI.

The Hamilton hospitality company has notified the city that its proposal to operate and potentially redevelop the aging arena, concert hall and convention centre now includes working with the Oak View Group (OVG), a heavyweight Los Angeles-based venue management, event booking and development company.


In a letter to the mayor and city councillors, Carmen's CEO PJ Mercanti flags OVG's participation in an offer from a Carmen's-led consortium to provide greater financial savings to the city and a forthcoming unsolicited offer to create a "Precinct Plan" for the "next generation" of sports, entertainment and convention facilities in the core.


"The fact that OVG is attracted to the vision that the local group is presenting and want to be a part of that speaks to what we're trying to bring to the table," Mercanti said in an interview.

OVG was founded in 2015 by Tim Leiweke, former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Irving Azoff, former chair and CEO of Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment.

Its executive team includes Peter Luukko, executive chair of the NHL Flordia Panthers and former CEO of Spectra, the company currently contracted by the city to run FirstOntario Centre (formerly Copps Coliseum) and FirstOntario Concert Hall (formerly Hamilton Place).

OVG was recently selected to build a new home for the NHL New York Islanders and is spearheading the $600-million renovation of the KeyArena in Seattle. This is its first prospective management foray into Canada.

Mercanti's letter follows one in February in which Carmen's first pitched taking over operations of the city venues in partnership with Scott Warren, former general manger of FirstOntario Centre and FirstOntario Concert Hall. Warren ran both venues on behalf of Spectra before leaving the company last December.

Spectra's five-year management contract with the city expires at the end of 2018.

Carmen's already operates the convention centre. Its contract also expires at the end of the year.

While Spectra is talking to the city about the possibility of a new contract obviously Carmen's is hoping to displace and replace the company as arena and concert hall manager.

In response to Carmen's first letter, council directed staff to explore broader private sector interest in managing and redeveloping the venues. Staff have yet to report back on options, but Mercanti says Carmen's will participate in any process council chooses.

Mercanti declines to say how Carmen's proposes to find more savings for the city but clearly he's hinting at the possibility of reducing if not eliminating the city's operating subsidies for the venues.

Carmen's got rid of its operating subsidies for the convention centre this year. Spectra receives about $1.4 million. Both companies have saved taxpayers millions of dollars since taking over from HECFI.

OVG reportedly reached out to Scott Warren after learning about his partnership with Carmen's via a Hamilton Spectator article. That led to company reps touring the city and nailing down an agreement.

Warren, who knows some of the OVG players from his time at Spectra, says the company brings a lot of muscle to the table. "They have this huge wealth of industry knowledge and clout."

Doug Higgons, OVG senior vice-president of facilities, says his company is "very bullish and excited" about the future of Hamilton after spending several months studying the market and its potential opportunities.

"We were looking for the right opportunity for the proper entrance into Canada and Hamilton fits that specifically," Higgons said.

Higgons says OVG, if given a chance, is specifically interested in working with the Carmen's consortium on the entertainment venues.

That consortium includes billionaire Ron Joyce, FirstOntario Credit Union, LiUNA and Fengate Capital.

They first came together with Carmen's to fund a consulting report on options for overhauling the 33-year-old arena, a study stickhandled by lawyer and consultant Jasper Kujavsky, who is now advising the group.

Kujavsky is especially keen on Carmen's idea for a comprehensive precinct plan.

For his part, Mercanti says it's premature to go into details but he hopes to bring a proposal shortly to council for exploring a sport-entertainment-commercial precinct in the core which could harmonize with a potential bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

I would be thrilled about this as long as (a) they razed FOC, built a new NHL-sanctioned arena and (b) ensured great mixed-use development in the new 'precinct.'

Recalls what Pittsburgh did, and it has been a monumental success.

Hamilton Place is beyond beat: it needs to go down to the studs but preserve the acoustics of the hall. All glass along Main and King.

Then you'd have a great entertainment district that's close to Hess. And then restos and other amenities would spring up around to meet the demand of the throngs.

It would not surprise me at all if this consortium were making an early play at bringing in an NHL franchise, and to be honest I think they could get one: they have a serious pedigree, lots of cash, and this market is enormous--could easily float a pro team.

[TheRitsman]

I really don't get the obsession with moving the rink out of the downtown. ACC is only as successful as it is and such a great venue because it's right in the centre of the downtown and close to transit. Hamilton has one spot that is great at transit and that's downtown.

[king10]

Nhl caliber arena would cost over $500M. City doesn’t have money for that. Would have to be some significant private dollars or senior government funding tied to the commonwealth games.

This new consortium sounds promisng though. Good to get the talks started.

And yes, I too feel the rink should stay in the downtown vicinity. Unlike an outdoor stadium, an arena gets much more use for hockey, concerts, trade shows, ice shows etc. So there is less of a worry that it becomes a deadzone when not being used.

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

Wasn't someone offering to pay 50% of it with their own money ?

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by HamiltonBoyInToronto

Wasn't someone offering to pay 50% of it with their own money ?

I believe the owner of the bulldogs offered to pay 50% of the cost if they redeveloped the arena into a smaller 7,000 seat arena. Although it’s a nice offer, the city needs a 15,000+ seat venue to accommodate concerts and other sporting events.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by king10

Nhl caliber arena would cost over $500M.

Cheaper to upgrade FOC.

fully revamping the 17,000-seat building to NHL standards, which will cost nearly $300 million.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...ixes-1.4005708

[King&James]

my vote would be revamp - crazy money regardless of route. Hard to believe that building under 35 years old could not be salvaged.

[Berklon]

fully revamping the 17,000-seat building to NHL standards, which will cost nearly $300 million.

Without an NHL team, it would be a huge waste of money. But if someone wants to privately fund this - go right ahead.

As it stands, I think it would just be wise to fix the problems there is inside.
I would love a nice renovation of the exterior though - the arena has been an eye-sore for quite a while with that siding. It would be a nice way of sprucing up the downtown.

[king10]

Originally Posted by JakeLRS

I believe the owner of the bulldogs offered to pay 50% of the cost if they redeveloped the arena into a smaller 7,000 seat arena. Although it’s a nice offer, the city needs a 15,000+ seat venue to accommodate concerts and other sporting events.

I dont think the bulldogs owner publicly stated any size stipulations on a new arena. He may be willing to go 50/50 on something over 10,000 seats.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Without an NHL team, it would be a huge waste of money. But if someone wants to privately fund this - go right ahead.

As it stands, I think it would just be wise to fix the problems there is inside.
I would love a nice renovation of the exterior though - the arena has been an eye-sore for quite a while with that siding. It would be a nice way of sprucing up the downtown.

The issue is at 35 years old fixing the problems at FOC will start to cost tens of millions of dollars. Elevators and escalators are currently behing rehabbed for $5 million. Roof needs significant structural repairs which could cost upwards of $10 million. We need a new HD scoreboard if we want to host the Memorial cup, another couple million bucks. Upper level seats need replacing. Exterior needs rehab. Theres no dehumidification system.

At what point do we cut our losses and start saving those tens of millions on a downpayment for a new arena with lower operating costs.

[HamiltonBoyInToronto]

I don't recall a size or location stipulation for the 50/50 investment either ....I think he is fully willing to invest in dt

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by HamiltonBoyInToronto

I don't recall a size or location stipulation for the 50/50 investment either ....I think he is fully willing to invest in dt

I'm hearing Limeridge Mall. From a very good source.

[JakeLRS]

Look at Bell MTS Place, that arena wasn’t in suburb condition when the jets moved back to the peg. Now after multiple years of renovations, it is definitely one of the better arenas in the league as seats are close to the action and provides a great atmosphere. The FOC is also compact and could use renovations over a span of multiple years as well. Didn’t the Carmen’s group want to take ownership of the arena and do some work to it?