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Exploring Alternate Venues for the New Calgary Arena
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“All viable options” in downtown Calgary – including the West Village – are being considered
The Scotiabank Saddledome was photographed on October 19, 2022. Gavin Young/Postmedia
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A new Calgary events center is not anchored at the Victoria Park site, where a previous deal would have built a replacement for the Saddledome.
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The ongoing negotiations for the arena are reviewing “all viable options” in downtown Calgary, Convention Center Committee Chairman Coun. Sonya Sharp told reporters Monday after the committee’s first meeting of the new year.
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Sharp declined to comment on specifics, but didn’t back down from a suggestion that the previously considered West Village location could again be part of the talk.
“If you go back to the conversation we had in the fall, we talked about this being a fresh start, so this is a fresh start,” Sharp said.
“We are considering building an event center within the city, within downtown, and all possible options are being presented.”
The previous $650 million deal between the city and the Calgary Flames property fell through in late 2021 due to cost overruns, just weeks before construction began.
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This deal would have resulted in the arena being built in Victoria Park in the city’s Rivers District around the Stampede site, with the new building intended to be the marquee of plans to redevelop the area.
Back in 2015, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (CSEC) announced plans for the CalgaryNext arena project in the West Village. The plan, which would have included an $890 million arena, fell through two years later, in part because of cleanup costs related to creosote-contaminated land near the Bow River.
Built in 1983, the Scotiabank Saddledome is one of the oldest arenas in the NHL. Lyle Aspinall/Postmedia
Negotiations are progressing “well”
Monday’s meeting came about four months after the city and CSEC resumed formal talks on a new arena, but details remain elusive.
Sharp said talks between the CSEC and CAA-ICON, a US consulting firm hired to represent the city at the negotiating table, were “moving along well”.
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An update on the negotiations took place behind closed doors at City Hall on Monday in the presence of city officials, some council members and CAA-ICON.
There’s no set timetable, Sharp said, but reiterated that the city wants to be “as aggressive as possible” in trying to pull off a deal.
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Premier Danielle Smith has offered to help City, Flames with a new arena deal
“We know that because time is of the essence, we are also working with cost increases. When it comes to projects, we know that the earlier they are done, the better when it comes to time and money,” Sharp said.
In October, Prime Minister Danielle Smith appointed local MLA Ric McIver as the provincial government’s liaison for arena talks and said she wanted to find ways her UCP could help the parties reach a new deal.
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Sharp announced Monday that representatives from CAA-ICON have met directly with Smith’s office and said those talks are expected to continue. The prime minister’s office told Postmedia on Monday that officials would not comment on arena negotiations “until the parties involved have something to report”.
The Event Center Committee is expected to meet again next month.
Saddledome “has a vintage vibe”
Calgary’s situation in the arena seems to have his mind on Flames free-agent center Nazem Kadri, who said last week he hopes a new arena is on the horizon for the team.
“(The Saddledome is) a unique arena. It’s old, but we might get a new one here soon,” Kadri told Sportsnet while in Florida for the NHL All-Star Weekend.
“It just has a vintage vibe. It reminds me of the ice rinks I used to go to as a kid.”
Twitter: @jasonfherring
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Source: calgarysun.com
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