Grand plan shrouded in mystery
Among the unknowns are the cost and who pays what
The project, or dream of a project, seems to elicit the same reaction from nearly everyone — what a great idea but, whoa, how on earth do we get that done?
The Calgary Flames’ arena proposal for the west end is brilliant. It’s also a dream wrapped in a mystery shrouded in fog.
At this stage, the Flames can answer virtually no questions about the biggest building and revitalization project ever proposed for Calgary.
With the hockey rink, event centre, football stadium and field house all in one place, this unnamed behemoth would be unique in Canada, and perhaps in North America.
It would, as the Flames suggest, kick- start a whole new residential area, the West Village; transform half the downtown and its skyline; finally draw the big international acts to Calgary; launch a great creosote cleanup; and dwarf Edmonton’s new arena project ( take that!).
Of course, it would also dump huge volumes of extra traffic onto Bow Trail, and tie up the area for years with construction, to the horror of west- side commuters who still have nightmares about the West LRT project.
And yet, despite all that, this project would be fantastic for the city. It would be a marvel.
If only it were somewhat less imaginary.
The Flames released no conceptual drawings. There is no detail on the fixed- roof football field with things moving around below, transforming it magically into something else. One vague rendering makes the entire vast complex look like an embalmed Egyptian mummy.
The project, or dream of a project, seems to elicit the same reaction from nearly everyone — what a great idea, such a concept, but whoa, how on earth do we get that done?
The lack of detail extends to the money part. This is most peculiar for an organization owned by billionaires. It says things are at a very early stage, despite months and years of talk.
Asked who would front $ 240 million in projected property tax revenue, Flames CEO Ken King couldn’t say. Asked further if the organization would help remediate the fiendish creosote contamination on the site, he couldn’t say that either.
What King did say, though, is that the owners would put up $ 200 million cash, a rarity for these projects anywhere in the NHL. The city would continue to own both the land and all the buildings ( along with the risk.)
In Edmonton, the city took out a loan for the whole $ 600 million project and Oilers owner Daryl Katz makes regular payments ( they hope). The details are complicated, but that’s the gist.
Asked if any loan deal is in the works here, Flames CEO Ken King promptly said “no.” He got that out just before Deputy Mayor Diane Colley- Urquhart, sitting beside him, said it even more forcefully.
Colley- Urquhart is very friendly toward the project, if the details can be worked out. She feels that starting this at a tough economic moment would project an image of civic resilience.
From Africa, Mayor Naheed Nenshi sent a statement with some pointed questions — such as, who would provide $ 250 million that would eventually be repaid by the Flames ticket tax?
Good question. The Flames didn’t answer that one either.
At city hall, some were already seeing the project as follows:
The Flames pay $ 200 million, and that’s great. But another $ 690 million would have to be covered in one way or another by the public.
Add in the creosote problem and the West Village improvements, and the whole project seems to approach $ 1.5 billion. ( Although $ 200 million would be for a field house the city was going to build anyway.)
The Flames also suggest that money from the proposed $ 240 million Community Revitalization Levy, which the province must approve, would be part of the arena deal. The city would want all of it to go toward West Village improvements.
And then there’s the poor old Saddledome, Calgary’s most iconic building, which would be orphaned after major upgrades a decade ago, and millions in repairs following the 2013 flood. Its future would be uncertain despite the Flames promise to help it “repurpose.”
But we should recall that the Saddledome was built in part as a lure for the 1988 Winter Olympics, by a crew of visionaries that included ex- premier Peter Lougheed, the oilman Doc Seaman, and then mayor Ralph Klein, who later became premier.
Many people jeered — about the cost, the design, the impossible grail of the Olympics, the thousands of unresolved details.
But it all came true, in a city that knew how to reach beyond itself.
Does Calgary still have the jam for that? We’re about to find out. Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald dbraid@calgaryherald.com Calgary Herald