City staff recommends engaging stakeholders on Coliseum options
Should the city decide to sell the Northlands Coliseum building to a third party, it cannot encourage the purchaser to renovate or rebuild a sports or entertainment facility in its place, nor can it offer financial support or advocate for such an initiative, a new report says.
Because of a master agreement between the city and the Edmonton Arena Corp., an affiliate of Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), if future zoning of the land or the area development plan requires a sports or entertainment facility, the city would be considered in contravention of the agreement signed in 2013 as part of the Rogers Place redevelopment.
The Edmonton Arena Corp. could decide to waive those restrictions.
Furthermore, if the Coliseum remains permanently closed or demolished, the city would be off the hook for $17 million in promotional obligations to OEG as part of a 2017 memorandum of understanding, the report says.
The new report, which will be tabled at an executive committee meeting next Thursday, outlines two options for consideration for the 6.8 hectares of land north of 118 Avenue.
The first offers the Coliseum site to the market “on the basis that the successful proponent would redevelop the site inclusive of removing the building and adhering to redevelopment principles pending council’s approval.”
That option would see a negotiated request for proposals issued this coming summer.
This option would eliminate a $1.5-million annual arena holding cost to the city and would transfer the risk of demolition from the city to the private sector. But it could also mean that the redevelopment would not “consider the whole city-owned area of opportunity holistically, including area-wide issues such as parking and open space.”
The second option, which city administration is recommending, would see a negotiated request for proposals issued next year that would tie in with an area redevelopment plan and would allow for greater time to engage with the public and regional stakeholders.
Delaying the decision until 2019, “or later,” would mean the city would incur the arena holding cost. Leaving the site inactive for an extended period of time “could have a negative effect on the surrounding communities,” which was “one of the greatest community concerns” when the closure was announced last year, the report says.
The price to demolish the former home of the Edmonton Oilers is estimated at between $15.5 million and $25 million.