COLISEUM CAN'T BE SAVED: CITY
Staff expected to call on council to approve funding for demolition in next budget cycle to minimize inflation and maintenance costs
Demolition of the Northlands Coliseum should be prioritized as one of the first steps in the Exhibition Lands redevelopment, the City of Edmonton says while planning to move forward with its removal.
Under the approved framework for the 81-hectare site, the land surrounding the longtime home of the Edmonton Oilers is set to be turned into a mixed-use transit-oriented development as part of the 30-year project. In November, council directed the city to look at reuse options for the Coliseum and the 30 other buildings on the Northlands site after a last-minute call from a community group to rethink closure. The group, including former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel, presented a plan to turn the Coliseum into a multisport recreation centre.
But in a report released Thursday afternoon, the city said the venue was permanently closed in January 2018 and can't be repurposed for any use. Further, the city entered into an agreement with Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) as part of the Rogers Place arena deal that the building can't be reused for sports and entertainment purposes and the city couldn't provide any financial support or investment in the building.
In an email to Postmedia, city spokesman Matt Pretty said the building can't be reused, which allowed the city an opportunity to reimagine the site as part of the larger Exhibition Lands project. Once demolished, the land it sits on will be part of a transit-oriented development with housing and retail shops next to an LRT station.
There isn't a timeline for demolition, but the city plans to bring forward a funding request to the next council as part of the 2023-26 budget cycle so it can be demolished in the short term. The city is currently paying about $1.5 million a year to maintain the building. Demolition is expected to cost between $15 million and $25 million.
“The Coliseum is the largest demolition project in the (redevelopment) and it will require substantial upfront investment. This demolition will be prioritized to avoid escalated and inflated costs, and to eliminate the current dark operation costs that are required to maintain the facility in a dormant state,” the city's Exhibition Lands implementation plan states. “The Coliseum site is an important location in the implementation of the overall project. Due to its proximity to the Expo Centre, once the demolition is complete it is anticipated that the site will be used for large outdoor events, event surface parking, and staging.”
Paul Sir, executive director of the Alberta Basketball Association, which was part of the group proposing reuse of the site, said demolition as planned would be disappointing and he is still holding out hope that the city and OEG can come to an agreement on removing the clause to not permit reuse and build from there in working on the sports centre proposal.
“I'm hoping they'll listen because the dynamite's not in the ground yet,” he said in an interview with Postmedia. “OEG is such a fantastic community contributor and so I know when this arrangement was struck OEG and the city came to this understanding because OEG rightfully and understandably felt like they needed to protect their interests for the long term. Now what we're proposing will be in no way any kind of a threat to OEG'S business and the type of business that they're in.”
The city is continuing to look at repurposing options for all the other buildings on the Northlands site and is expected to report back on options by the end of the year.
But in terms of the Coliseum, area Coun. Tony Caterina said council's hands are pretty much tied no matter how intriguing a proposal is and it would be up to OEG to modify the agreement.
“It's in their court if they were to agree that it could be repurposed for some other use. That's a question that, because of the binding agreements that are in place, we really have nowhere to manoeuvre,” he said.
Council's executive committee is expected to discuss the Exhibition Lands plan April 26.