Public input sought on final design
Public feedback sought on final design of facility to replace aging Saddledome
The search has begun for a design and engineering team for the city’s new arena, as the Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (CMLC) also begins the public feedback process on the future home of the Flames.
CMLC started its public engagement Wednesday with an online survey, as well as plans for 24 in-person sessions at the Saddledome, community centres and events across the city. Calgarians will have until March 27 to share what they want in the new building, from design to the types of events and experiences.
CMLC expects construction to begin in the summer of 2021, with “substantial completion” by May 2024.
The eight-week feedback period comes after city council approved the $550-million arena deal in
July, just six days after the details were first made public. CMLC said in September that public engagement would last 10 weeks, but they want to finish the process at the same time as they pick the design consultant and project manager at the end of March.
CMLC is the project manager for the arena and will collect a fee of $8 million over five years for the work, according to the official agreements for the deal.
CMLC president Kate Thompson said the plan is to integrate Calgarians’ feedback into the arena’s design planning from the beginning.
“I’m less (looking) for something that looks like a saddle or something else. We’re really looking for architecture that fits the neighbourhood and amplifies the district,” she said.
The decades-old Saddledome will be demolished once the new arena is built just a couple of blocks away. City council’s event centre assessment chair Coun. Jeff Davison said there is history to keep in mind.
“When we have a building as iconic as the Saddledome, you’ve really got to be able, in the new facility, to create something just as special for Calgarians.”
The CMLC has already presented renderings of what the future arena could look like, but it will take about a year to create a final design.
Under the Green Line’s revised path through the city’s core, which was publicly unveiled Tuesday, the new LRT is now planned to run directly past the event centre, travelling underground along 11th Avenue S.E.
CMLC is also spearheading development of east Victoria Park, including the expansion of the BMO Centre. Construction on the 100,000-square-foot “Hall F” is already underway, and Thompson said the Corral is scheduled to be demolished this fall. The full $500-million expansion of the convention centre will double its size, and is expected to be complete in 2024.
Construction will also start this summer on 17th Avenue S.E., extending the road across Macleod Trail and into Stampede Park. The project will take about three years to complete while CMLC works around Stampede each July.