Downtown arena clears final hurdle
Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz made a rare public appearance Tuesday to announce downtown arena construction is going ahead for the guaranteed $480-million maximum price.
“I love the Oilers, and I’m very proud to own the team, even now, but it was the opportunity to do something great for our city that motivated and inspired me to build the arena,” Katz told a media event at City Hall.
“It will be an iconic and beautiful building that, like great hockey players, makes everything around it better.”
The news eliminates the final obstacle in the way of what will be known as Rogers Place after more than 18 months of work by planners and engineers to meet the budget.
Preparation of the site north of 104th Avenue near 103rd Street will start in March in hopes the 18,641-seat facility will open for the 2016-17 NHL season.
“We set out on this journey six years ago because Edmonton needed a new arena,” Katz said.
“But there was always something else, even way back then, and that was the opportunity to use the city’s need for a new arena as a catalyst to transform downtown.”
Last week, city officials said they plan to move 2,000 downtown employees into a new $300-million tower Katz and WAM Developments are putting up at the corner of 101st Street and 104th Avenue.
Details of more construction planned for the arena district — likely to include a hotel, a casino, housing, restaurants and shopping — will be released this spring, Katz said.
“It will become the cor nerstone of a major new private-sector development.”
But he sidestepped the issue of whether a $430,000 bulk donation he gave to the Conservatives with family and associates during the 2012 Alberta election made it harder for the government to put money into the facility.
“Today is about the arena and about the future of downtown for the city of Edmonton,” Katz said, the first time he has answered questions in person at a news conference since buying the Oilers in 2008.
“The funding for the project is behind us now. I think it behooves everyone to look forward.”
The guaranteed arena price represents the total cost to be incurred by PCL Construction and contractors, who will cover any overruns unless they’re the result of changes requested by the city or Katz.
Mayor Don Iveson said finishes and other details might have been changed to stay on budget with the arena, originally expected to cost $450 million, but none of the essential elements of the oildrop design were cut back.
He called it a huge development that will attract the shoppers, employers and residents needed to revitalize downtown. “This is a key project that will have a major impact on the transformation that’s happening right here in the heart of our city.”
Councillors were privately briefed on the price before it was announced, but didn’t have to approve it.
The Oilers have negotiated an extension of their lease at Rexall Place from the June 30 expiry date until Aug. 31, 2016, with the option of a further year if needed.
The arena cost will be covered primarily by a ticket tax, property taxes on future downtown development and other city money, and Katz’s 35-year lease payments.
The total cost of the project is $605 million when a pedestrian bridge over 104th Avenue, an adjoining community rink, land and LRT links are included.
There are still holes in the funding, however.
The city hasn’t been able to apply for a $25-million provincial grant.
Iveson called this a “small element of the project” and said if the money doesn’t come through the city will find it somewhere else, such as infrastructure grants.
There is also no commitment from the provincial or federal governments for $14 million required to help build the $22-million community rink.