Downtown plans should consider arena: city staff
Vision includes convention centre/rink, but decision rests with council members
The City of Saskatoon administration thinks future downtown planning should consider the possibility of a new combined arena and convention centre.
Now it’s up to the politicians to weigh in on the possibility and figure out how to pay for any new facilities.
City hall called a news conference Wednesday to discuss the city’s review of a consultants’ report that favoured replacing TCU Place, the downtown convention centre, and Sasktel Centre, the arena/concert venue located in the city’s northwest.
The officials who spoke Wednesday said the decision to move forward with any such project rests with city council.
“There’s a lot of big questions out there,” said the city’s director of planning and development, Lesley Anderson. “The ( bus rapid transit) routing is one of those questions that’s still out there.”
Council will consider city reports on the possibility of a new arena/convention centre at its governance and priorities committee meeting on Tuesday.
The consultants’ report estimated the construction cost of a new downtown arena at between $172 million and $178 million and the cost of a combined arena and convention centre at between $330 million and $370 million.
A city report outlines several options for financing, but does not suggest any specific funding strategy.
“It would be a fairly major (project),” chief financial officer Kerry Tarasoff said. “One of our largest projects, no doubt.”
The Gordie Howe Bridge and connecting roadways rank as the city’s highest tab for a single project in terms of construction cost, at nearly $300 million.
Anderson said the city has not looked at specific sites. The consultants who produced the report were hired by the boards of TCU Place and Sasktel Centre to assess the future of the aging facilities. That study was made public in March.
TCU Place marked 50 years on April 1, while Sasktel Centre reached 30 years earlier this year. A working group has been formed to further investigate the possibility of new facilities.
The report that council will consider mentions several options for funding an arena, such as a surcharge on ticket sales to events, sponsorships/naming rights, property tax increases and incremental property taxes from the area near any new facility.
Since 2010, about 25 per cent of the funding for new convention centres in Canada has come from the municipality, the report says.
In cities without NHL teams, about 60 per cent of the funding for new arenas or stadiums has come from the municipal government since 2005, the report adds.
The report notes the City of Regina paid for 62.2 per cent of Mosaic Stadium.
Tarasoff cast a cloud over the possibility of financing, saying the city likely cannot proceed on its own.
“Government funding from other levels of government would be tough,” he said.
“The feds have basically said they’re not into that realm of financing. The province may be interested.”
Tarasoff noted the City of Edmonton has used tax incremental financing to help fund its new downtown NHL arena, Rogers Place.
With that approach, the rise in property taxes near a facility is used to help pay for it, similar to how the City of Saskatoon is repaying its investment in River Landing.
For this approach to work, the city would need approval from the province, Tarasoff said.
“Without that provincial piece, I think, as I said in the report, the financing or the business case is weakened quite a bit,” he added.
In an interview, Mayor Charlie Clark said any new arena should be built downtown and now is the time to start planning.
“I believe we need to talk not just about an arena/convention centre, but a district,” he said. “We’re taking steps along what is going to be a long journey.”