Maple Leafs to get new practice rink
$25 million centre to be ready in ’ 07 Buds will share it with Marlies
The Maple Leafs have settled on a site for their new, state- of- theart practice facility and it’s a mere slapshot away from their current one.
City approval is almost in place for a four- pad facility, complete with modern training rooms, a theatre and restaurant, to be built on a 10- acre site on the west side of Kipling Avenue, just north of Lakeshore Collegiate Institute. The Leafs now practise at the Lakeshore Lions Arena, just west of the school on Birmingham Street. The new training facility — one that will cost between $22 and $25 million to build — will again be operated by the Lions Club. The Lions Club will build the structure but the City of Toronto will own it and the land it is on. The city will then lease it to the Lions Club. The Leafs, their Marlies farm team, Hockey Canada and the Hockey Hall of Fame will all be tenants in the building. The two hockey teams will have exclusive use of two of the rinks between 10 a. m. and 2 p. m. each day but, otherwise, all four ice surfaces will be available for community use. Hockey Canada is planning on setting up a centre of excellence at the facility while the Hockey Hall of Fame, short on space at its downtown location, is looking for a room for its vast archives. The Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame may also relocate to the lobby of the new building. The “ last of the hurdles,” as Lions Club arena board vicechairman Brian Hoskins calls it, is the final details on the landlease and building lease. But since there is currently no taxpayer money involved — the Lions Club is doing the fundraising — and the city will be getting four more community rinks, it seems a formality. That the Lions Club, a volunteer service club, runs its current building at a profit also makes it that much more viable.
“ It’s a spectacular project. We believe the city is fully engaged in making it work,” said Hoskins. “ They won’t have to rework their budgets for it.” The plan is to have the groundbreaking on April 1 and construction will take about 14 months. The Leafs and Marlies could begin using it for the 2007- 08 season. The Leafs and Marlies will occupy about 28,000 square feet in the building. At their current practice rink, the Leafs have 10,000 square feet. The Marlies practise at the Ricoh Coliseum at Exhibition Place. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will pay to build all the internal structures needed for their teams such as dressing rooms, weight rooms, medical and training facilities. They will also pay what Hoskins calls “market rental rates” for the space and use of the ice.
“( The Leafs’) involvement has made it a financially viable deal,” said Hoskins.
Hoskins said he is hoping that federal and provincial governments may eventually kick in some funding but if they don’t, he said, the Lions Club could likely pay off the building through its own fund- raising in five to 10 years. The new building does not yet have a name, but given the power of the Leafs’ brand, Hoskins said the Lions Club may sell the naming rights to offset costs if MLSE is in agreement. The project will likely be built by Giffels Design Building Inc., the same company that is overseeing construction of the new arena in Oshawa that will be the home of the Generals and operated by MLSE. Ken Burns, vicepresident of the company, said the building should be open in summer of 2007 if all the approvals fall into place.