If the arena end up happening in the rumoured West Village, I think I could live with the city giving some land there. The land has value, but it also has attached liability (environmental cleanup).
Any development there is going to require that environmental cleanup, plus a redesign/rebuild of some infrastructure - Bow Trail, etc. This will cost a bunch of money, and still leave an area that is somewhat isolated on all sides without some creative solutions. The river is on the North side. 14th Ave and Shaw Millenium Park on the East side. The CP tracks and the LRT line on the south side, Crowchild and the escarpment to the west.
With those factors, I'm not sure West Village ever gets off the ground, even setup like East Village was.
If the Flames want to build there, I think I'd be ok with the city giving the land (setting up a community revitalization levy), and chipping in to recreate 14th St, Bow Trail and the Bow/Crow interchange. The Flames can certainly afford to build their own stadium after that. Perhaps the feds want to help out with the environmental cleanup costs or something.
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