Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Nothing has really been designed. Those pictures we saw were just renders of the general idea and nothing firm. I expect in a couple of years when final designs are decided on that there will be actual "WOW" designs for us to get excited about. Unfortunately the reality of these facilities is that we are still years away and this is just the owners officially beginning the process. I agree that I wasn't blown away from those renders but I'm also smart enough to reserve judgement for when I get to see the real designs they have settled on. The ones like you see right now in the Edmonton, Regina, and Quebec facilities and this project isn't close to being ready for that.
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I'm wondering what, short of a NFL standard stadium, would wow some people here.
Anyway, it strikes me that there is a lot of complaining and handwringing at this point. No, it's not an advanced architecural and design model yet. It would be foolish at this stage to have had that work done without the concept winning approval. All development works that way.
The way I see it: Almost everyone agrees that a new arena and a new stadium were needed, and almost everyone agrees that it needed to be central (I don't call this downtown myself, just like I don't call anything east of City Hall or south of the tracks downtown). I doubt anyone seriously expected that no public funding would be sought, though there are always some who object to the very concept of any public funding (and always will).
So the only thing to me is whether this is the right location, and I think it's as good as they could do. Will there be issues, like traffic and cleanup? Sure, but there would be issues anywhere. There's no perfect traffic location and the cleanup would be done on any new use of that land, probably at taxpayer expense.
What will it look like? As several have said, probably different than the drawings (which I don't find offensive anyway). Lots of people didn't like the Saddledome design either. Will residential take off? I don't know, but I've been to several multi-sport entertainment areas (like the Diamondback/Suns area) and residential is not a huge factor there either. But it sure is nice.