-City Land for the $$ savings, both tax exemption and leased/granted for free vs. purchasing
-Football stadium for free
-try to get as much public revenue as possible when support for big professional sport stadiums is at a low....ie spin it as a positive clean up/development
That's how I see the ownership group approaching this thing. From their side of things you can see why they chose the site they did and why they want to do what they suggested in CalgaryNEXT.
On the straight face of it though it makes no sense for the rest of us. There are better sites, with less cost, and better advantages elsewhere. Bunks' quick mock up makes more sense. But again, it probably doesn't meet the checklist for the business side of it from the Flames&Co.
Personally I'm a little bit hopeful that people aren't just foaming at the mouth to 'get it done now! now! now!' and are actually weighing some merits and alternatives.
I'm still eagerly awaiting the next step in this process, which I guess would be the 'remediation cost assessment' that the city is doing. Once that's in I guess we can have some more productive debate.
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