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Originally Posted by Bunk
I scribbled this thinking I might submit as an op-ed to a paper, but I don't think I'll do that, so I'll just post it here. A summary of my thoughts - most of which will already be familiar to most here:
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Mayor Nenshi last week declared that Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation’s (CSEC) CalgaryNEXT proposal in the West Village district was ‘dead’. While some viewed this statement as somewhat presumptuous, the Mayor, I believe, was actually understating the situation. More correctly, the ill-fated CalgaryNEXT proposal was actually dead on arrival.
I will preface this commentary by stating that I am, what one would call, a hardcore Flames fan. I am a season ticket holder and would very much like to see a new arena built in the near future. I am currently in the land development industry, and was previously a Senior Policy Advisor in the Mayor’s Office up until early 2015. I was involved in the very preliminary discussions, but am not currently privy to any negotiations.
Discussion has continued about the merits of the CalgaryNEXT proposal. I have debated the merits of the current CalgaryNEXT proposal with other Calgarians, including recently on Twitter with local business leader and former Dragon, W. Brett Wilson.
To use the Dragon’s Den analogy, if CSEC was the inventor making the pitch on CalgaryNEXT, and the City and its citizens the Dragons – I’m afraid the inventor would leave the show disappointed. The product is faulty, the costs to produce are too high, the revenue model is uncertain, the “valuation” is unrealistic, and the proponent is not putting enough of their own skin in the game - transferring risk to the Dragons. The Dragons have analyzed the pitch, and despite promising to keep looking at the idea further, it seems pretty clear they are going to say “I’m out”.
Most fundamentally, the arena/stadium simply takes up too much of the land needed for high density taxable uses to pay back the high cost to remediate the land, build supporting infrastructure and partially finance the arena/stadium facility itself in the proposed Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) model. It also lacks the certainty of anchor commercial property to pay back debt, and being detached physically from the downtown core, this is a significant problem facing the economics of this proposal.
Beyond the basic shortcomings of the dollars and cents of CalgaryNEXT, as a city-building endeavor, the plan is deeply flawed. The idea of an “arena district” is to leverage the activity of a central sports facility into an active and vibrant gathering place, including spin-off residential, hotel, retail, restaurant, bar, entertainment uses and public space. These uses need to be “on the way” from where you arrive to the arena. In CalgaryNEXT, the primary point of entry is the Sunalta LRT – patrons were shipped directly into the arena/stadium complex on a bridge high above the street. All the supposed spin off uses were shoved to the side of this gargantuan monolith of a building. Commercial and entertainment uses are “out of the way” and so there would be no such urban vitality - it would all be internalized to the building. Further, the CalgaryNEXT plan relied on retaining the current alignment of Bow Trail. This sterilizes a large portion of the river frontage, which is the hook for what makes the area attractive from a real estate perspective.
The West Village’s time will come. In fact, it stands a better chance without the arena/stadium than with it included. Remediating the land slowly will likely be less costly than on a strict schedule to align with the urgency of an arena/stadium development, Bow Trail can be properly re-aligned, and more developable land for taxable uses will be available, making the balance sheet of a CRL more realistic.
I believe it is time to put the CalgaryNEXT proposal to bed, and focus on the so called “Plan B” with standalone arena on Stampede Park, renovated McMahon Stadium that could be tied to an Olympic bid, and Fieldhouse at Foothills Athletic Park, as originally planned.
A new arena on Stampede Park benefits from lower infrastructure and remediation costs, walkable access to all three (current and future LRT lines) and the downtown core, abundant parking inherent to the Stampede and could anchor a truly vibrant entertainment district, including helping make the Stampede a true 365 day a year destination it has longed to become.
There is a role for the public to play to be sure, and I believe Plan B is the best chance to construct a deal that works for the Flames and most importantly, the citizens of Calgary.
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