Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
Well thats a whole other conundrum really. The Edmonton structure was partly responsible for the breakdown of the issues here.
That deal was bad for the City. It was just bad all around for everyone not named 'Katz.'
So yeah, competitors see that and they want the same, but its not going to happen.
Sorry, I dont think I'm following you here. I firmly believed that the CalgaryNEXT proposal was preposterously untenable and straight-up fantasy and that was also where the creosote reclamation issues came in.
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I agree the Edmonton deal was bad, but it has at least catalyzed the clean up of their slum section of downtown...something Calgary has managed to generally achieve in the EV and Victoria Park itself. Of course, both WV and EV are inherently more desirable for development (proximity to river, and a far better downtown core than EDM).
EV and Victoria Park will continue to gentrify on their own...a new arena would help accelerate it in that area a little bit, but there is only so much total demand for development in the city overall.
I guess my point is that Edmonton was at least buying something that would have been much harder for them to achieve otherwise. We were trying to move the north doors of our big arena 3 blocks further north.