West Village option transit wouldn't be as strong as it would be in the Rivers/Stampede area since it's only one line rather than technically all 3 within the vicinity, but the Blue Line would easily be able to handle the capacity. Also the MAX Yellow for those in the SW is an option. The Red Line has to handle McMahon Stadium crowd which can be higher crowds than at the Saddledome for some games, and it handles that with ease.
One thing I wonder about that aside from the real estate play, if CSEC wants the West Village to have easier access to possibly lots of their season ticket holders? West Calgary is a part of the town that has a lot of money, so a fair number of ticket holders may be in that area. Having easier access by vehicle and transit may be a factor here; although the difference isn't that significant.
The major drawback of WV that's hard for me to get past is just how much space the Arena/Stadium would take up that'll hurt the potential of that area. The space is constraint, and the venue would likely take up the entire core of the area; where it's potential is the highest. Unless CSEC is paying about 80 percent of the costs for the venues, province covers cleanup, and the city deals with the infrastructure costs, I don't think it would make sense for the city to be onboard. The city is better off with this being done in the Rivers area; even if the city would have to pay a higher percentage of costs for the arena. In the long run it's worth it.
|