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Post by mikecubs on Jan 19, 2020 17:29:59 GMT -6
Cost overruns, tax breaks could inflate Calgary’s public cost of Flames arena to $250m or morePosted on January 15, 2020 by Neil deMause The city of Calgary has finally revealed some of its legal contracts with the Flames governing the team’s new arena — six months after voting on it, because that’s totally how democratic oversight is supposed to work — and the highlights include: As previously reported, the city will pay $275 million toward construction, plus financing charges and the cost of demolishing the old Saddledome (previously reported at $12.4 million), while receiving $250,000 a year for 10 years in naming-rights fees, plus 2% of all ticket sales, capped at $3 million a year for the first five years. Last time I crunched the numbers on this I came up with a net total of $212.9 million in public costs; given that the ticket tax payments will be significantly backloaded toward the end of the lease, the base cost to the city is probably more like $230 million or so. Not as previously reported, the city will be on the hook for any insurance premiums above what the team would pay if the arena weren’t in a flood plain, and will have to cover 50% to 67% of any construction cost overruns, depending on future negotiations.The Flames owners won’t be property taxes, but instead will make payments in lieu of taxes in the amount of Yep, they omitted the actual payment amount, citing a section of Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that exempts from public disclosure laws information that would be “harmful to business interests of a third party,” though the very next section says the exemption doesn’t apply if “the information relates to a non-arm’s length transaction between a public body and another party,” so hopefully we’ll see some lawsuits to get that number revealed. The total cost is impossible to say without knowing how much of a tax break the team is getting or how much cost overruns could be, but suffice to say we’re probably looking at more than $250 million now, which is a whole hell of a lot more than the $47 million net loss the arena’s backers touted to get the deal approved by the city council. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he’s not concerned about cost overruns because the Calgary Municipal Land Corp. “is the project manager on that project, they know how to build stuff on budget and on time”; all those who are reassured by this, please raise your hands. Now, all those who are wondering when Naheed Nenshi was replaced by an alien shapeshifter, please raise your hands. Keep ’em up, I’m still counting… www.fieldofschemes.com/2020/01/15/15664/cost-overruns-tax-breaks-could-raise-calgarys-public-costs-of-flames-arena-to-250m-or-more/#comments
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Post by mikecubs on Jan 31, 2020 13:31:07 GMT -6
How should the new arena look? Survey launches to gather Calgarians' opinions
Now's your chance to have a say about Calgary's new taxpayer-supported NHL arena. Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) has started collecting public feedback about the "event centre," as it's being called. The building will become an anchor for a planned entertainment district along the Stampede grounds, east of downtown, and a home for the Calgary Flames. Wednesday marked the start of a two-month public consultation period, gathering ideas and opinions to help shape the Saddledome's replacement. CMLC, the project manager, wants feedback specifically around how the building could look, what programming and retail stores it could offer, and how the building should fit in with the neighbourhood."We're really excited to hear from Calgarians and have them help us figure out the best way to integrate this project with the urban environment," CMLC president Kate Thompson said Wednesday. Calgarians can submit their opinions through an online survey, at 24 upcoming events covering each city ward and through a series of roundtable discussions. The consultation period ends March 27. Coun. Jeff Davison, a strong supporter of the arena, said he hopes many Calgarians take the time to respond to the survey. "This is about what are we going to build and what do you want to see there," he said. "I think this is Calgarians' opportunity to come and say, 'You know, this is what I'm looking for in my community, in my city. This is what I think will be great for me.'" That feedback will be provided to a yet-to-be hired development manager to consider when planning the centre. The land corporation has issued a request for proposals this week. It is also seeking a design consultant, construction manager and other specialists to get the centre built. The goal is to select those contractors in March. "I've worked on many projects. The quality of information in really affects the design you can output," Thompson said. "So the more information we can give to the designers and to the entire team, the better the results." Taxpayers and the Calgary Flames are splitting the $550-million bill for construction. The city is also chipping in an extra $15 million to cover land transfer and Saddledome demolition costs. Construction is projected to begin in the summer of 2021, wrapping up in May 2024.www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/arena-calgary-event-centre-public-survey-1.5444710
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Post by ekjet72 on Apr 8, 2020 18:25:24 GMT -6
Well since we last wrote on this matter life was easier and different. Now, not so much. The Provincial government has pared some $100M from city funds. House values have plummeted another 4% and then Coronavirus and the Saudi Arabia Russia oil glut happened. The provinces medical experts say we will be locked down till end of May and that's after 1 month of doing so with good effect on flattening the curve. Oil price falling plus COVID will result in 25% unemployment. This all adds up to an inability to pay for the new arena. Call it a force majure, I can't believe the contract will not allow some delay or cancellation with these catastrophic economic factors. Interesting times indeed.
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Post by mikecubs on Apr 12, 2020 2:18:13 GMT -6
Well since we last wrote on this matter life was easier and different. Now, not so much. The Provincial government has pared some $100M from city funds. House values have plummeted another 4% and then Coronavirus and the Saudi Arabia Russia oil glut happened. The provinces medical experts say we will be locked down till end of May and that's after 1 month of doing so with good effect on flattening the curve. Oil price falling plus COVID will result in 25% unemployment. This all adds up to an inability to pay for the new arena. Call it a force majure, I can't believe the contract will not allow some delay or cancellation with these catastrophic economic factors. Interesting times indeed. There is a 30 day delay in the arena. I say no arena until a vaccine is found! COVID-19 brings on planning delay for Calgary's new downtown arena
CMLC calls a 30-day pause before it hires design team for new event centreThe Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has set down a 30-day pause in the process leading to construction of Calgary's new downtown arena. The city-owned agency will oversee the construction of the $550-million arena in Victoria Park. It had hoped to name the design team by the end of March. The team will include an architectural firm for the new building as well as structural, mechanical and electrical consultants. However, the COVID-19 crisis hit as CMLC was between the first and second round of interviews with interested companies. The president and CEO of CMLC, Kate Thompson, said they felt it was best to put the process on hold given the unprecedented circumstances. "A lot of our proponents were actually travelling from away to come to the interviews," said Thompson. "What we decided to do was take a pause, to reassess what our next step was. So we took a 30-day pause on procurement." Timeline should be OK She said they're looking at options for how they should proceed, especially if little changes with the pandemic during the pause. This delay isn't expected to affect the overall timeline on the arena project. "I think we're early enough that we can absorb obviously a 30-day change right now. It's to be delivered in 2024. But you know, at the end of that 30 days, we'll re-assess and see where we are and what our next steps can be." Once the design work is completed, construction on the publicly owned arena is slated to start in the summer of 2021. The arena, which will have 18,000 to 19,000 seats, will open in time for the Calgary Flames season in the fall of 2024. The City of Calgary and the owners of the Flames are splitting the cost of the new facility. CMLC is also doing an environmental assessment of the arena site. That work is nearly complete. So far, it says there are no major concerns or cause for any large scale remediation work prior to the start of construction. Much of the site has been used as surface parking lots for a number of years. Prior to that, most of the two square block area in Victoria Park was a residential area which dated back to the early 1900s. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/downtown-arena-delay-cmlc-covid19-1.5516942
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Post by mikecubs on May 28, 2020 2:13:25 GMT -6
Design team for Calgary's new $550M downtown arena to be announced in June
CMLC completing interviews for several key contracts this monthCompanies bidding to work on Calgary's new downtown arena should find out soon if they will be hired for the job. Bidders for the roles of design team, construction managers and specialized consultants for the $550-million arena are making their final pitches this month. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation is doing the interviews. The city-owned agency will oversee the construction of the new downtown arena. The vice president of marketing and communications with CMLC, Clare Le Pan, said they're looking for a prime design team, a construction management firm as well as structural, mechanical and electrical consultants for the 19,000 seat arena. "I think there's energy around the project and there's interest and excitement as people are following it," said Le Pan. She said when CMLC held an information session in January, more than 100 firms expressed an interest in the project. That's been winnowed down to a short list of candidates for each of the positions. They're undergoing a second round of interviews this month which will lead to the winning bidders being selected. Anticipation for design team The design team, which will include the architect, is a key choice that's being keenly watched. Some construction industry publications and sports insiders are saying two firms that are working together have been chosen but Le Pan denied that's been decided. "There has been and will continue to be lots of speculation around the firms that are working on it or that are being selected," said Le Pan. "I think from our perspective, we want to complete the procurement process properly and make announcements once we've completed interviews." There are local companies bidding as well as international firms with experience in designing arenas in major markets. CMLC didn't offer any guidance on whether it preferred hearing from individual companies or firms joining forces with competitors. "The market and the firms that are interested can decide how they choose to assemble themselves to put forward the strongest team," said Le Pan. She said CMLC expects to make announcements on the winning bidders in early June. Important next steps in 2021 The design work on the new arena will likely take until early 2021 when it will be unveiled to the public.The procurement process started earlier this year with the request for proposals. The first round of interviews were conducted in March but the process was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Le Pan said a 30 day pause was put on the process but that hasn't caused a delay in the overall timeframe for the arena project.
Construction is slated to start in the summer of 2021 with the arena projected to open in 2024. The City of Calgary will own the building which will be built on its land in east Victoria Park. The city and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation are each picking up $275 million of the arena's price tag. It will become the home of the Calgary Flames, replacing the Scotiabank Saddledome which opened in 1983. Once the new arena starts taking bookings, the city will pay the estimated $15 million cost of demolishing the Saddledome. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-arena-design-team-1.5578053
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Post by ekjet72 on May 28, 2020 12:59:52 GMT -6
I just dont know what world I am on or what the folks in government are drinking/smoking or main-lining but this is something we can ill afford now or even 2 years ago. I've said it before COVID but it's even more true now..if that makes sense. We have a 33% vacancy rate in downtown commercial space with a $300M tax hole per annually that is rising. Those tax losses are being borne by the home owners. The city is getting pummeled by COVID losses. The city's deficit is projected on the order of $1B-ish dollars. My house value is down 15% and expected to fall another 25% and no one is feeling wealthy. All the lost jobs in the oil sector are NOT coming back. The city and presumably the province are adding this discretionary debt load on top of obligatory post COVID debt to handle needed city services. Some of the worst projections include a 100% increase in property taxes with the current city and provincial debt. All to subsidize a new arena so billionaires can make more money and save a few McJobs! I think this is going to stink like a dead albatross around our necks for years. Remember the Big Owe? In the meantime Albertans may get their wish, as we become a need province and we start receiving federal provincial transfer payments. What a crazy world.
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Post by mikecubs on Jun 12, 2020 12:19:45 GMT -6
Why Calgary's mayor says spending billions on infrastructure is more crucial than ever given economic woes'Many would argue that the building of the convention centre ... is actually by pure luck perfect timing' Calgary's mayor has been saying for the past couple of months that his city has been hit harder than any other metropolis in Canada. Its people have been coping with a pandemic, the economic fallout of COVID-19 and a global oil price crash, due to a spat between OPEC and Russia. But Naheed Nenshi insists the city must push ahead with the core of its economic strategies. That includes getting on with building the Green Line LRT project and spending more than $1 billion on various major projects in the years ahead — such as the entertainment district in Victoria Park. CBC News asked the mayor about his plans to stay the course, even if those plans run counter to common sentiments. Calgary catches up Q: There are people in Calgary today saying we can't afford to spend billions on city projects like the Green Line, BMO Centre expansion, a new arena, a new field house, Arts Commons expansion, etc. They're not all saying we'll never build such things, but that we need to pause for now until we know more about our finances going forward. How do you respond to that?
A: I take a different point of view. In cases like this, the evidence has shown that we're all Keynesians in a situation like this. In other words, when interest rates are extraordinarily low — that money is essentially zero per cent right now — and you've got huge unemployment problems and people need to get to work, this is actually the very best time to build infrastructure. You know, for many decades in Calgary we played the cycle the other way. So we didn't build infrastructure during bad times, exacerbating the unemployment, and then when we went to build in good times, it was really expensive and we were competing with the private sector for that labour. So in my mind, a project like the Green Line, which is estimated to create 20,000 jobs, this is exactly the moment that you want to be investing that way, and the bonus here is: you're actually building stuff we need. You know, pure Keynesian economists will say it actually doesn't matter what you build. You could dig holes and fill them in again. It's just about getting money into the economy. I take a different view which is: we have a giant infrastructure deficit in the city and this is our opportunity in times where prices are low and people need work. Q: But that also carries with it an assumption that the Calgary level of growth that we've seen in let's say the last 50 years is going to continue. What if the scenario changes, that either Calgary grows much more slowly in the next 20, 30, 40 years or it just flattens out? A: Well, then we really will get a chance to catch up because a lot of this infrastructure is needed, has been needed for a very long time. You know, people in southeast Calgary have been waiting for rapid transit for decades. The ring road is 70 years in the making. So these sorts of things really give us a chance to catch up. That said, the broad trend in the world is a trend of urbanization, and I don't see that changing. I think that cities that offer an attractive quality of life will continue to be magnets for talent, will continue to grow, and that piece around offering a decent quality of life will be the key differentiator. And that's really what we have to work on right now because increasingly, borderless talent, young people but not just young people, are choosing cities because of their proximity say to natural resources because they can start their businesses and invest in different kinds of places. They're choosing cities based on those intangibles as well as the overall quality of life. That's what we're investing in here. And, you know, you've heard me say it millions of times, but the fact that we are called the best city to live in the entire Western Hemisphere is a giant calling card. And that's what we're going to be using to continue promoting growth. Can Calgary pay for it all? Q: You've long spoken about our dependency as a city on property taxes as the way of funding things. But without any of that structural change that you've long sought actually happening, what do you see in the near to mid-term with our city's finances — if now property values drop, if people can't afford to pay their taxes, businesses fail. Where's the money going to come from, or are we just going to borrow it? A: Well, no, we're not just going to borrow it because, of course, cities can't easily run deficits. So when you think about the operating side of the business, you know the good news is that we've created a system where we are able to provide high quality services with the lowest taxes in the country. So that gives us considerably more buffer room than other cities may have. But this really is a very serious problem. Property values fall, the tax rate automatically adjusts itself. That's just how property taxes are calculated. You know, no surprise to hear me say I think property taxes are incredibly regressive, incredibly unfair and probably the worst way to tax people's activity. But it's all we've got. Now the real concern for me is the second part of your question which is: what if businesses fail? What if the business side of the property tax, which is just under half of all the property taxes we pull in, if people are just unable to pay or we have far fewer businesses and the rate goes up for everyone? This is the tax shift situation that we've been dealing with for the last several years and we could see that multiplied much larger. And that's a very serious concern. Q: And if that scenario does happen, how can a city cope with that? A: You know ultimately, this really is an opportunity for us to proceed more strongly with the conversation about structural reform. There are absolutely better ways for cities to fund themselves. We don't have to look far. Even in the United States, cities have far greater breadth of revenue-generating tools. And ultimately we do need to reduce our reliance on the property tax. If we don't and we have a situation where we just do not have much of a business sector to raise taxes from, there's only two things to do. One is really have unsustainable increases in residential property taxes. Nobody wants that. And the other is you have massive cuts in services. And when you're dealing with a budget that is 75-ish per cent in police, fire, 911, transit and roads, nobody wants that either. So ultimately, economic growth has to be part of the solution. But this really is the time to talk about structural reform as well. Trouble in the downtown Q: In a post-COVID world — because we hope that science will find that vaccine — what do you perceive for our downtown if even the existing companies that are there want more of their employees to work from home so that they can just save money on leasing less space? A: It really is anybody's guess as to what is going to happen. A lot of people are prognosticating that work from home is going to become much more normal, that a lot of these companies will start pulling back on their space. And certainly we've seen a couple of large tech firms suggest that they're going to work from home permanently. However, I've also heard the opposite. I've heard from a number of businesses: you know, we went to this kind of workplace 2.0, this very open concept, no walls, squeezing more people into less space and we've determined that's not good for the health of our employees. So, in fact, we're looking for more space to try to go back to a world where the employees are a little bit more separated in their work. I believe that we will — and my crystal ball is no better than anybody else's — but I believe what's going to happen is we will determine that there is a real value to people interacting face to face. That's really what a lot of Calgary's economy is based on. I think employers will be more flexible, allowing people to work from home a couple of days a week, for example, when they see that productivity is OK. But largely, they'll keep the same space. But like I say, my crystal ball is as foggy as anyone's, so we have to be prepared for any eventuality. My guess is that human beings by their nature are social creatures and tend to revert back to the way things used to be. So that is my guess, but that will play out not over a few months but over many years. P ushing ahead with entertainment district Q: On the entertainment district, if you have the public money as the anchor — the new arena and the convention centre — but if new hotels or new retail and other features of an entertainment district are not as sustainable in this market as we thought they were in the past, does that vision now need to be recast?
A: The good news about the culture and entertainment district work is that the financial projections are very, very, very conservative. That the public investments in the BMO Centre and to a lesser degree in the arena actually balances over a period of time with very little additional investment. I wanted to be very conservative in those forecasts. All of that said, of course we want more investment and ultimately that is when you really get into the black on these investments.
So it is an interesting question. Many would argue that the building of the convention centre — the expansions to the BMO Centre — is actually by pure luck perfect timing because by the time that thing is ready to go in 2024-2025, most forecasters say that's precisely at the moment where the convention business will really take off, as people are making up for lost time for what they lost in 2020-2021. So here's hoping that we actually managed to time that reasonably well.
The arena is an interesting question as well. At what point will we be able to return to big gatherings of 20,000 people in one indoor space? I think that'll be sooner rather than later. But again, that project will be several years in construction as well. So hopefully we actually have it timed nicely, through no fault of our own but through a little bit of luck, as we're looking at the forecast going forward. Q: But the whole economic environment for it seems to have changed. Are you worried about the retail and hotel pieces, in terms of being attracted to the district if the market isn't as strong as projected pre-COVID?
A: I am. I certainly am and in particular when we think about hotels, you know, my family comes from the hotel business and I have never heard numbers like a three to five per cent occupancy rate, which is what hotels are looking at right now. I think that particular business is going to take a good while to recover. But I do also think that, given what we have, the assets we have for our travel and tourism industry, everything going on in the city as well as the natural surroundings, our tourism industry will come back.
It's just a matter of what will be the damage between now and then in terms of hotels and other tourism businesses not able to make it through the inert time. So the worst-case scenario for the culture and entertainment district is you sort of have Stampede Park and the arena and the expanded convention centre sitting as they kind of sit now in a neighborhood where you could have more investment. But at the end of the day, we don't really require that investment in hotels and restaurants to make those projects work.
Ultimately, we want to have a really vibrant streetscape around those projects. But the worst-case scenario is that it would look much like it does now. As we're timing this out, you know, even if someone makes the choice to build the hotel in that area, that's still three, four years of construction. And one thing we know for sure is that the world will look completely different when any of these buildings open, versus today.Building now better than building later Q: And, of course, back to your jobs argument, it means you don't delay these things now. Our timing could be very good and we get the jobs in the meantime which we need. So let's proceed? A: Very much so. You know, the same argument works for private infrastructure as for public. Look, for example, at two big skyscrapers in downtown Calgary, Eighth Avenue Place. What you want to do when you're building a building like that is you want to build it when costs are low and vacancy rates are high and you want to finiCrap and lease it when vacancy rates are low. And when you look at Eighth Avenue Place, that was built on spec. There was no anchor tenant when that building was built. And when it opened to the market just as I became mayor, that was a point where our vacancy rates really dropped and they were able to lease that 100 per cent of that building at very very good rates. So ultimately even the private sector tries to time things in the way that I'm talking about. Build it when it's cheap. Operate it when you need it. Ultimately nobody knows what's going to happen. You know, the world has moved unbelievably fast. None of us would have expected we'd be here two or three months ago and none of us really know what the world is going to look like in two or three months from now. But we do know one thing, which is our job right now is to squash the virus. Up until there are treatments or a vaccine, the single best thing we can do is ensure that the spread of the pandemic in the city is as low as humanly possible. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/nenshi-city-infrastructure-spending-economy-1.5600396
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Post by ekjet72 on Jun 12, 2020 20:29:21 GMT -6
It's funny that were having this discussion on a forum about the Jets. But apropos it is since Winnipeg went through the trials and tribulations in building the new stadium and the downtown arena. But while both those projects were contentious the times weren't nearly as dire as they are now in Calgary and will be for the next couple of years. The University of Calgary pulled out of the planned Sportsplex as they have no money and the Mayor said he understood. He doesn't seem to understand we, as tax payers, don't have the bucks. A dropping tax base and plummeting personal wealth of Calgary citizens will further stretch the ability of Calgarians to fund this largesse. If the mayor wants to stimulate or maintain the economy with infrastructure...fix the roads. If the provincial and federal governments step back their commitments due to lack of money, maybe sanity will arise. Any way you can polish a turd and put perfume on it but it's still a turd. More on this story to come.
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Post by mikecubs on Jun 28, 2020 0:42:48 GMT -6
Flames arena construction to start August 2021, open in 2024-25 seasonSpecifics for the new Calgary Flames arena construction were announced, including a start date, the opening date and the design and construction teams for the NHL project. The Flames arena construction is expected to begin more than a year from now, in August 2021, giving the project an opening timeline of the 2024-2025 season. Seating 19,000, the arena is expected to cost C$550 million ($401.5 million U.S.). Leading the design of the project: Dialog of Calgary and HOK of Kansas City, Missouri, collaborated on Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Building the arena will be local construction firm CANA Construction partnering with Mortenson Construction. The information was released by Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC). “The Event Centre will be a year-round entertainment facility that will serve as an extraordinary civic amenity for Calgarians and visitors to enjoy for generations to come,” says Kate Thompson, President and CEO, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation. “First and foremost, we were looking for a team to work alongside us for the next five years, we’re confident in our selection of DIALOG + HOK and CANA + Mortenson based on their collective experience, capabilities and understanding to deliver a venue that demonstrates Calgary’s pride and spirit.” “As we move forward with the development of this facility, we are confident this project team brings the experience, leadership and ambition to realize the full potential of what the Event Centre provides Calgary,” says John Bean, President and CEO, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation. “With their experience of large-scale sport and entertainment facilities, we know that Calgary’s new Event Centre will be a source of civic pride for many years to come.” The Flames have played at the Saddledome since 1983. It is the second-oldest arena in the NHL; Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, opened in 1968, but a $1-billion renovation was completed in 2013. arenadigest.com/2020/06/25/flames-arena-construction-to-start-august-2021-open-in-2024-25-season/
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Post by ekjet72 on Jun 28, 2020 18:45:05 GMT -6
All I can do is exhale loudly as nothing I think will change the talking heads in city hall and the "ledge". They are all delusional thinkers...what if the NHL is on hold for a longer period than this season? Not to sound like a hockey chicken little but there are a lot of existential questions about professional sports. Wait a year and see if this is doable, that's all I ask!
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Post by mikecubs on Jun 29, 2020 2:35:31 GMT -6
All I can do is exhale loudly as nothing I think will change the talking heads in city hall and the "ledge". They are all delusional thinkers...what if the NHL is on hold for a longer period than this season? Not to sound like a hockey chicken little but there are a lot of existential questions about professional sports. Wait a year and see if this is doable, that's all I ask! There should be no groundbreaking on any sports facilities anywhere until a proven vaccine works.
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Post by mikecubs on Jul 14, 2020 10:16:44 GMT -6
Saddledome needs $48M+ in repairs but most work may never happen
Condition report spells out big problems for aging arena, including deteriorating roofEven before city council voted in 2019 to pay half of the cost of a new $550-million downtown arena, it knew the Scotiabank Saddledome needed major repairs to keep it going. A building condition assessment report from December 2018 obtained by CBC News under Alberta's Freedom of Information legislation concluded the Saddledome needs $48.7 million in repair work over the coming decade. "The recommendations in [this] report are provided based on keeping the building in an acceptable standard for the people using the facility," states Entuitive, the engineering consulting firm which wrote the report for the City of Calgary. The list of repairs is extensive. T he 119 suggested projects cover all aspects of the building and its surrounding structures, like a parkade and the LRT walkway.
Crumbling concrete, rust, water leaks, sealants giving way and even pesky squirrels working their way into the building are all mentioned in the report.Roof problems However the bulk of the recommended repairs, $38.5 million, would be for fixing the Saddledome's structural issues and the building envelope. The condition of the building's roof is a key concern. While the report notes there has been deterioration, there is no suggestion the dome is unsafe. An acoustic monitoring system was set up in 1998 to detect any failure of the cables and the post-tensioned strands which are part of the roof system. The report indicated that 10 post-tensioned strand failures have been noted. Precast concrete panels are suspended from the cables and the assessment found them to all be in good condition. However, pieces of concrete have been falling off of the perimeter ring beam which forms the outline of the Saddledome's distinctive roof shape.![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5638589.1594001784!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/saddledome-ring-beam.jpg) Pieces of crumbling concrete are seen on the exterior of the Saddledome in this photo from the report commissioned by the city. (City of Calgary) The report recommends a drone be used to regularly inspect the beam to help observe any trouble spots. What isn't known is what's going on inside the roof structure itself. "Most of the building's internal structural systems are not visible, and no attempt was made to expose them for review. Hidden defects may be present and not observed," notes the document. The report breaks the needed work into seven categories, and details the cost for each over 10 years. Here are the estimates, rounded up: Architectural, $33.8 million. Building envelope, $1.7 million. Structural, $3.1 million. Mechanical, $3.5 million. Refrigeration system, $1.7 million. Electrical, $4.9 million. Elevator, $90,000. Dome is still safe An engineering professor at the University of British Columbia, Shahria Alam, reviewed the report. He said the building is safe to continue using. "Although it's a concern, it should be OK to be used. Obviously, it will need constant operation and maintenance over the years that it will be used," said Alam. The challenge with the building's roof is that its design is relatively unique so Alam said there really aren't many other similar buildings to compare the Saddledome with in order to understand how the passage of time will affect it. ![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5638588.1594001726!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/saddledome-roof-leak.jpg) A leaky roof at the Saddledome, above the concourse, is pictured in this photo from the report commissioned by the city. (City of Calgary) Spending millions of dollars to repair or replace the roof won't likely be part of the building's future. Under the terms of a cost-sharing agreement between the City of Calgary and the owners of the Calgary Flames, construction of a new event centre in Victoria Park is slated to begin in August 2021. Design team for controversial Calgary arena unveiled It is scheduled to open in May 2024. As part of the agreement, the Saddledome will be shut down soon after that and then be demolished. The condition assessment report does suggest that $1,377,500 in repairs to the Saddledome across 30 different projects are needed through 2024. The list includes repairing crumbling concrete steps, work on the roof's ring beam, repairs to the parkade, fixing chillers and replacing heat exchangers. Necessary work will go ahead The Saddledome Foundation is the body that ensures the building is properly maintained. City council's representative on the foundation's board said work required to ensure the safe operation of the arena will get done even though the Saddledome's expiry date is approaching. "If there's any safety issues, then we have to do [the repairs]. From the time the new building starts, it'll take three years to build it so the responsibility of the Flames is still there," said Coun. Ray Jones. ![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5638587.1594001652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/saddledome-stairs.jpg) Crumbling stairs are seen outside the Saddledome in this photo from the report commissioned by the city. (City of Calgary) Although the Saddledome is owned by the city, he said the Flames oversee and pay for repairs through a fee that's collected on every ticket sold for events in the building. Neither the city nor the Flames would comment on how much money that fee brings in annually. The problems uncovered by the assessment report have been discussed by the Foundation and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Flames. "We're all in agreement that we can't have concrete falling off the building because it's a safety issue," said Jones. 'A great building' The president and CEO of the Calgary Flames, John Bean, tells CBC News that the team still considers the Saddledome to be "a great building". He said ensuring the health and safety of patrons and staff will guide decisions on maintenance. "We work collaboratively with the City of Calgary, with structural engineers and other consultants and we'll look at a variety of topics that present themselves," said Bean. "We'll come up with a plan to make sure we deal with it in an appropriate fashion." The Saddledome opened in 1983 and is the second oldest arena in the NHL. Calgary's Saddledome was 'great' — but what about the cost? The new arena will be built just north of the Saddledome and is expected to be a key piece of the planned culture and entertainment district. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation is overseeing the building of the event centre which will have up to 19,000 seats. The design of the new building should be unveiled by the end of 2020. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/city-saddledome-arena-roof-1.5637461
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Post by ekjet72 on Apr 16, 2021 18:15:13 GMT -6
Well since we last wrote on this matter life was easier and different. Now, not so much. The Provincial government has pared some $100M from city funds. House values have plummeted another 4% and then Coronavirus and the Saudi Arabia Russia oil glut happened. The provinces medical experts say we will be locked down till end of May and that's after 1 month of doing so with good effect on flattening the curve. Oil price falling plus COVID will result in 25% unemployment. This all adds up to an inability to pay for the new arena. Call it a force majure, I can't believe the contract will not allow some delay or cancellation with these catastrophic economic factors. Interesting times indeed. Well here we go, reality hits the Calgary arena project right between the city's eyeballs and in the citizens' wallets. The new reality I was talking about is worse than I reckoned, at least on COVID and its financial impact. In the meantime there are widespread supply chain issues for building supplies and items such as wood have increased in xost by 100+%. Steel and concrete are surely to follow. The great unknown is the $2T infrastructure plan that Biden will get through congress soon and its effect on inflation. So with all that and falling revenues to provincial coffers and rising expenses various governments have pumped the brakes on the money supply chain. So we have a pause in construction commencement on the arena and other multi-billion dollar projects. How long is the big question.
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Post by mikecubs on Apr 18, 2021 5:22:02 GMT -6
^^^ The arena project is now $70 over budget. Here is field of schemes take.
The Calgary Flames‘ $550 million arena plan, which already includes about $250 million in public subsidies, has run into $70 million in unexpected cost overruns and is now “paused” until the team and city can figure out who’ll cover them. Actually, the report is that the Flames owners are demanding $70 million, and previously the city and team agreed to split overruns 50-50, so maybe it’s really $140 million over budget? Either way, there’s already a petition to scrap the whole deal, though “trim a little from the team’s design and both sides kick in a little more money” seems a far more likely outcome, especially with Mayor Naheed Nenshi declaring it “far better to have these issues sorted out at this stage than to have unexpected cost overruns after construction has begun.” (Are known cost overruns actually better than surprise ones? Discuss.)
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Post by ekjet72 on Apr 20, 2021 11:23:07 GMT -6
Mike I agree the place is decrepit but it is so in a good way. They can milk it for a year or two until they see where/which way the world is turning. So the other unknown here is the civic election coming up in October. What candidates will come out of the woodwork and what their positions are on this aggressive infrastructure building plan Nenshi and this city council has promoted and has received conditional funding for remains to be seen. All we really know is that Nenshi is out and Farkas (sounds like a Seinfeld character, doesn't it) and Jyoti Gondek, from the current batch of city councillors are running. Farkas is the polar opposite of Nenshi on most positions and in fact was a Manning Foundation fellow. The Foundation touted minimalist government structure and spending. So if this can't be sorted out and Farkas wins there will be a strong push back on the $5B spending Nenshi managed to get approved. And this includes the new arena. We also need a new stadium. McMahon reminds me of the old Winnipeg Stadium and that's not a good thing! It is however indestructible, so they can dance around the need issue for a good 10 years, if the CFL survives COVID that is!
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