The plan to build a new home for the Calgary Flames in the city’s West Village is “dead,” according to Calgary’s mayor.
Naheed Nenshi went on record on Monday evening, confirming the proposed hybrid arena-stadium-field house, called CalgaryNEXT, is not being considered by the City of Calgary.
“The thing about a new arena project – and I’ll use those terms because CalgaryNext, the West Village, is dead – but the thing about a new arena project is that our first criterion has always been public money for public benefits,” Nenshi said. “So, it really is up to the Calgary Sports and Entertainment [Corporation] to figure out what the public benefit is.”
A city report pegged the cost of CalgaryNEXT at $1.8 billion.
The Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) also put forward a so-called Plan B which would see an arena and event centre located on the Stampede Grounds in Victoria Park, a separate fieldhouse in the city’s northwest near the University of Calgary, and some renovations done to McMahon Stadium.
“A potential site in Victoria Park makes way more sense,” Nenshi said. “Because those infrastructure investments, including the Green Line [LRT], are happening anyway.”
CSEC president and CEO Ken King told News Talk 770 he thought CalgaryNEXT had been paused, not killed.
“We’ve been working on a Victoria Park consideration,” he said. “The field house probably will get built someplace else, but I just thought we could solve a lot of problems with the one large project.”
(Global Calgary)
4 comments:
As Nelson says on The Simpsons, "HaHa"
Nenshi = best mayor ever!
Poor Calgary.
They want a hockey rink like Edmonton and a football stadium like Regina and they are getting neither.
Poor, poor Calgary!
AL
Screw off Calgary, you voted NDP in , you reap the downslide of your entire economy.
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