Calgary putting up more cash for new arena, city to release confidential materials

Calgary's new Events Centre has gone up in price - now costing $608.5M in total, with the City of Calgary putting in $287.5M.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — After fresh questions were raised about the massive deal to replace the aging Saddledome in Calgary, people can expect a bit more clarity on the process soon.

At the start of the final council meeting before the summer break, councillors agreed on Monday to release previously confidential details from a series of closed-door meetings they had held about the event centre.

More details on the overall process will be discussed in public later in the week as the lengthy meeting comes to a conclusion as well.

But that’s not all, as Mayor Naheed Nenshi also revealed the city is putting up a bit more cash for the project to help with recently identified needs surrounding the infrastructure.

Another $12.5 million will be pumped into the deal, with the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) also putting up the same amount. Nenshi said this would help with some design changes, such as adding more women’s washrooms in the new arena, and requirements around the structure to help with traffic flow after a game.


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Moving forward, the city will not be putting up any additional cash and it will be up to the Calgary Flames ownership group to handle any more overruns.

Finally, it was revealed that the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) will no longer act as project manager, and a new manager will be voted on before the meeting comes to an official close this week.

After there were serious concerns raised to the public about possible cost increases and other issues plaguing the project, Nenshi is hopeful this helps clear the air.

“So what we’ll be presented in the next couple of days is a plan that says the city will be capped at what it said it would pay back in 2019, that’s already been approved by council. There was a little bit of a provision for cost increases and council has already approved that,” Nenshi said.

With this additional commitment, the city will be on the hook for $287.5 million dollars for the more than half-a-billion-dollar project, and Nenshi said he still feels this is a good investment.


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“If you didn’t like this deal in the first place, you’re not going to like the new version. But if you believe that the city did a really good job on balancing public funding and public value, I think you will be very pleased to see what we end up with and how it reduces the city’s risk.”

A more complete budget breakdown was released on Monday, showing the city is now paying $287.5 million, while CSEC will pay the remaining $321 million and any additional costs. Originally forecasted to cost about $550 million in total, the event centre is now pegged at $608.5 million.

Nenshi said it was also crucial to release confidential materials at this time.

“It was always incredibly important to me that this be done. You can’t negotiate in public, but that people absolutely know every penny that’s going in from the public sector as well as every penny that’s going in from the private sector,” he said.

Complete details on the update can be found on the city’s website.

With CMLC dropping out as project manager, Nenshi said the organization would “continue to be helpful” but CSEC felt it should have its own manager at the helm if it will be on the hook for the additional costs that may arise during design and construction.

Construction on the arena is due to begin in 2022, after being pushed back from an initial start date of this year.

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