During an update on COVID-19 on Wednesday, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that “many parties” are interested in carrying out the arena project and that the city will look for other ways to complete it.
“There are partners in the Entertainment and Cultural District who want to see the success of a city-building vision, to bring that district to life,” Gondek said. “Now is the time to look holistically at the district itself, rather than trying to build the district around a single project.”
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Construction on the new Calgary Flames home on the eastern edge of downtown was scheduled to begin this month, but before the holidays, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (CSEC) notified the mayor that it would not proceed with the project.
CSEC said at the time that the $ 608.5 million event center would cost more than $ 634 million due to supply chain issues and inflationary pressures, as well as additional costs for climate mitigation and sidewalk improvements as part of Calgary Planning Commission list of conditions attached to development permit approval.
In a statement Tuesday, CSEC said that under the current circumstances, it “does not see a way forward that creates a viable partnership with the city, which is essential for a new event center to become a reality.”
Gondek told reporters that there were several factors that played a role in the collapse of the deal, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The extension of the current agreement meant operating within its limitations, and COVID has wreaked havoc on supply chains and impacted this project and many others,” Gondek said.
The event center deal was officially terminated after both parties to the deal failed to provide written notice of construction by Dec. 31.
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City councilors will be briefed on the situation surrounding the event center agreement and its termination at their first meeting of the year next Tuesday.
According to Gondek, the council will discuss how they envision the project moving forward and “what the next steps will look like.”
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“I’d like to make sure Calgardens understand that building an event center remains the council’s strategic direction,” said Gondek. “There are still a lot of stakeholders in that Cultural and Entertainment District who want to see it move forward.”
Prior to a Dec. 21 conversation between the city’s mayor and Flames owner Murray Edwards, the city has not been in negotiations with the CSEC since July 2021, Gondek said.
It was in those adjustments to the deal that it was revealed that the cost of the arena had risen from its original price of $ 550 million, and that both parties would contribute more money with CSEC assuming all additional cost overruns and controlling the management of the event center project.
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Gondek said he does not have unilateral powers to re-enter negotiations with the CSEC, and that would require a decision from the city council as a whole.
“It’s time to sit down and understand how the new operating models could potentially work in the best interest of everyone, including the public served by the city council,” said Gondek.
“There is a great opportunity to make this district right, with a suitable event center and other components; but it seems that it must free itself from the limitations of the agreement that was closed in July 2021 ”.
CSEC has said the Flames would continue to play at the Saddledome for “many years to come.”
–With files from Adam Toy and Jodi Hughes, Global News
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Reference-globalnews.ca