Private group planning stadium coup
Don't think harbour site viable
March 11, 2010
John Kernaghan
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/735522
A loose-knit group of city businessmen is hatching plans for an alternative to the city's Pan Am stadium site at the west harbour.
At least three sources confirm the group is crunching numbers on three possible sites.
They are: the Lafarge Canada slag site on Windermere Road; the former Studebaker property at Victoria and Burlington streets; and a parcel of land near the QEW and Centennial Parkway.
The site assessments have been driven by doubts the city's plans for the west harbour will make financial sense for the taxpayer or the stadium's prime tenant, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
If the plans come together, the businessmen propose a large developer handle the stadium construction and operation.
"They would take on the entire project using the public money and flip the naming rights to cover extra construction costs, plus develop other elements around the stadium through their own business plan, " said a source with knowledge of the private-sector initiative.
City council left the door open for a Plan B site when it voted 10-5 in favour of the west harbour location near Bay and Barton streets last month.
The B option was pushed by Councillor Bernie Morelli, who likes the Lafarge site at the east harbour. But first, he says, the west harbour should have every chance to pan out.
Councillor Brad Clark, a stadium opponent, says there's a certain fatalism around the west harbour location.
"In a perfect world, with lots of time available, it could work. But there isn't the time, from my experience."
Members of the private-sector group feel soil remediation costs that could run as high as $37 million, limited parking and poor exposure will limit private-sector contributions to build a 25,000- to 30,000-seat stadium at the west harbour.
The estimated cost of Hamilton's 2015 Pan Am Games track and field stadium is $102 million, $55 million of that coming from the city and the remainder from the provincial and federal governments.
But that would deliver a 20,000-seat facility at best, not enough for the Canadian Football League team. It would take up to another $50 million to provide a home for the Tiger-Cats.
While the football club is sitting down with the city in an effort to make the west harbour work, Ticat president Scott Mitchell said an early examination of the location "doesn't have a lot of money in it for us."
Earlier, he said the team's corporate partners were lukewarm to the location.
The club has consistently lost money over six seasons of ownership by Bob Young and is looking for a formula to provide long-term stability.
When the Games bid was announced last year, Young said he was prepared to put up "in the millions" for a larger stadium as home for his team.
A financial analysis by Deloitte Canada identified several sources of income for the city and the team, including an estimated $5 million for naming rights.
The private-sector group's analysis doubts that number due to what it describes as the west harbour's low-profile location and suggests only the prospect of thousands of motorists and commuters going past a stadium daily will elevate naming rights.
At one point in the bidding process for the Games, sources close to Toronto 2015 said a large development company offered up to $25 million for naming rights, but only if it could develop the stadium at Confederation Park. City council took that site off the table last year.
The private-sector scheme has two appealing points, another source said.
"This company would run the stadium for the city at no cost to the taxpayer and taxpayers wouldn't have to subsidize the Tiger-Cats."
According to the Deloitte analysis, the football club has the right to all revenue streams at its current home, Ivor Wynne Stadium, plus it costs the city around $1.5 million to keep the aging facility safe and operating.
But the man who oversees the city's Future Fund, which would provide $60 million for Pan Am facilities, said no other site delivers what the west harbour can.
"It will energize the city's downtown, " said fund chair Tom Weisz.
He pointed out a key element of the fund's mission statement is to use the money to support downtown redevelopment.
None of the three sites being investigated by the private-sector group is located in the downtown.
That city-building aspect is the key logic behind the west harbour site, says Mayor Fred Eisenberger.
He said he's not surprised "different people have different objectives" but stressed the stadium decision is a call that must endure for 50 years and needs to have a lasting legacy on many fronts.
In his view, only the west harbour site is capable of that.
The Toronto 2015 bid book promised the Hamilton track and field stadium "will have an extensive community legacy because of a plan to put the venue at the disposal of grassroots, youth and national-calibre athletes while also creating the opportunity for a variety of non-sport uses."
It's not clear what a private-sector initiative would deliver in terms of community use.