New Soccer Stadium/Concert Venue for London?

[GreatTallNorth2]

I bumped into the owner of FC London today and asked him about the plans for a new stadium for the team (that I had been hearing about in the Freeps). He told me that they want to build a stadium for soccer and also said that he has been in talks with Don Jones (concert promoter) about making the stadium also a concert venue. It wouldn't be a huge venue, but maybe big enough to draw some more events to the city.

[MolsonExport]

cool. post more info when you get it.

[LondnPlanr]

I read in the Free Press a few weeks ago that one of the spots being considered was the corner of Highbury and Oxford.

Not ideal, but there is definitely the space to build something special out there.

It would be amazing if they could find somewhere more 'central' to put it, but I think space/money could become an issue at that point.

Anyone have any suggestions for a great/unique/special location? I'll peruse CityMap/Google Earth and see where I could find. Let's set some parameters, just for fun:

1) Visible Location (a must)
2) Prominent Location (if possible)
3) Large Vacant/Brownfield Parcel

Go!

[ldoto]

NORTHEAST LONDON: MPP, labour leader want structure covering Westinghouse Canada cleanup turned into sports centre

By CHIP MARTIN

Last Updated: 5th October 2009, 2:39am

Northeast London could become home to an all-weather sports facility capable of housing two football fields or soccer pitches and a running track.

That's the dream of a London labour leader and an MPP as they eye a future use for a huge structure -- intended to be temporary -- that has enclosed the $63 million cleanup of Ontario's largest PCB dump.

Two structures on the site of the former Westinghouse Canada transformer plant on Clarke Rd. were to be dismantled after the job is finished late this year, but the largest one, as long as three football fields, may have a new life as a recreational facility.

"I've spoken to the minister of the environment and he is interested in working with us," said London-Fanshawe Liberal MPP Khalil Ramal.

The minister, John Gerretsen, was interested in the idea, Ramal said, "and he's willing to come to London to see what's going on."

"This would help us address a shortage of sports facilities in London," Ramal said. And it would be a positive use for a site that has been a nightmare and an environmental hotspot for more than two decades.

Ramal and Jim MacKinnon, general manager of local 1059 of the Labourers International Union, are spearheading the push to convert the structure into a benefit for the community.

Members of MacKinnon's union have been employed by Quantum Murray, the main contractor employed to remove the polychlorinated biphenyls and ship them to Quebec for destruction.

He said soccer clubs are desperate for more indoor facilities and groups like the London Falcons Football club have expressed interest.

The two structures are about six storeys high. The largest measures about 60 metres by about 315 metres, the smaller 53 metres by more than 75 metres.

The buildings, steel frames covered in a high-performance fabric membrane, are owned by Quantum Murray.

The land is owned by the province.

Environment Ministry official Mike Moroney, who chairs a citizen group overseeing the cleanup, said the site is zoned industrial and the cleanup is being done to an industrial standard so further work would likely be needed to achieve a recreational standard.

Ramal conceded the level of residual contamination needs to be addressed along with the need for fire exits at regular intervals along the elongated structures that might require agreements with abutting property owners.

MacKinnon said he's optimistic Quantum Murray might be interested in the plan because it would mean it wouldn't need to remove the huge structure, with consequent cost savings.

The structures are the largest of their kind in North America, he said, because most other enclosed domes are air-supported.

"There are some challenges with using the building as it is," MacKinnon conceded, but modifications are possible to meet building and fire codes.

Ramal and Chris Bentley, the attorney general and Liberal MPP for London West, are working to pull together a meeting of all parties, including the Environment Ministry, the contractor, planning and parks and recreational staff from city hall to see if the idea is worth pursuing.

Ramal said using provincial land for sports in London is not farfetched. He noted soccer groups have an arrangement to use provincial land at the north end of what used to be London Psychiatric Hospital at Highbury Ave. and Oxford St..

Larry Rodricks, project manager for Quantum Murray, said there has been some preliminary interest shown in its structures by "some agencies."

[ldoto]

A huge facility, described as a TD Waterhouse stadium with a roof, is coming to downtown London.
The City of London has approved a land deal that will allow the London Optimists to build a brad new indoor athletic complex next to the Western Fair.

The Optimists have agreed to give the City a piece of property on Cuddy Boulevard where the group's existing facility is located -- in exchange for the property near York and Rectory.

They'll continue using the building on Cuddy Boulevard while the bigger facility is being built near York and Rectory.

"The London Optimist Sports Centre will be a state-of-the-art facility" said Tom Partalas, the president of the London Optimist Sports Centre. "Anything that you play on turf will be there."

Once it's done, the all-weather complex will be big enough to house two football fields, or four soccer pitches and a running track.

[sparky212]

holy s***t that is amasing. That is gonna do wonders for old east . I just hope it is astheticly pleasing.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by ldoto

A huge facility, described as a TD Waterhouse stadium with a roof, is coming to downtown London. The City of London has approved a land deal that will allow the London Optimists to build a brad new indoor athletic complex next to the Western Fair.

The Optimists have agreed to give the City a piece of property on Cuddy Boulevard where the group's existing facility is located -- in exchange for the property near York and Rectory.

They'll continue using the building on Cuddy Boulevard while the bigger facility is being built near York and Rectory.

"The London Optimist Sports Centre will be a state-of-the-art facility" said Tom Partalas, the president of the London Optimist Sports Centre. "Anything that you play on turf will be there."

Once it's done, the all-weather complex will be big enough to house two football fields, or four soccer pitches and a running track.

I heard this on the news this morning. This is very good news. But Western Fairgrounds are not downtown.

[sparky212]

a bit dissapointed on the design

[ldoto]

Queens Park in Old East to get a $360-K facelift.

CHOO CHOO ON THE MOVE: Part of the ongoing plan is to move "Engine 86" westward, closer to Ontario Street and the Confederation Building.

Here's the Link!!!!! http://council.london.ca/meetings/Bo...a/Item%206.pdf

[ldoto]

Like orange sideline flags, wooden stakes mark where work will start this week on Southwestern Ontario’s first, full-sized soccer centre.

The $8-million London building — to be built southwest of the Western Fair Agriplex, and owned and operated as the not-for-profit London Optimist Sports Centre — will feature a regulation soccer pitch that can be curtained off into four smaller indoor-standard pitches.

The city last week made final a land swap for the central site. The swap was in exchange for the group’s soccer-dome land near the airport.

Now, construction will move faster than a World Cup speed dribble, with project completion targeted for March 2011.

A fence is expected to be go up there this week.

“A lot of people were waiting for this,” said sports centre president Tom Partalas. “This is the best return on your money that you’ll see from anywhere.”

The existing Optimist soccer dome in an industrial park near the airport draws 4,500 people a week, so many that some rentals end at 1 a.m. some weekends, Partalas said.

But that non-central location, and concern about a proposed nearby biogas facility, prompted the city and sports centre officials to look for an alternative site.

Under the sealed deal, the soccer people swap their eight-acre east end site with the city for a six-acre spot on Rectory St. near the Western Fair.

A last-minute glitch, an unexpected request the city kick in $500,000 to ensure the former industrial site is clean and safe, passed unanimously through council last week.

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said the facility is a good example of how partnerships can work in the city.

“It was a real team effort. Everybody wanted it to happen.”

She predicts it’ll have a similar economic impact on sports in London that the neighbouring Western Fair four-pad arena has had. Partalas said the facility will have a fieldhouse and a large pitch with artificial turf that’s suitable for soccer, lacrosse, rugby and football.

The interior dimensions, wall-to-wall, will be 410 ft. by 230 ft. — more than enough space for a full outdoor-regulation field, Partalas said.

It’s also being designed to support a running track, elevated along the building’s inside perimeter, so that “when parents bring their kids, they can have a bit of fitness themselves.”

Adding a running track — that depends on raising enough money for it — would add another 1,000 to the spectator stands that would already be able to support 1,000 fans.

Partalas said 24,000 children are registered to play soccer in London — a number that eclipses hockey player registrants.

“It’s huge. People don’t realize how big the sport is.”

The closest similar facility is the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan, north of Toronto.

Partalas said staff and politicians have been very supportive. Even before the not-for-profit group launches its fund-raising campaign, it has already received a large private donation of $100,000, plus some smaller donations.

Cost to construct the building is being covered by $1 million each from the province and federal governments, $1.15 million from the city and $1.5 million from the Optimists. The remainder will comes from fundraising and a bank loan, Partalas said.

The project has 150 volunteers supporting it so far.

“We all became partners in this and we did all this for the kids,” he said.

AUBI Construction of Dresden won the contract to build the facility, with Baribeau Construction of Dorchester the project manager.

An official ground-breaking is scheduled June 28 at 9:30 a.m.

deb.vanbrenk@sunmedia,ca

twitter.com/debatlfpress

BY THE NUMBERS

$8.5M: Cost to build the centre.

$1.5M: Coming from the Optimists.

$1M: Aproximate from each of three levels of government.

4,500: Players, including 3,000 kids, who use Optimists’ existing soccer dome each week.

19 metres: Height of structure at its tallest point (62 ft.)

[ldoto]

BMO CENTRE: Indoor London soccer complex hits surprise cost overrun

By CHIP MARTIN, The London Free Press

City taxpayers won’t get a kick out of this — they’re being hit for $1.6 million in surprise cost overruns for a new indoor soccer complex.

The BMO Centre at Western Fair District has produced the sort of surprises that so-called industrial “brownfield” redevelopment sites are famous for — unexpected junk and extra costs.

“This often happens in brownfields,” Coun. Paul Hubert said of the extra costs, which will push the project’s tab to more than $10 million.

“This was a good-news story,” he lamented, “but this is a bummer.”

City council’s finance committee learned of the bad news Wednesday.

When it agreed to help build the complex for the London Optimists, the city said it would cover any unexpected expenses, so it’s stuck with the additional cost, Hubert said.

“It’s going to cost the taxpayer. But at the end of the day, it is a good long-term investment,” he said of the complex whose four mini-pitches should be open by October.

Coun. Nancy Branscombe said she didn’t like the nasty surprise.

“We were shocked at the amount of the cost overrun,” she said.

Branscombe said she’s asked for a report from staff that might see greater contingency fees applied to brownfield projects in future.

“We must continue to do brownfield redevelopment,” Branscombe said. “We’re not happy at this.”

Jack Baribeau, president of Baribeau Construction, the project manager, said officials knew from 44 test holes drilled on the site that some junk might be encountered — but nothing like what started turning up during sewer-line digging.

Slabs of concrete, steel, railway ties, tar — even mattresses and other debris was unearthed, he said.

“We were told this stuff had been cleaned up,” he said.

“We think it was from the railway lines,” he said of material he suspects was once part of a railway roundhouse and nearby railcar repair shops.

Some material, Baribeau added, may have been from refineries located in the area back in the late 1800s, before a major fire prompted them to relocate to Petrolia.

Baribeau said he doesn’t expect to find any more nasty surprises, since only a few more holes for utility poles need to be dug on the site.

Creation of the indoor complex was part of a deal under which the Optimists are relocating their sports centre from Cuddy Blvd., near the London airport.

[ldoto]

SPORTS TOURISM: Supporters say a new basketball court would make money for the city

By JANE SIMS, The London Free Press


City hall can score a slam-dunk for sports tourism if it agrees to help pay for a new basketball court, London’s tourism director says.

“It’s a very good strategic investment,” John Winston, Tourism London’s general manager, said Tuesday.

“It really affords us the opportunity to really develop a basketball attraction strategy, which we haven’t been able to do before.”

A recommendation from city staff going before the finance and administration committee Wednesday urges council spend between $46,000 and $53,000 to pay for half a basketball floor for the John Labatt Centre.

Global Spectrum, which manages the JLC, has estimated the total cost to be $80,000 to $86,000. The court can last for 20 years.

In the past, when events such as the Harlem Globetrotters have come to town, the JLC has rented a floor from other centres, usually from Hamilton for $7,500 a rental.

Professional basketball could be coming to London should details be locked up for a team in the National Basketball League of Canada. Franchise owner Vito Frijia has been hoping to get a deal with the JLC for 15 home games.

A new floor could open the door to other basketball games played by Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS), city high school championships, National Basketball Association training camps, or exhibition games and training for the 2015 Pan American Games.

“It brings more people into the downtown and it affords us the opportunity to attract all these high profile basketball events into the city,” Winston said.

“It’s a small investment to pay for some huge financial benefit in the long term.”

Mayor Joe Fontana said he supports the new professional team and the new expenditure.

“I think that is going to bode really well for a whole bunch of people — new tourism, new involvement.

Fontana said because the JLC belongs to London, “from time-to-time . . . we do invest.”

The basketball court “will pay itself back many, many times over,” he said.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ldoto

A huge facility, described as a TD Waterhouse stadium with a roof, is coming to downtown London.
The City of London has approved a land deal that will allow the London Optimists to build a brad new indoor athletic complex next to the Western Fair.

The Optimists have agreed to give the City a piece of property on Cuddy Boulevard where the group's existing facility is located -- in exchange for the property near York and Rectory.

They'll continue using the building on Cuddy Boulevard while the bigger facility is being built near York and Rectory.

"The London Optimist Sports Centre will be a state-of-the-art facility" said Tom Partalas, the president of the London Optimist Sports Centre. "Anything that you play on turf will be there."

Once it's done, the all-weather complex will be big enough to house two football fields, or four soccer pitches and a running track.

Well, nearly 8 years later, the city has finally completed removal of the soccer dome on the Cuddy Blvd site they traded for the land that the BMO Centre now sits.