Solving the parking problem
Posted Jun 11, 2010 03:31:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If it’s one thing we can say with certainty as we conclude our five-part series on the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, it is that there is a definite appetite for a hockey venue in the city that provides a greater seating capacity. The Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club, in exercising the due diligence any business would, has explored potential costs and designs for a new building — but it still has no site. While we have talked in this series about the potential for an arena in downtown Kitchener, no one has come forward with available property. And then there’s the matter of the Grand Old Dame on East Avenue, the 59-year young Memorial Auditorium. Is it even possible to renovate? No one knows for sure as the team seeks engineering input as to whether such a thing as an expansion of the existing site is even feasible. The only thing that’s expanding right now is the demand for season tickets.
Naturally, that has people talking. “Year after year we ice a competitive team,” said a caller to our playoff postgame show. “Yet we still have a 6800 seat arena. Surely we can make some movement now to get the thing (a new arena) built.” Whether it’s new or whether it’s expanded, what we’re talking about is a bigger arena. And the biggest problem with that could be parking. The current site on East Avenue is already over-taxed when it comes to parking and side streets in the neighbourhood fill up with hockey fans on game night. When snowbanks pile up in the winter, this on-street parking can make roads so narrow as to be dangerous. Mark Garner, Executive Director of the Downtown Kitchener BIA, says any expansion of the existing site would require a parking solution. “Are you going to put a multi-level parking facility there?” asks Garner. “Or are you going to request people to park downtown after hours and then take a shuttle service from downtown to (see) the Rangers?”
Enter the NHL model. What Garner describes is exactly what the Detroit Red Wings are doing. In a conversation with 570 News, administration at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena explained that parking is so limited in Downtown Motown that area businesses have climbed on-board, offering shuttle service from their pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants to the arena and back. That’s not a foreign concept in Waterloo Region. The St. Louis Bar and Grill at Northfield and Bridge in Waterloo has just concluded its third season of shuttle service from the restaurant to the rink. “The first night we ran the shuttle, there were two of us on the bus,” says St. Louis co-owner Mike Abbott. “It was me and another customer. Otherwise, the bus would have been empty and I wasn’t about to let that happen.” Speaking of customers, the entire concept of shuttling hockey fans from northeast Waterloo to near downtown Kitchener came from a regular patron at Abbott’s pub. “From my standpoint, I don’t care who comes up with a great idea,” Abbott explains. “It was a great idea so let’s go ahead and do it. And we gave it a shot.”
Abbott’s determination has paid off. He describes standing room only trips from the St. Louis Bar and Grill to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium this past season and he hopes to see the shuttle reach the point where customers are calling him in advance just to make sure there’s room on the bus. Abbott’s venture is also unique in that he doesn’t tie the free bus ride to money spent at his bar. “We’re hoping that people will stop into St. Louis Bar and Grill and have a bite to eat before or after the game,” Abbott says. “(But) if they choose to just come down and get on the shuttle then that’s fine, too. Absolutely no charge, no restrictions, no ‘must have to come in and make a purchase at St. Louis.’ It’s open to anybody.”
The attitude comes from Abbott’s commitment to the community he serves. “We’re a neighbourhood pub and there are a lot of people in the neighbourhood that enjoy a couple of alcoholic beverages,” Abbott says. “At St. Louis we’re all about making sure that if you are going to have a couple of drinks, you’re getting to wherever you’re going safely.” And as he points out, what could be better than “taking advantage of the shuttle and not having to worry about parking when you get to The Aud?”
The St. Louis Bar and Grill shuttle leaves Waterloo a half hour before the game and drops passengers off at the front door of The Aud. The shuttle offers return service on the round trip 15 minutes after the final buzzer, again picking up passengers at the front doors of the arena.
